Her Brother's Best Friend - Aching Hearts Series #2

Chapter 36 - Descent into darkness

CHAPTER 36 - DESCENT INTO DARKNESS (part 2)

No improvement. Not a single sign of improvement. After two whole months. Nothing. Winter had slowly faded into Spring, but Vanessa still lay there, in that hospital bed, unmoving, frozen, immobile, those machines showed always the same state, not a single line of progress.

As opposed to her frozen state, her best friend had been sinking into the deepest abyss day by day instead. Emily hadn't moved a single inch from that chair, barely did she drink the necessary water when absolutely needed, and gulped down a couple of bites when forced. She'd been slowly wasting away, and after two months, she was only an empty shell that did her best to cling onto the tiniest hope for a change.

Her day had reduced to only a couple of hours of sleep per night, forced by tiredness she couldn't control, then endless staring at that immobile figure on that bed. She didn't even go to school anymore, her parents had signed papers that deemed her as ill, therefore she ought to spend the rest of the year at home, she'd be homeschooled and, to get her final diploma, she'd take a test by the end of June, but the chances were, she would do nothing and remained like that for the rest of her life.

She'd tried talking to her friend, following that saying about comatose people being able to hear what was said, but nothing. It just didn't work. Vanessa was still unconscious, and the chances were, she would remain like that. Forever.

Emily had let herself go instead. At this point, she was nothing but an empty shell, the very face of the deepest sorrow, with those dark circles rimming her brown eyes, her perpetual disheveled state, the chapped lips, the hair growing wildly and thinning, because of the lack of care, not to mention the way she'd been losing weight, too fast and too uncontrollably.

The sole thing that kept her sort of healthy was the fact that Riley had a doctor check her up when she was asleep, so that they could keep track of her blood pressure and such, without letting it pummel down to zero, consequently risking her own health. But as for the rest, Emily was an empty shell, she didn't respond to any call, all she could focus on was Vanessa.

Riley himself was weakening, because he didn't dare leave her one moment, which meant that he spent the same amount of time as she did in that hospital, winding up just as distraught as she was, especially as he had to witness her miserable state every single day, 24/7. He possibly slept even less, because those couple of hours she let herself rest, he stayed awake, in order to take care of her health, just so she wouldn't protest nor refuse. He slept in the morning, when she woke, but only because he needed forces to stay up and be there for his girlfriend.

If she'd reckoned anything beyond that bed and the deeply asleep figure lying in it, Emily would have realized what was she doing to her boyfriend, more than just to herself. However, she was blind to everything around her, therefore she barely even took notice of Riley sitting opposite to her beside that bed every day, neither did she acknowledge that he'd only decided against sitting beside her because of how she'd been pushing him away every time he tried to comfort her. She simply refused to acknowledge the world outside.

The more she looked at an unconscious Vanessa, the more Emily convinced herself it was her own fault. She should have paid more attention. She shouldn't have let her friend date that delinquent, she should have kept a closer eye on her, she should have spotted the signals, she should have seen Vanessa was hiding something, she should have noticed the change in her friend, she should have searched for bruises ... instead no, she'd only focused on her own pain, her own heart.

The more she looked at Vanessa, the more she despised herself, and, to some extents, she blamed Riley. Because he'd occupied her every thought, having her focus on her broken heart other than on her best friend. It wasn't his fault as much as it was hers, but he surely had some part in that trouble. As much as Jason.