Ladders

Hospital

Francine rode in the ambulance with Madeline while Arthur drove both Amelia, and Emil to hospital. It was almost 2 am now as four people sat alone in the ER waiting. Emil tried to stop crying but the tears just wouldn't stop pouring. Amelia was so emotionally exhausted she just clung to Emil's arm and sniffled from time to time. Though they didn't know each other well he didn't care. Honestly he needed the human contact as much as she did right now. Emil had texted Leon awhile ago telling him what had happened but he hasn't gotten a response. So he just focused on the overly bright white walls in the deathly quiet waiting room. "Emil dear...I'm going to go back to the house and grab blankets and food. Do you want anything?" Francine asked as she stood up. "Just water and fruit please" he said as he rested his head on Amelia's out of exhaustion. "Okay I'll be back. Call me if she's out of surgery". He watched his mother like figure walk away and out the sliding doors. He looked over to Arthur and saw him sigh and put his face in his hands. A nurse came out and walked over to them all. They all prayed she came with good news but all she came with was an offer for coffee or water. All three declined and they were left all alone once again. "Emil what exactly happened? I know you said Gil cheated on her but I mean that doesn't seem like a reason Maddie would attempt something like this". Emil sighed and looked at Amelia "she thinks the world would be better off without her. She thinks you're the only good child of the family and she's the reason Francine was forced into prostitution. Gil was her one constant but since he cheated on her I guess she feels it was her time to go". Amelia looked shocked "she thinks I'm better than her? W-what...no no no she's the smart sweet daughter she's always there for me...if I knew". Emil just hugged her "we can't change the what's already happened, let's just see what the future holds". Arthur listened to all of what Emil said. Was he not caring enough towards Madeline? She was his baby girl what would make her think that she was the worst child? Tears once again sprang from his eyes as he started think what the future could hold. Would he have to burry the child that he raised from the cradle...to the coffin? A child isn't suppose to die before their parents! Arthur tried to control his pain but the tears kept flowing as he just wanted to see his little girl smile once again.

Francine returned around 2:45 am with blankets and wrapped them around the two sleeping teenagers and handed her husband some food and coffee she brought. Her usually perfect appearance was replaced by messy brown hair, tired eyes, and sweatpants. She couldn't think of anything but her daughter. She bit into the small breakfast food that she had brought and cried as she ate. She thought she was the most pathetic mom ever, crying as she ate while her baby was in the ER for a suicide attempt. She felt a arm wrap around her as she sobbed. "Arthur...what if we don't get to see her shinning eyes open ever again?" She cries into his shoulder. Her husband tried to calm her "don't think like that. Madeline is strong, she'll make it through this". He wanted to believe his own words but he didn't know how long Madeline was underwater and how much blood she lost. For all he knew, the doctors couldn't do anything but were trying to stitch up her sliced arms and trying to drain her lungs of water in hopes she might wake up.

Emil's phone rang causing him to jump awake and everyone else. He answered it and heard the concern voice of Mathias "Emil, where are you? We all are worried about you!". Emil remember the events of last night and how he slept on a hospital chair and his heart began to hurt so intensely. "Mathias what time is it?" Emil asked. Mathias grew worried "it's 8:30 am, Emil what's wrong it sounds like you've been crying. I'm putting you on speaker phone" and so Mathias did and all Emil's family gathered to listen. Emil cried into the phone "I spent the night on a hospital chair, my friend Madeline tried killing herself so I ran to her house to try and stop her...but I was too late she has already attempted now I'm at the hospital". Lukas gasped and grabbed the phone "Emil we'll be right there. I'll bring you some new clothes and food and water" then the line went dead. Emil tossed his phone on the chair next to him and laid his head back on Amelia's. "Dude you weren't too late...we all were asleep. If it wasn't for you I would have found my sister completely dead in the morning" she said as she curled up more in the blanket wrapped around herself and Emil. "I just feel like I could've done more. Like what if I-". Amelia shushed him and yawned "no. Like  you told me last night only focus on this future right now". Emil smiled a little down at her "using my own words against me" she gave a little smile of her own "don't be a hypocrite and not follow your own words". Francine and Arthur held each other exhausted, they only got roughly three hours of sleep and were mostly running on watered down black coffee from the cafeteria. Usually Francine would go on runs in the morning and sometimes Amelia would join her claiming she needed the calorie loss, but Francine thought both her daughters were perfect. She frowned thinking she'd never say the word 'daughters' again but only 'daughter'. She was snapped from her thoughts when she saw two men run in a hug Emil. She recognized them as Emil's caretakers. They would pick him up a lot from their house after studying with Madeline. They held each close until Mathias broke away and walked over to Francine and Arthur. "I'm very sorry about what's happening to you right now. I hope everything turns out alright. We are going to take Emil home so he can shower, but he'll come back in about an hour or so" he said and Francine nodded in response and watched the little family of three leave. Would her family soon turn into that of three?