V O I D

Chapter 7.

Lin’s brothers stormed out of the hospital room and Lin turned back toward her mother. She rubbed her face slowly with both hands, taking a deep breath in through her nose, attempting to release some of her anger that was building. She briefly held the breath in before releasing it slowly.

“How the hell am I supposed to make this decision, Mom? It’s not supposed to be like this. You’re supposed to be here, like actually here. I know I’ve been an awful daughter. And I’m never going to not be sorry about that,” Lin told her.

Lin sat down in a chair on the side of the bed, holding her mom's hand and started to sob. “Just come back,” she said through her tears.

“Lin?” A soft voice came from the doorway.

Lin looked up through her tears to see Kath standing in the doorway.

“Kath? What are you doing here?” Lin asked.

“I came to see how she was. I’ve been stopping in every once in a while,” Kath admitted.

“Really?”

“I care about her too, Lin.”

“I know. I’m sorry, Kath, I’m just having a hard time,” Lin admitted, sounding defeated.

“What’s going on?” Kath asked as she entered the room, walking up next to Lin.

“I spoke with the nurse this afternoon. It’s my decision,” Lin explained.

“What’s your decision?” Kath asked. 

“Whether or not to keep her on life support any longer,” Lin looked back toward her mother.

“Oh, Lin…” Kath instinctively placed her hand on Lin’s shoulder. She felt the taller brunette sigh under her touch.

“How do I do that? How do I kill my mother?” Lin asked, looking up at Kath.

“Lin, you’re not killing her. If it’s to this point, keeping her alive on the machine isn’t what she would want either,” Kath explained.

“I know that. It’s just hard,” Lin said, looking back at her mother. She wiped tears from her eyes.

Kath reached out for Lin’s hand, holding it in her own. “Count with me,” she said softly.

“What?” Lin asked, looking back up at Kath, confused.

“Count with me,” Kath repeated.

October, 2013.

It was a warm Saturday, in early October and Kath’s friends had planned on going up to the lake for the day to swim. This was something they often did in the Summer, but since the weather was so nice, they decided to take advantage of it.

“You didn’t seriously invite Lin did you?” Rose asked as the group got out of the car, taking their backpacks out and strapping them on their backs.

“I seriously did,” Kath informed her. “What’s the big deal? You allergic to hanging out with seniors?” she laughed.

“Not if they were hot senior guys,” Rose laughed. “But I mean, why her? She’s kinda weird, Kath.”

“Look, Rose, she’s new here and I thought it would be nice for her to hang out with people,” Kath explained. “And she’s nice. She came to my party and she was fun there!”

“Yeah, you thought she was fun because you guys kissed in spin the bottle,” Rose laughed.

“No, because she’s a nice person. There’s nothing wrong with making new friends, Rosie,” Kath told her.