What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Chapter Sixteen

Sleeping in a bed next to Giselle wasn't a problem, it was actually more of a "dream come true" moment if anything. Mason would help her get ready for bed, and he'd watch over her for hours some nights. She was his favorite person, and he'd give up everything for her. It sometimes made him sad when he'd see the look on her face after she heard something rude Ellen said about her or someone else in their family.

Mason hated seeing the sad looks on Giselle's face, as well as the pained expressions she'd try to hide when she was hurting. She could be in a lot of pain, but she'd try to hide it, until she was almost in tears. She hated the idea of constant pain medication, so she'd push it off as much as possible. Sometimes Mason would have to get Gilbert or Amy to help him practically force Giselle to take her pain medication to feel better.

Giselle had always been stubborn, even when she claimed she was the calmest and most collected sibling of the bunch. If anything, Mason believed it was Amy, though he definitely wouldn't tell Giselle that. Giselle could be calm and collected often, but sometimes her bursts of emotions were otherworldly at times. Mason understood though, especially recently, since her injuries and medication made her emotionally unstable.

Gilbert still felt horrible for Giselle's accident, and honestly, he doubted he'd ever get over it. She had been home almost two weeks, and he still barely slept. He often woke up throughout the night to check on her and Mason. He wanted to be there if she was hurting or scared, and he wanted to be able to help Mason at anytime if something was wrong with Giselle.

Bathing didn't happen every night anymore, now it was every other night, and sometimes it was every two nights, depending on how much Giselle was hurting. Amy had to help the girl bathe, since she couldn't get a lot of things wet, not to mention the amount of pain she'd put herself through trying to do everything herself. Amy refused to have anyone help her when it came to Giselle, since she knew Giselle was embarrassed with the fact that she couldn't bathe herself.

Tonight, had been one of the nights that Giselle's body was hurting a bit more than other times. She felt like she could barely move, even though she was slowly healing just fine. Amy had washed the girl's hair first, since she could do that in the sink, while Giselle sat in a chair and leaned her head back into the sink a bit. It wasn't too comfortable, especially when she was in pain, but it kept her from getting too wet.

Once Amy was done with her hair, the older sister helped Giselle into the bathtub. They had wrapped bags and plastic around anything that didn't need to get wet, before Amy used a cup and a rag with soap to clean up Giselle's body. When Giselle accidentally hit her ribs with her elbow when she was trying to move, she automatically cried out without a chance to stop herself, and tears swelled in her eyes.

"Oh my, Giselle." Amy gasped, as she helped the younger girl lay back a bit in the tub to relax her stiff muscles from the pain.

"I need to get out." Giselle murmured, knowing she couldn't take anymore.

"Okay, let me unwrap you first, then I'll get your robe on you." Amy replied, and Giselle nodded.

Amy helped her put on panties, before she carefully unwrapped the plastic and bags from her sister. Once Giselle had all the plastic off of her, the older sister wrapped the large robe around her younger sister. Giselle gasped when a shot of pain went through her abdomen as she slid her arms into the sleeves of the robe.

"Time to stand." Amy murmured, grabbing Giselle carefully to try and lift her.

"I-I can't. It hurts." Giselle cried, causing Amy to frown.

"Mason! Gilbert!" Amy exclaimed, and quickly, the two boys were in the bathroom.

"What's wrong?" Mason asked, as he looked to Giselle with worry evident in his eyes.

"I can't get her out of the tub. She's in too much pain." Amy replied, making the boys nod.

Carefully, each boy grabbed her and slowly stood her to her feet. A gasp of pain went through her lips, before she was standing outside of the tub.

"Let's get you in bed." Amy said, leading them to Giselle's room.

Amy kicked the boys out, before she helped Giselle into a big nightgown, then she had the boys come back to get Giselle into the bed carefully. Mason and Gilbert watched Giselle until she took her pain medication. She then laid back on the bed and slowly fell asleep. Mason was quick to follow her, knowing with her pain medication, she would stay asleep for a few hours.

While sleeping, Mason began to have a nightmare about Giselle's accident. In his dream, Giselle never made it out of the emergency room, and he never got to see her again. His body shook as his nightmare showed him Giselle in a casket, her body beaten and bruised, and her clothes were covered in blood.

Gilbert had woken up like he had been since Giselle had gotten home, and the boy stood from his bed and headed towards her room. When he peeked in, his eyes landed on Mason, and he watched for a moment as the boy's body moved and seemed to flinch every few seconds. Gilbert realized Mason was having a nightmare, so the boy carefully tapped Mason's leg, causing the boy to gasp awake.

"Gilbert?" Mason sleepy voice questioned, as he looked up.

"You were having a nightmare," Gilbert replied,"Wanna talk about it?" He asked, but Mason shook his head.

"No," Mason murmured,"maybe in the morning." He answered, and Gilbert simply nodded.

Gilbert left the room soon after, and Mason laid his head back down on the pillow. He closed his eyes for a moment, but his mind wouldn't let him sleep. He was worried about Giselle. The boy looked over at his girlfriend, watching her breath slowly as she slept. He scooted just a little closer to the girl, letting the sound of her slow breathing lull him back to sleep...