Olive Tree (WAIK Sequel)

Chapter 15 - "Somebody better have died or something,"

WARNING

BEFORE YOU READ THIS CHAPTER, PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IT IS VERY SHORT, BUT VERY EMOTIONAL.  NOT ONLY THAT BUT IT CAN CAUSE TRIGGERS IN SOME PEOPLE, SO IF YOU ARE EASILY TRIGGERED BE AWARE.

 

The only thing in between me and falling into a deep sleep was Beatrice's phone. Its continuous ringing dived into my ear drums and rattled throughout my body. Bea, on the other hand, was spread out like a starfish and covering up the majority of the bed. I debated for a minute whether it was worth waking her up. To help my decision, I looked at her phone to see 6 missed calls from one of her old high school friends, Gillian. I nudged at Bea's snoring, lifeless body and called her name smoothly.

She made a few foreign grumbles and reached out for her phone on the bed side table. "Somebody better have died or something," 

I giggled at her and wrapped myself in our blanket. Well, Mom's blanket.

"She was fine when I saw her last," Bea panicked and swung her feet over the edge of the bed, leaving them to dangle. "What do you mean?" She rushed over to her wardrobe, tears stinging her eyes, pulled on her jeans and a clean t-shirt while leaving her phone on her bed. "Gillian explain to me when I get- No, I won't be long. I'm leaving now."

"What's hap-"

"We need to go to the hospital right now." She looked me in the eyes as a tear rolled down her cheek. She made many desperate attempts to speak but ended up tripping upon her words. The only word she could utter from her tongue tied lips was one word. "Louise."

Clueless, I jumped out of bed and threw on random items of clothing. When I turned around Beatrice had fled down the stairs and outside. I scratched my head and followed at a steady pace, assuring I didn't fall. 

"Olly hurry up," She cried, desperately attempting to open the locked passenger side door to my car. "Hurry up! She needs me. She needs me!"

"Bea calm down," I held her shoulders and stopped her squirming. Slowly, I unlocked the car and allowed her to get in. "Do you remember how to breathe? You know, that thing you do to stay alive?"

"Cut the crap and drive!" She yelled impatiently, waiting for me to start the engine. Her anger turned into sadness as she kept repeating her name over and over again. 

When we arrived at the hospital, all was quiet. Bea got out and ran to the entrance, shoving many cleaners out of the way. I followed, panting like someone with tuberculosis, and apologized for her rudeness to everyone she barged passed.

"B46," She stopped at a long corridor. It stretched for what seemed like miles and miles. As my girlfriend ran down the hospital's corridor screaming "B46" and occasionally her best friend's name, I reminded myself of when Rose is looking for Jack's prison in 1997's reconstruction of Titanic. Louise was Jack, locked in a prison (hospital? prison? same difference.) and held captive. Bea was Rose, scowering every room on E Deck looking for the love of her life. I stood and watched for a second, you could say I was admiring. At the moment in time, Bea was being extremely rude. She didn't care. She was going to find her best friend no matter what. Whether it meant she being dragged into a police van, or being carted off to therapy. My friend, I was not only looking at Bea try and find B46, I was looking at love bewildering its way into her mind so much that it caused her to not think about anyone else but that one girl which was laying in a hospital bed, clinging onto her life. I was not only looking at Bea making a fool of herself, I was looking at a best friend trying to find the only person she would shove others out of the way for. The only person she would get out of bed for at 4 AM. The only person she cared enough about to not care about anyone else.

In the end, Beatrice found B46, it was right at the end of the hall. She pushed the wooden door open and rushed to her side.

Louise stretched a smile when we ran in. "Nice slippers, Bea. Pink and fluffy."

As Bea lost her best friend, those words were stuck in her mind. She tightened her grip onto Louise's frail hand and squeezed until her face went red. A wave of tears flushed down from her eyes and crashed onto the hospital's bed sheets. I took her body and pressed it on mine; pulling her into an awkward embrace where she held me, but Louise's hand too. She made my shirt as wet as every ocean you can imagine. While Gillian observed, trying not to cry too, I was curious as to what the hell was happening.

"How did it happen?" I asked Gillian, caressing Bea's hair. 

"I didn't explain it properly on the phone," Gillian sniffled from the corner of the room. "She collapsed when we were having a sleep over. She had drank a fair bit of alcohol, but I thought nothing of it. It wasn't that much. She wasn't even drunk. I phoned 911 straight away when I found that she was still breathing and I could find a pulse. In the ambulance they couldn't find a pulse and got me worried. My best friend was going to die now. Her blood was on my hands. That's when I phoned you. I was in the middle of an anxiety attack and I couldn't explain properly. You hung up anyway, yeah, cheers for that-" I snickered a little. "-but they found a pulse and attached an oxygen mask around her head. The paramedics said she was going to be fine but she wasn't." Gillian clapped her hand around her mouth and let her tears flow too. Her heavy eyeliner and mascara ran down her cheeks and she collapsed onto her knees.

"Did they say what happened? How did she die?"

"It takes more than exercise to get to her shape. She wouldn't eat for days. Bea was too busy wrapped up in you to even notice," She snapped and quickly wiped her tears.

Bea lifted her head from my shoulder. "Don't you dare blame this on me. It isn't my fault that we've been busy dealing with our own problems."

"What do you call a problem? Having sex every night? Bea, let's face it, he forced you to have it the first time, so why don't you just leave him to commit suicide again?"

"It's you that told Josh?" Bea rose from me, not letting go of Louise's hands. "How dare you speak like that after you know what I've been through. What I went through when he attempted the first time-"

"Bea, calm dow-"

She glared at me and I butted out.

"I didn't just tell Josh. I told everyone what a controlling bastard he is."

"Gillian, you're upset over Louise, I get it," I stood in before Bea could say something she regreted. "But do you really think right now and right here, next to her death bed, is really the right time to express your feelings?"

She didn't say anything. She just barged passed me, knocking me into the wall. I slammed the door after her before proceeding to comfort Bea. She turned her head and looked me in the face. "Thank you for not leaving me, Olly."