To Let Go

Eight

||A Brief Story From Leo's Perspective||

Emaciated.

That's how I describe her. She's like a rail, with every bone visible. I didn't notice how thin she really was until I saw her in her leggings and sports bra. She looks like a skeleton she sees in her closet.

And it's not her fault, it's Society's. And I hate it for that. She was a happy teenager. And then she stopped eating. Eating suddenly became a problem. And it scares me. And I can tell she's terrified too.

It's 5 am now. Emma shivers hard, but not as much as before. I gave her my hoodie to wear, but even then, she's acting as if she's freezing to death.

Her heart monitor beeps every time she tries to sleep. She's reached the minimum HR setting. The tube looks so big against her frail face. Her hands look like sewing needles, and the IV attachment is connected to various drips.

"Thank you." She croaks, voice cracking.

"For what?" I say, confused.

"For liking me even when I don't like myself."

"Please don't start with that. I'm just doing what I can."

"By why? What redeeming quality do you see in me."

"It's this feeling I get around you," I explain. "We bring out something in each other; something truthful. Something real." Emma nods. She shivers, and I instinctively sit up and cover her with another blanket. I have started a small pile of blankets and heat packs by the bed so I don't have to get up and hobble over to a cabinet.

I lay back down next to her and gaze over to her. I can see the pale yellow liquid run from the fed bag into the tube and into her nose. The light glints off of it, and shows a shadowy reflection in her eyes.

Emma starts to sweat, and I shake my head and sigh playfully.

"No pleasing you is there."

"Nope." She pops the 'p'. I help her take sit up and she wiggles out of the hoodie. She tosses it on the floor and lays back down. She puts her hands on my chest and my arms around her. We lay there, holding each other.

And in this moment, we let the hospital fade into oblivion. And it's just us.

I wonder how on earth someone who's 78 pounds can suck in their stomach.

Guess I'll never know