Metanoia

Chapter 16

We all sit silently in the waiting room, nervously awaiting any news on Darcy's condition.

She lost a lot of blood.

The image of her blood soaked hands clutching her hair in utter panic, thinking we'd be mad at her for having a fucking medical emergency is engraved in my head.

I've never had the urge to talk more in my entire life. I wanted to tell her that everything was fine, nobody was mad and that she'd be okay. But I just stood there like a coward.

The rest of the boys arrived only three minutes after us, demanding to see Darcy.

I've never seen Romeo so distraught. The kid acts like he doesn't care about anything but this was obviously traumatic for him. He leans on Lorenzo who has his arm wrapped him, rubbing his arm comfortingly.

A doctor enters the waiting room, grabbing our attention. "Family of Darcy Russo?" She calls out, looking at her clipboard. "Yes here," Arlo clears his throat.

Arlo studied and got his degree in medicine so he normally handles anything medical related. 

The doctor approaches us, "Miss Russo is still undergoing treatment in the ICU, she lost a significant amount of blood and requires a blood transfusion," She states, stone faced. "Are any of you a B positive and willing to donate?"

"Yes," Angelo, the only B positive replies immediately. "Great follow me, I'll have to ask the rest of you to wait here," She said, disappearing with Angelo down the hall.

Another three hours of waiting goes by. I'm getting impatient now, needing to know any information on the condition of my little sister. I consider storming down the hall and finding her myself but the doctor reappears before I get the chance.

"You can see her now-" She barely finishes her sentence before I'm up and walking down the hall, the rest of my brothers in tow.

We enter the room and to my surprise Darcy is awake and talking  to Angelo.

"We had to give her some pretty strong pain relief while we dealt with the torn stitching so she'll be pretty loopy for a couple hours," The doctor said, walking out and closing the door behind her.

"Hey Darc," Luca says cheerily, approaching her bed with Gabriele. They both sit on the end of her bed while the rest of us squeeze on the small couch and chair in the corner of the room.

"Hey Luca," she replies, returning his excited energy.

It's refreshing hearing her voice so happy and not filled with terror in between sobs.

"How are you sweet girl?" Luca asks, tucking loose strands of hair behind her ears. "So good," she says, giving him two thumbs up with a goofy smile. "You gave us quite the scare," Gabriele says softly. 

"M'sorry," Darcy mumbles, her lips now quivering.

"It's okay principessa but you need to tell us when you're hurt so we can help you, you could have died," Dante said seriously. Darcy nods her head in understanding. 

"When can we go home," She asks after a moment of silence.

"We're not sure, most likely tomorrow when we get the all clear from the doctors," Lorenzo said, getting up and approaching Darcy. "But for now you need your rest," he added while readjusting her pillows.

After about half an hour everyone was passed out, with Angelo and Dante both asleep in the two armchairs, Romeo, Arlo and Lorenzo knocked out on the couch and Luca and Gabriele both laid out on the floor, using their jackets as pillows.

Everyone was exhausted, not being able to pull two all nighters in a row. Me and Darcy were the only ones awake. I watch as she sits silently in her bed, drawing on a napkin from the canteen. 

The drugs that gave her new found confidence have seemingly worn off because whenever I make eye contact she nervously looks away, staring at her hands.

After a while I start to feel myself drift off, only to be jolted awake at the sound of crying. I immediately look at the source of the sound, Darcy who has her hand clasped over her mouth, trying to muffle the sound.

I bolt over to her, scared that she's in pain as she continues to quietly cry. I feel useless as I just stand there, unable to even ask what's wrong. So I decide to do something I haven't done in a long time, speak. 

"Hurt?" I manage to get out, my voice coming out croaky after years of not being used. 

Darcy shakes her head, "B-bear," she whispers.

Oh. 

Why didn't anyone bring that stupid dog.

Unsure of what to do, I gently pat her shoulder trying to comfort her which obviously does nothing. Hoping to distract her, I pull out my phone and open Netflix and try to find a child friendly movie. Deciding on Matilda, I hold the phone out in front of her while I stand next to her bed.

She becomes infatuated with the film almost instantly. I don't think she's ever seen one before. She looks up at me with them doe eyes and scoots over, patting the space next to her. Hesitantly I sit down, trying to stay as far away from her as possible incase I make her uncomfortable but after a while Darcy surprisingly leans into me.

The movie is something I would never watch but Darcy seems to love it, looking up at me every couple of minutes to check if I'm watching it just as intently as she is. 

As the credits play, I prepare to turn my phone off but when I look at Darcy she's wide awake. By this time it's three in the morning but I click on another movie anyway. This time Grown ups, which Darcy seems to be just as interested in.

Tiredness consumes me as I try to fight off sleep, wanting to stay with Darcy for as long as possible but the two days of being awake catches up with me as I drift off.