The Shedding Skin

Chapter Three

Seated on the floor of the waiting room, Morticia watched the wall clock. It was all so surreal. Stephanie was in surgery. The doctor had mentioned she had a tear in her artery or something to that effect. She couldn't remember, she was having a hard time hearing him.  Her mind was racing as she thought of all that could go wrong. Like her sister's heart could just stop or she could get a worse tear.

Pressing her forehead to her palms, she tried to not cry. This was a nightmare. That's what this had to be. A horrible, horrible nightmare. Morticia moved her hands away from her face and took a deep breath. Her mother was pacing not to far away from her. She had her phone pressed to her ear as she tried to reach her husband. Calling his phone then calling his work phone. Neither one were picking up and she was starting to panic. Tears flowing down her cheeks as she mumbled against the phone.

When Tish felt someone nudge her foot,she looked up. Raven was holding a Dr Pepper out to her and trying to smile. She tried her best to match the grin as she took the drink. Muttering a soft thank you as she opened it. Taking a small sip, she said,"Thank you for staying with me."

"No problem, Tish.",Raven said as she sat down next to her. Morticia leaned against her shoulder as she tried to keep calm. It was hard to not just freak out. And she said,"I can't believe this is happening, she's so healthy and exorcises every friggin' day...I don't get how she could get like this."

"Sometimes health conditions go undiagnosed for years.",Raven explained. Setting her unopened can of soda next to her, she turned to her slightly. In a gentle voice, she said,"It could be that Stephanie had something and it weakened her heart without her realizing. Or she could just have an issue with her blood pressure."

That made sense but she was surprised it would go unnoticed for so long. Especially when Stephanie was in really good shape. Her sister watched what she ate and didn't drink. It just baffled her how a healthy woman could drop like that. And she murmured,"I really hope she's going to be okay...the doctor didn't sound hopeful..."

"She'll be fine.",she said. She was trying her best to comfort her girlfriend. Even though she wasn't entirely sure that Stephanie would be fine. Her condition sounded grave and that she possibly couldn't pull through. Raven knew there was a small chance. People had survived worse things than a torn artery and were walking around. There was a chance that Stephanie could come out okay. She'd have a hard road of recovery ahead of her but she'd come out of this otherwise unscathed. 

Holding her girlfriend's hand, Morticia glanced up when she heard footsteps. Her mother came in wiping her tears with her left hand, and her phone in the other. She was trying to compose herself as she said,"Your Father will be here in ten minutes...I can't believe this is happening..."

Letting go of her girlfriend's hand,she got up off the floor. And she said,"She'll be okay, Mom. Stephanie's got the best doctors working on her."

Stepping closer to her Mother, she holds out her arms to hug her. Peggy took a step to the right and sat down on a chair. Her face in her hands as she softly sobbed. Lowering her arms, she stepped back over to her girlfriend and carefully sat down. Not knowing what else to do to comfort her Mother. Raven patted her shoulder gently as they sat in relative silence waiting for Mr Gossamer to show up.

When he did show up, he was in a state of panic. Asking his wife if she had noticed any changes in Stephanie's behavior before this. If she looked or sounded any different. What she was doing before she was found on the floor. Peggy tried to answer everything as quick as he asked. But she didn't notice anything off about Stephanie. Stephanie didn't even complain about being tired or feeling weird. He held his wife's arms tightly as he asked,"Are you absolutely sure that she wasn't sick before she collapsed?"

"Yes. Now please let go you're hurting me.",Peggy answered. Shoving his hands off her arms, she sat him down in a chair. Then told him what the doctor said. And that she was still in surgery at the moment. Morticia watched as her father gripped the arms of the chair tightly. His knuckles turning white from the force of his grip. It was scary seeing her Dad so stressed out like this. Raven rubbed her back gently as they waited for the news on Stephanie. As they waited, they watched TV and tried to talk about anything else. Her dad, Rhett, had a weird customer come in that day. Apparently a man came in and bought a ton of paper. Like twenty packages of them. When Rhett asked why was getting so many, the man said he was writing a book. And he continued to tell him about it. 

The book was some crazy thing about a nurse who was vacationing in the mountains. She was supposed to be there by herself for about a month. But she was noticing that someone had been eating her food and using things. Also that she'd wake up much more tired than when she went to bed.

Apparently the man didn't go more into detail as a line had formed behind him. But Rhett wished he had. And he said,"It was strange. The premise sounded like something Stephen King would do..."

"Yeah but there'd be ghosts or something in the beginning.",Morticia said. As they discussed what the nurse could've found, they noticed the doctor. He was still wearing his surgical mask but he looked somewhat calm. Peggy was the first on her feet and ran to the doctor. She was wringing her hands as she asked,"How is she, doctor?"

"She's stable now and we believe she's gotten through the worst of it.",he explained. Tugging down his mask, he smiled at her. Then he said,"I believe your daughter will pull through just fine, Mrs Gossamer."

Peggy started crying with relief as she hugged her husband. Morticia asked,"When will we get to see her?"

"A couple of more hours when she wakes up.",he answered. The doctor hurried back to Stephanie's room. Rhett gently rubbed his wife's back as she tried to calm down. Raven hugged her girlfriend tight as they sat back down to wait. But a few hours later and she hadn't woken up. She wasn't getting worse but she wasn't waking either. Her heart rate was steady and so was her breathing. By morning, Stephanie Gossamer was in a deep sleep with no visible signs of waking up.