"Tonight it's gonna be the loneliest."
When Victoria gets sick and ends up in a coma, Damiano, Thomas, and Ethan have to find ways to cope and keep themselves together.
The future is unclear for the three boys now that they're being forced to live...
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A distorted hard rock song is blasting while I'm driving on the intricate road. Normally, I would've slowed down before going through a serpentine area, but, today, everything seems to go in reverse, so I act accordingly.
Since this morning, after an entire night of rain, our backyard was almost flooded. Then, things went on with Thomas who managed to break our last box of eggs. The milk was bad and there were no cereals left, because none of us bothered to go shopping. However, the worst part was Vic.
Crushing all our hopes with her low pulse, my comatose girl kept us up all night with her oscillation between a perfectly executed flatline and an attempt to stick with us. It was almost like a dance, a very complicated choreographed ensemble made out of the same movements — a shit-show including all of us. Vic, the silent star, followed by me and Ethan, drummer and vocalist turned caregivers overnight, and, supported by her naïve brother, Thomas, who was there trying to keep our morals high, but failing lamentably.
I push the gas pedal almost to the ground, escaping the cursed vertigo of the last road curve. It's over. I'm finally in the only place where I feel that I can take a deep breath.
The boys almost kicked me out of the house, and I'm not sure if it was for my own mental health or theirs. But, judging by the constant pressure of sharing the same pain, I can safely assume it was in the best interest of everyone.
They asked me to go out to buy eggs and some other groceries. That was their petty excuse, but I took it and left, despite my heart being shattered into pieces at the thought that I have to leave her. As I was taking my keys and going to the garage, I was followed by a strange feeling, like I was walking barefoot on shards of glass. It was heartbreaking, but I had to go. Vic would've wanted me to leave, and I did.
I didn't bother to tell them that I'm going for a long drive, but, I hope it was understood. The only time I left the house after I lost Vic was one late afternoon with Thomas. We drove around the neighborhood like two lunatics, expecting to find her running after us, shouting her funny insults, telling us to stop and take her with us. It was terrible, insane, and chaotic, but that's what we felt like doing in the moment when we were left with a soulless body struggling to stay alive instead of our ray of sunshine.
I roll down the window to free the cigarette stench which was condemned to stick with me while I was speeding on my mad drive. Only when the fresh air hits, I realize how bad my four cigarettes managed to intoxicate my small atmosphere.
The next thing I do is get out of the car. An impulsive decision, but I feel like I'm going to suffocate inside if I'll remain here even for one more moment.
It's deadly silent. Judging by the sun, it might be around noon, yet nature seems like it spontaneously decided to take a break at my sight. Not even the omnipresent wind is blowing. Stillness and a vague feeling of an increasing tension accumulating somewhere in the back of my head — the effect of stress, Ethan would've called it.
