Vegetable Soup

Chapter Two: Todd's Visit

I used to hate books that switched POVs often, but I'm starting to see how it can help a story. Also, before you begin reading, I'm going to start trying to lengthen chapters. I've got three hours until I need to start my homework so... time to kill!

Wait not TIME to kill.

I have time I need to kill... not the moment in which I will kill someone... you know what, I'll just start writing.

-----Todd-----

I stare at the bed, one that might as well have been empty for the contents it held so motionless. With every step closer I take, my heart warms to her gentle face. She wouldn't recognize herself if she woke up now. Some people only grew taller as they aged, but our family was known to change drastically through the years when growing up. We looked enough alike, but it would take her a moment to recognize me.

I've grown a foot, but Hesper only grew an inch in four years. She was going to be short, if she ever woke up. I let my eyes dance over her soft brown hair, hair she tried so hard to curl with spoons one night a few weeks before she landed herself in the middle of the highway. I block out the ringing in my ears relaying to me what I had overheard on my way to Hesper's room.

...probably best to let her go now...

I set my homework down on the table next to her bed, but I don't set to work as usual. Instead I open a curtain and look out at the rain. Perfect little drops crash onto the grass around our house, and fat tears dive off the windowsills. One fat drop lands on my little sister's blanket, until its raining inside and my head is buried into her side.

Hard sobs rack my body, my fist tightens around some of her hair, and I whisper her name. I hadn't let myself grieve for my sister, because I held onto my belief she would come back. My sister  wasn't the kind of sister to die. Other brothers could lose their sisters, go to their funerals, sit by their bed and cry, but I shouldn't be one of them. I shouldn't have to watch her stay the same while I grew up.

I shouldn't have let them leave. Hesper was grounded and dad was already drunk. It was my fault Hesper didn't get to enjoy middle school. If she ever woke up, she'd find her father's grave, her best friend's urn, and a cat that hissed and clawed any time it was in the same room as her. If she never woke up, I will have taken her away from a life she could have turned legendary. I would never hear her voice, or see her dance, or bother her while she's doing her homework.

A crack of thunder startles me from my thoughts. I loosen my grip on Hesper's hair and look at her face. It had changed. The doctor said it was likely to happen every now and then, but this was different. She hadn't relaxed her lips or furrowed her eyebrows. Her face was contorted.

Her teeth are clenched, her lips pulled slightly away. Her eyes are shut tightly and her eyebrows come down like a drawbridge. I reach forward, and stroke the side of her face gently. I take one of her hands in mine.

She squeezes. At first, I don't know what to think, but before long her hands are tightening and loosening, and her face switches from angst to joy repeatedly.

"Mom!" I shout, but she doesn't hear. "Mom, get in here!" I scream, straining my voice. I laugh, and get off the floor to sit on the bed next to Hesper. I tighten my grip on her hand and laugh again. "Hesper, come on, come back. Come back." I don't notice until later my voice cracks.

"What?" my mother shouts, frantic, running into the room with her hair half tied-up. She looks between Hesper and me, then approaches. "I'll call Dr. Eisley," she says, running back out of the room.

"Hesper, you can wake up," I say, leaning closer to her face. "Its Todd, just open your eyes. I'm right here. Come back. Please. Come back."

----one hour later----

"I think she hears us," Dr. Eisley says, leaning away from Hesper. I retreat from the corner I had fallen into when he entered the room. I was used to him bringing bad news. "Notice if you speak loud enough her face relaxes."

"Hesper?" I say, sitting down next to her again. I watch as her tightened face loosens, and her chest falls gentler. Her eyes flutter open and shut again. My mother gasps and grabs onto my shoulder.

"Do you think she can see us?" she asks. Dr. Eisley was already examining her again, opening her eyelid and shining a light.

"I don't think so, but lets get her to a hospital, now!" he says.

The car ride to the hospital takes a long time, especially considering all the equipment shoved into the backseat with me and Hesper. I keep her head on my shoulder, rubbing her hand with my thumb. Every now and then she twitches, and every time she does I close my eyes and smile. My sister would be coming back to me.

Later, Mom and I are in Hesper's room at the hospital. A nurse is connected her to a bag of water, but leaves as soon as she is finished. Now was time to be with Hesper.

"The doctor said she can hear us, but she can't see or feel us, and she doesn't have the strength to speak. They're going to try getting her to talk," my mother says.

"That's great! How long until she can talk?" I ask.

"There's really no telling. Her voice has been out of use for so long it might take weeks."

I didn't care, my only care was that Hesper was coming back to us. If she could hear me, she wouldn't hear me cry. She would only hear me tell her what a wonderful sister she was, and how happy I was to have her with me. I spent that night, and four hours after school the rest of the week sitting by her bed and telling her about everything she'd missed. I told her about the election, the Winter Olympics, which had always been her favorite, and about all the new neighbors.

I didn't tell her anything that could upset her. I wanted to wait until I could comfort her and answer her questions. That weekend, I told her what it looked like outside.

"Its stopped raining, but I guess you could hear that. Its a very pretty spring day. Oh, today is April 7th, if you were wondering. Your birthday is two months from today. I bet you'll be talking by then, won't you? I bet you still like red velvet cake. I missed your cakes while you were away, but you'll make me one when you can, right? You can teach me how so I can make your birthday cake."

I stare at my little sister's face, hopeful for any twitch she understood me. She smiles, and I feel the sun inside my heart burn brighter. She was responding to me more regularly, a lot faster than the doctors said she would. One said she might not even remember me, but I knew she would. My sister would pull through.

"You always did want me to teach you," someone says. It hurts my ears to hear the strained, breaking voice that barely made it above a whisper. I look at my sister, who takes a deep breath, and realize it was just me and her in the room. Alone.

"Hesper?" I ask, grasping one of her hands in mine.

"I said," she chokes, gasping for air, "You-"

"Hesper!" I shout, throwing myself on her and hugging her. "Hesper, hug me!" I say, losening my grip. Perhaps it was too tight. Perhaps she was more fragile now.

"How can I? You aren't actually there, are you?" she says. She giggles, and I furrow my eyebrows. I press the call button for a nurse, and soon a lady pokes her head in.

"Everything okay in there?"

"Get me out of here!" my sister screams. I jump off the bed, falling backwards into a chair. She begins to holler, and the nurse paces over to the bed to restrain her flailing arms.

"Settle down!"

"No! Get me out of here! Take me home! Take me home! I want to go ho-o-ome!" I cover my ears and tighten my eyes. I pull my knees up and groan. Hesper was screaming, her voice was cracking and choking off every few seconds. More nurses rushed into the room, and I glanced up in time to see her sink back into the bed, a doctor removing a thin silver needle from her skin.

Only then do I let myself cry.