When China Breaks//Ed Sheeran #Wattys2016 #NewVoices

the silent sickness

I had to wait two hours for Mary Ella to come pick me up within that time, I was afraid that maybe Ed had died, or maybe he had to get emergency surgery. I was starting to think maybe he'd lied to me about being sick, and his sickness was starting to catch up with him. All I could do was lay in the nurses office, curled up on a cot, waiting for school to be over.

As soon as the bell rang, I went outside to the parking lot where Mary Ella was waiting for me. I climbed into the van and she took one look at my face and saw that something horrible had happened. "Whats wrong?" She demanded, starting the van. I wiped tears from my face and strapped myself in.

"We have to go to the hospital," I replied.

"Whats wrong?"

"Ed's in the hospital. We have to go now!" I shouted. She decided not to ask any more questions and instead did as I asked. I looked out the window, praying every second that nothing would go wrong between now and reaching the hospital.

At the hospital, Mary Ella let me off and went to go find parking. I rushed inside and was greeted by the same lady I saw on Christmas. She understood right away what was happening. Ed wasn't in the intensive care unit, so I eased up a little bit, but I was still on edge about the whole thing.

I approached Ed's room and found Mrs. Martinez there, sitting at the edge of his bed. Ed was propped up with pillows behind him, and he had a tray of half touched food in front of him. "Ed?" I croaked, my throat dry. Mrs. Martinez stood up and wiped her hands on her pants.

"I'll give you two some privacy." She said before slipping out of the room. Ed's head lolled towards my direction. His eyes looked heavy. He also had an IV that was delivering fluids to his body.

"Stop looking at me like that." He said, his voice raspy.

"Like what?" I crossed my arms and glared at him.

"Like that," he laughed. "I'm not going to die. But if I were, I'm happy to know at least one person would show up."

"Shut up, you fucking asshole!" I shouted at him. My tears were starting to fall into my mouth, and they tasted salty. I wiped them away with the sleeve of my pink sweater. "I want you to tell me right now what's wrong with you, and if you lie to me this time, I swear to god..."

"I didn't eat." He said with a hostility that I never wanted to be on the receiving end of.

"Why?"

"Because I didn't feel like it."

"Why, Ed? I want real answers, and I want them now!"

"Can't we just joke about it and skip right to the part where you tell me that my problems aren't as bad as yours? Can't we just blow off this whole thing and go back to the way we use to be? When I would sneak through your window and we would sit and talk until you fell asleep? Because I don't want to go through this, Aaliyah." Ed shouted at me, pushing his hands through his hair. He closed his eyes and exhaled loudly, trying to regain his composure.

I spotted Ed's backpack on the side of his bed, so I quickly grabbed it and made a semi-fast dash out of the room. I figured if he wasn't going to tell me what the hell was up, I was going to find out myself. I left the hospital, my spirit feeling crush, like the ground up remnants of olives after they were pressed for their oil. I walked back to the van and climbed in. Mary Ella was shocked that I was back so fast.

"Is he okay?" She asked me. I shrugged.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," I said, chewing my lip as I unzipped his back. He had an assortment of notebooks, pens and pencils, and empty junk food packages in the bag. I shuffled around until I heard rattling in the bag. I reached for an orange prescription bottle of pills and held them up. It was a prescription for Lytophin. It was unfamiliar to me, and the bottle gave me no more information than Ed did. It only gave instructions on how to take the pills, but the rest was blurry.