Mirrorless

Chapter 12

Bottles and bottles,
Emptied in a day.
Oversleeping is natural,
Miraculously not fatal.

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Lilian stood outside the emergency ward that William was in, pacing nervously. When she had attempted to go in earlier, nurses had shooed her away, insisting that only two visitors were allowed. William had apparently chosen Aaron and Lucille to stay, something Lilian didn't really find surprising. The three had known each other before they'd known her, so it made sense that he wanted them there over her.

But, she wouldn't have felt so uneasy, if William hadn't looked at her so weirdly early in the day. She could swear that he was trying to avoid her, but she had no clue as to why that could be. Lilian shook her head, trying not to overthink the situation. Her friend was in the emergency room, she should be worrying about his health, not the fact that he was avoiding her.

Lilian resumed her pacing, checking her phone to see if either Aaron or Lucille had texted her any updates. They had not. But she understood that; their concern and attention should be on William. But still, Lilian couldn't help shake the feeling that something was wrong. Something more than William's alcohol poisoning.

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When William opened his eyes, the first thing that hit him was how dry he felt. His mouth was completely parched, and running his tongue over his lips, he could feel that they too, were drier than he had ever felt them.

The last thing he remembered was buying a whole bottle of straight vodka from the shady convenience store off campus and then chugging the whole thing on his way home. He must've passed out somewhere on the road.

His stomach was churning in a way that felt absolutely horrible, and the bitter taste of bile in his mouth told him that he probably already vomited. But for the life of him, he couldn't remember when. He was hooked up to a lot of different things that he didn't recognize. His breathing felt short and shallow, and the lack of air was making him dizzy.

Next to him, a nurse stood with a clip board, making note of something. Catching his gaze, she smiled.

"You're awake, huh? Three of your friends are here, but I'm afraid we can only allow two of them inside. Who among Lilian, Aaron and Lucille would you like to see?"

William felt his heart wrench at the mention of Lilian's name.

"Luciillee aand Aaaronn"

He winced at his slurred voice. The nurse nodded at him kindly, making one last note on her clipboard before tucking her pen into her pocket.

"You'll be fine, alright hun? I'll be right back, let me get your friends real quick."

William watched as she left, only to return with a tear-stricken Lucille and a visibly concerned Aaron. Lucille immediately knelt next to William, very obviously trying to hold her tears back as she smoothed his hair and fussed over the blanket he was covered with.

Aaron, on the other hand, took a seat in one of the chairs, clasping and unclasping his hands in what William could only guess was concern. William smiled weakly at the two. The IV he was hooked to was obviously doing some work - William felt the moisture returning to his mouth.

Not wanting to slur his speech and make the already worried pair even more worried, William tried his best to speak clearly.

"The.. nurse. She.. said that I'll.. be alright."

Lucille smiled at him, patting his head.

"Of course you'll be okay. The nurse told me on my way inside that your case of poisoning isn't the worst. You just blacked out. You'll be fine once the alcohol is out of your system."

Aaron nodded.

"I'm glad it wasn't worse."

William nodded, smiling again in an attempt to make the mood less tense. Lucille didn't wait long before asking the question that William was dreading to answer.

"William... If you want to talk about it, what went wrong? You said you were going home to work, and you looked tense but I thought that it was cause of your assignment. When did you end up drinking?"

William sighed.

"I... never had... the paper. I.. I was.. upset."

William watched as Lucille blinked back tears before responding.

"What upset you?"

William glanced at Aaron before turning to Lucille.

"Can we talk alone?"

Lucille nodded, and Aaron stood up. William was surprised to see hurt in Aaron's eyes. The taller male squeezed William's shoulder lightly before wordlessly walking out. William turned his attention back to Lucille, his heart tightening as he began his explanation.

"I.. noticed.. that Lilian.."

Lucille raised her eyebrows.

"Lilian? Wait hold on. Before you tell me what you noticed about Lilian, I hope you know that your relationships don't have to define your happiness. I'm not trying to condescend you or tell you that your feelings are dumb, but William, you mean the world to me. To Aaron. To Lilian. And your happiness is really important to us."

William smiled weakly. Lucille waved at him to go on, so he did.

"She's.. starting to.. like Aaron."

Lucille frowned, her brows scrunching up like how they always did when she was thinking about something.

"It could just be a rebound, you know? She might be crushing on him cause he was being nice to her after the whole breakup."

William shook his head.

"I was.. nice too. Why.. does she.. always look.. over me?"

Lucille sighed.

"I know you're upset. I know you really like her, and the fact that she's falling for someone else in front of your eyes is really frustrating. I know it's hard to watch that happen. But like you had no choice in falling for her, she has no choice in who she falls for. Heck, if I could, I'd want her to fall for you. She deserves someone who cares for her after what Calix did. But also, I think her crush on Aaron is more fascination than anything else. You know how he's all mysterious, even with us, right? She could just be.. I don't know, intrigued by him?"

William shook his head sadly.

"Should've.. seen the.. way she looked.. at him."

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Okay, so a lot of people are going to come at me.

'Why would someone drink so much just after seeing their crush starting to like someone else, that's just dumb?'

May I remind you, that people this age (high school, freshman college) are the EPITOME of dumb? And for a lot of people, alcohol provides an easy out when you're feeling really strong, negative emotions.

Have you literally not read/heard of heartbroken people drinking themselves to death? Or not even that extreme, people getting wasted to forget worries that they have?

But just to be clear, I don't in anyway think that drinking your worries (or life) away is a healthy way to forget your problems. Alcohol poisoning is a serious thing, and I'm sure it's not fun. Stay safe kids <3