You Never Know

Endless Sleep

I woke up to feeling something wet on my cheek. I sat up quickly expecting to see something like a leak in the wall. I did not expect to see a dog's giant eyes staring right at me with his face dripping with slobber. "Gosh Ricky, stop scaring me like that," I said as I rubbed my sleepy eyes. Ricky whimpered and tilted his head acting confused. "What?" I asked as if dogs could talk. Ricky didn't reply but merely stood there. I shifted my attention to the clock that read 5:07 glowing brightly in the dark. "Well," I said to Ricky, even though he had no idea what I just said. "What now?" Ricky seemed to understand perfectly because he walked over to the nightstand and rested his head on my phone. 

Since there was no chance of falling back to sleep, I decided it was time I should answer the texts. I reached over and grabbed my phone. "Dang," I said as I scrolled through the now one hundred and seven messages. I continued to skim through them until I saw a message that immediately made me stop. "She's alive." Without another thought, I called my mom. She picked up almost immediately. "She's alive," my mother said in a very hoarse voice. "Is she okay?" I managed to choke up. "In a coma, but alive." I let out a breath I didn't realize I had been holding. "Will she be okay?" I asked, relieved. "The doctors are saying the chances are slim, but there's still hope" my mom replied clearly distressed. I didn't know what to say. I was speechless. "She's going to be okay," my mother said quietly. "I hope so," I said after a moment with my voice cracking. "You should get some sleep. It's five in the morning," she said. "Mom, if you think I can get back to sleep then you're asking for the impossible." There was a pause, then my mom said, "I know. At least try." I sighed then said, "Fine." "Goodnight, love you," my mom said quietly. "Love you." The line went dead. 

I sat there, paralyzed, unable to move. My sister was alive. Granted, in an endless sleep, but she was alive.

I didn't move until Ricky barked. I started to pet him until I got distracted by something peculiar. My phone glowed with texts, which wasn't what surprised me. What surprised me was who they were from. Now I had expected Aleea to text me because that's what a girlfriend should do in this kind of situation, but I had not expected to see a text from Madison. "Hey, I heard what happened," the text from Madison read. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I know we haven't talked much, but I just wanted to check on you. Hailey is strong, it's going to be okay." Why would Madison text me? Why would she care? We were in the same math class in seventh grade, but that was four years ago. Last time I recalled, she was not considered a close friend of both me or Hailey. Disregarding the fact that it was five in the morning, I decided to text back. "How can you be so optimistic when my twin sister is stuck in a coma?" I sent back. I knew I was being harsh, but that didn't really matter to me at the moment.

I continued to read the texts others had sent. "Are you okay?" was the only one I could find that Aleea had sent. No, I was not okay. The fact that she did not say anything else did not help. "No," I sent back. She sent a short message, so she got a short answer.

I decided these were making things worse, so I turned off my phone and set it back on the nightstand. I laid back down on the bed and sighed. Ricky jumped on me and laid on my stomach. I closed my eyes and started stroking his soft fur. 

I was almost asleep when I saw the faint glow of my phone between my partially closed eyelids. Who in their right mind would text me at five in the morning? I thought as I grabbed my phone. The text was from the person I would least expect to be up that early, Madison. "She's in a coma? She's alive?" My first instinct was to ignore her and attempt to go back to sleep. But then my curiosity to know why she was up that early got the best of me. "Yes. She's alive. But in an endless sleep, I guess," I texted back. She texted back almost immediately. "That's better than we thought, right?" We? Who's we?  "Yeah, I guess," I replied. "Couldn't sleep?" she sent a few minutes later. No, duh. "Yeah. You?" I obviously did not want to talk, but either she couldn't tell or didn't care. "No. I don't know if my little brother knows this, but he snores really loud." Is she trying to be funny? "Oh. I'm sorry," I bluntly replied. After ten minutes of her not replying, I figured I probably made her angry because of how vague I was acting. 

I set my phone back on the nightstand and sat up against the bed. I put my hands over my face and closed my eyes. Thoughts of hopelessness and the dreadful reminder of being alone rushed through my head. It felt as if nobody cared. It felt like I was alone in all of this. Nobody was there for me. I was all alone, sitting on my Aunt's bed, with nobody there to comfort me. I sighed and gazed around the room. I was looking for something, but I didn't know what. Something that would make me feel as though somebody cared. My attention gazed to my phone. The feeling of guilt immediately fell over me. Madison, the girl who I have barely said anything to her except "Hi." She was there for me. When nobody, including my own girlfriend, would give a few minutes of their busy lives to talk to me, Madison did. 

Before I could tell myself this was a bad idea, I grabbed my phone and sent her "Thank you. For talking to me." Whether she answered or not, I didn't care. At least I told her what I should have said a while ago. 

Two minutes later I received a text. "You don't need to thank me. I'm just doing what any sensible person would do. But you're welcome." Little did she know, according to what she just said, Aleea would be considered unsensible, which wasn't completely wrong at the moment. "Still, thank you. I needed that." I sent her. "Why did your mood change dramatically?" she sent a few minutes later. Because you're the only person who would actually talk to me. "Mood swings, I guess." "Makes sense. How's your sister doing?" she asked. "I don't know. I know about as much as you do," I replied. We continued talking about my sister for what felt like minutes, but it was obviously longer. 

I got so deep into the conversation that I literally jumped when the door opened. My aunt walked in holding a plate with what looked like pancakes. "I thought you might want to eat something," she said as she handed me the food. It took me a few moments to comprehend what just happened. I looked at the window to see rays of light peaking out from the blinds. "It's morning?" I said a little more loudly than I meant to. Aunt Karen sighed and said, "Let me guess, you didn't sleep?" "Not even a little," I muttered as I checked my phone. How long does it take to answer one text, Madison? I glanced at the clock that now read 8:34. Then I remembered it was a Friday, and there was still school. Aunt Karen followed my gaze and it seemed like she read my mind. "Your mother thought it was best if you stayed home from school today," she said. I didn't say anything. Aunt Karen sat on the bed and whispered in my ear, "I have good news." "What?" I rudely said as I rubbed my eyes. I don't think anything can help me feel better right now. "Your mother called. She said you should come visit your sister as soon as possible." Except that. I whipped my head around and looked at Aunt Karen straight in the eye. "Well then what are we waiting for?" I said as I stood up. "Let's go see my sister."