To the bones

Sing me to sleep

The constant sound of the monitoring machine was all that could be heard in the hospital room. Not even Athena's breath was loud enough to her mother's ears, it was just too weak.

Miranda had been sitting next to her daughter for the past hour and Athena hadn't woken up a single time. She was unsure about staying or not by her side, knowing all too well that she'd get yelled at as soon as her daughter would wake up.
Still she stayed, her face buried in her hands, mentally beating herself for being the cause of all this mess. Silently she also prayed for Andrea to come back to comfort her and get Athena on the right path like she used to. But Andrea wouldn't come. She had given up.

Eventually, Athena began to move, slowly waking up, her breath still shaky but a little bit stronger. She wanted to stand up but her muscles didn't allow her to and the bright light of whatever place she was in bothered her too much to open her eyes. Yet, she forced herself to, wanting to know where she had ended up, the 'bip-sounds' she heard telling her she was at the hospital or somewhere of that sort.

Her fears got confirmed when she finally and fully opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was a long and thin tube coming from behind her and going directly into her nose and which she didn't take long to recognize as a feeding tube. She understood that she had passed out earlier because she had lost the last battle against anorexia and they had put her under feeding assistance to bring her back to life.

The other girls had told her about it. 'End up with the tube and all your efforts will be screwed' they had said. So on the one hand, Athena felt relieved. Relieved that she wouldn't have to fight on her own, machines were doing that for her now. But on the other hand, she was deeply angry as being alive was the last thing she wanted now. She was angry and sad. She wished she had passed away, not passed out. But the Lord apparently had other plans for her.

Meanwhile Miranda was watching silently, waiting for her daughter so realize she was there, not wanting to scare her.
But then she saw Athena, gathering the few strengths she had, slowly raising an arm and trying to pull out the feeding tube. Miranda couldn't let her do that.

'No, no, no ! You've got to keep that' she said standing up to stop her.

That is only then that Athena realized her mother was with her. She got surprised she was even here at first and then she got all angry again.

'Why are you here ?' Athena asked dryly.

'You passed out, I accompanied you here.'

Miranda approached her daughter slowly and reached out for her fragile hand. But Athena did not let her and tried to put herself as far away from her mother as she could though she couldn't move very well.

'Get out.'

'Athena, darling...'

'I said: Get. Out.'

Though reluctant, Miranda nodded and for once did as she was told. She didn't want any argument right now and she didn't want her daughter to hurt herself or anyone by trying to push her away.

'Just... keep the tube okay ?' Miranda pleaded before leaving the room.

'Or what ? They're gonna bind me so I don't pull it out ?' She chuckled before urging her mother to leave her again 'Go.'

Miranda left without a word, slowly closing the door behind her. She felt like all of her energy was gone and she needed to sit. So she took a seat in the corridor, right in front of her daughter's room so she could watch her from outside.
Then, for Athena's own good, she called out for a nurse passing by.

'My daughter is desperatly trying to pull her feeding tube out. Do something about it.' She commanded in a rather polite tone.

'Sure Madam.'