8 Months of December

Ringing

(A/N: TW: [a lot of] mentions of suicide)

There were no more letters after that.

Ivy knew why, but she didn't want to believe it yet.

She dropped the letter and stood up, knocking Holly's desk chair over, and left the room. She went straight to her broken phone and picked it up, collecting minuscule scratches in the meantime. She turned it on, surprisingly, it still worked, even after all of that. The date still flashed December 6th, 2016. Ivy closed her eyes for a second, wanting to throw the phone again, but she didn't. She was going to solve this. She was going to get answers.

Ivy unlocked her phone and went to her most recent voicemail, from Holly's number. She clicked play and listened, it wasn't Holly's voice. Ivy was confused, where's Holly? She turned up her volume and listened.

"Ivy, Ivy hey, you there? Listen this is Claire, Holly's friend, this is really urgent I don't know how to contact anyone except you through Holly's phone, we called the local police and they redirected us to the hospital's number and they said they're sending an ambulance but I don't think it's coming soon enough, I don't know what to do. Just pick up your phone goddammit what the hell are you even doing that is more important than this?

Ah I'm sorry.

I shouldn't be yelling at you. You don't even know what happened, and I don't even know how to say this, but you're old enough to bear the truth, Holly's dead. Or at least dying, I don't know. And I don't know what is worse because I don't want her to suffer but we found her body in the tub and it looks like she committed suicide-"

You could hear Claire's voice break.

"-listen I don't know when you'll get this but I'll send you updates, I don't know what to do but I think the ambulance is here. Oh my god it's here, I need to go, please call back, please."

"End of message" Ivy's phone rang out.

Ivy could just barely hear her phone hitting the wooden floor underneath her.

Holly is dead.

Holly is dead, Holly is dead, Holly is dead.

They say that the more you say something, the more it'll lose it's meaning. But every time Ivy's mind repeated the phrase, it kept its meaning.

Everything hit Ivy like a million brick walls all at once. Memories, flowing back to her such as Claire's texts after the voice mail, "she didn't make it. i'm sorry." The pain she felt that day, it wasn't today, but it was December 6th. Memories. Her breaking voice mixing in with the squeal of cars as she was about to tell her parents the news. A ringing noise, it kept getting louder. Memories. Finding Holly's letter that day too, knowing it was planned, it was planned all along. The ringing had breaks in between it, but it was getting louder. Ivy thinks she's on the floor now, but she isn't really sure, everything is a giant, bright blur.

Hot tears fell down her face, more memories hit her. She was going to be alone, no. No, she already is. She's been alone this whole time. The ringing is starting to sound like a drum now. The last of the memories hit her, the last couple seconds.

Ivy was listening to music on her mp3 player and took the earbuds off, she had to tell her parents, it wasn't fair to them. She thought of that morning, the smallest snowflakes falling from the sky, why did they still fall? She started talking, but before she could get anything important out, she saw a gray blur, and then everything was gone after that.

She was a part of that car accident she saw earlier. She was the cause of it.

The now beating noise was screaming at her and she could've sworn it sounded like a heart beat. Was it Holly's? Was she still there?

No that'd be impossible, but the more she listened, she figured it out. It was her heart beat, it was Ivy's.

The brightness she saw turned into a small rectangle.

Ivy Elyna's eyes fluttered open and were blinded by the sudden light from above. She looked around as people rushed in the small room, she was in a hospital bed. She saw her mom and dad above her and asked them what happened, but a nurse quickly answered instead.

"You were in a coma, Ivy, for 8 months. I'm very sorry."