Twisted Friendship

Chapter 18

I sat by Louis's bed all day, watching the faint rise and fall of his chest. I'd try lacing his fingers with mine, but his hands would just flop there, unresponsive.

A coma.

The other day I took a glass of water and stood over the bathroom sink in the hospital, swishing it around my and trying to rinse my mouth out of the nasty word.

"Louis is in a coma." I whispered, cringing when I heard myself talk. I took another large gulp of the icy water, feeling it freeze my teeth.

I watched my reflection the mirror. That wasn't me, that was a pale scared looking girl whose eyes showed lack of sleep and looked ready to fall to pieces. Pressing my forehead against the mirror, I let my breathe fog over and hide my face from view.

"He is in a coma." I whispered harshly, clenching the glass tightly in my fingers. Cracking the window open I hurled the cup out onto the street below, listening to the satisfying shatter it made when coming in contact with the ground.

I didn't go to school at all next week. Instead I sat at the end of Louis's bed.

Waiting.

The other boys filtered in and out of the room too, muttering words that didn't reach my brain and hugging me with embraces that still left me cold. But yet I waited.

Harry never bothered to leave. He had permanently planted himself in a chair with his feet kicked up onto the bed. Mostly he slept, curls falling in front of his eyes that had seemed to loose the green sparkle and fade into a cloudy gray. Harry always had this close bond with Louis, and you could see how hard it was for Harry to stay together. He was holding on by a thread that threatened to snap any second.

When Louis's mom came, I fled from his room and found a dusty supply closet in a quiet hallway. It seemed to have been neglected for a while. Something nobody cared about.

Perfect.

I crawled back behind the cleaning supplies and extra blankets, pressing myself against the cold concrete wall. Drawing my knees up to my chest, I tried to curl up to become as small as possible. Fold everything inside of me and tuck it away.

But I could hear his families faint wails from several hallways away. The sound cut me straight to the bone, shivers racing up my spine. I clamped my hands over my ears and prayed for it all to go away.

I skipped a full week of school. It sounded like a foreign land, going back to school. I wasn't sure if I had even left the hospital since I came here. But it's hard to tell, time slips away and runs through your fingers like sand.

Louis stayed sleeping. I'd whisper in his ear, begging him to wake up. Nothing happened.

The nurses called it sleeping. But he wasn't sleepinp, sleeping was being able to wake up and have breakfast and open your eyes, squinting in the brightness of day. Louis was trapped inside his own body, unable to gain consciousness or move at all. Frozen in place. Definently not sleeping.

I had seen him sleep, seen it up close. He made cute little snuffling noises and his hands curled around my tshirt.

-------------------------------------------

Louis got a new roommate. The hospital was overbooked, so they moved a boy into the adjoining room next to Louis. I didn't like it, the new kid disrupted the peace and sadness that had settled across the room.

"Hello!" he exclaimed cheerfully from his hospital bed after he got moved in, smiling like nothing was wrong. I didn't reply. Harry was passed out in his chair, head falling onto his chest.

"I'm Josh." he explained, "What's your name."

I watched him for a moment, before clearing my throat "Katie."

He nodded absently, running a hand through his light brown hair. "Nice to meet you."

"Is it now?" I snapped before I realized what I was saying. He didn't seem to notice, too busy fussing with something on his bedside table.

"So what's wrong with you?" I asked carefully. He seemed to be perfectly fine.

Josh pulled out two dented wooden drumsticks from a bag, "I got in a car accident, my legs are paralyzed from the waist down. Just my luck isn't it?"

He talked about it like we were discussing the weather, or what was on sports last night.

"You don't seem very sad about." I said quietly, watching him rub the drumsticks on his shirt.

Josh shrugged and scratched idly at his head, "Well I could be sad, but it really does nothing for me."

"Oh." I murmured, because that was all I could come up with.

"It's easier said then done."

"Very much so."

Josh brushed some hair from his eyes, "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on."

I stared at him incredously. He looked up and smiled, "That was Robert Frost by the way."

"Are you some like poetic hippie?" I asked, a smirk wavering on my face.

Josh laughed, "No. But I like stuff like that. Oh and I love playing the drums, as you can see. But are you always so quiet?"

I dug my finger into a hole in the upholstery of my chair, picking out some yellow foam. "I don't have a lot to say at the moment."

"Silence is the most powerful scream."

I refused to look at him, instead stared daggers at Louis. His high cheekbones and pink lips with that feathery hair I wanted to run my hands through.

"You probably have a lot to say." Josh continued, "And I would love to hear it. I'm stuck here for a while anyway."

I picked at my nails, "It's a long story."

"Well how about you start with your friend sleeping here." Josh said, nodding over at Louis. His words made me freeze up, the room suddenly seeming so much darker.

"He's in a coma." I whispered, biting down on my lip.

"Ah." Josh murmured, settling back onto his pillows "I'm sorry. Well you really do have a lot of explaining to do. Start at the beginning."

He looked over at me with bright curiosity, radiating a sense of happiness in this dreary hospital. The darkness scampered away and retreated to the corners of the room.

So I took a deep breathe and told him my story,