Life Without You

Chapter 23 - In the Hospital

"Ariel?" Leon let out with a voice so weak that only his mother who was sitting so close to him could hear him.

"Leon, my baby!" cried Mrs Waltz as she leaned over to kiss and embrace him.

"Doctor, he's awake!" Angel called out.

His father and brother gathered around him.

"Has Ariel woken up?" asked Leon. The smell of the hospital brought him back to that traumatic night Ariel was shot that he was momentarily deluded into thinking that he was still in the hospital with her.

"How's my boy, doctor?" Mrs Waltz asked in between shaky sobs.

"His liver is damaged and he has jaundice and stomach ulcer. The withdrawal symptoms from his alcohol addiction are out of control so we'll need to monitor him in hospital. We're trying all we can to save his liver but if worse come to worse, he may require a liver transplant. He has to abstain from alcohol indefinitely otherwise he'll lose his life. I recommend that he enters into rehab soonest after treatment," the doctor explained.

"Thank you, doctor," Mr Waltz replied, holding his wife as she buried her face in his bosom.

"It's ok, Mum. He's still alive," Angel comforted his mother, grieved at the state of his brother who looked dishevelled and sickly, far from the handsome poster boy he was.

"Where's Ariel? Where's she?" Leon said with a weak voice. "Has she been discharged?"

"Discharged months ago. Now you're the one in hospital. Don't you remember you collapsed on stage?" said Angel.

Confused for a moment, he began to remember the crowd, the pain and Ariel on stage.

"Ariel, I saw her on stage. Where's she?"

"All in your head."

Leon squeezed his eyes shut. The nerves on his neck popped out as the pain came back. He felt that usual sudden urge to drink to relieve the pain. "Get me beer..."

"Didn't you hear the doctor? You'll die if you drink again!"

But he did not care and stretched his hand to the bedside table as if to grab something. It was his usual habit, but this time there was nothing there. Frustrated and grumpy, he attempted to tear the tube away from the cannula at the back of his hand.

"No, Leon!" Angel and their father tried to stop him. The nurses rushed in to calm him down but he got even more agitated.

"Get away from me, all of you!" he snapped and struggled but was too weak to fight off those who were holding him down.

The doctor injected a painkiller into the cannula and the pain subsided after a while.

"Mr Waltz, you're in a lot of pain. I strongly advise you to check into rehab else you'll send yourself into an early grave," said the doctor.

Leon glared at him.

"Get a grip! A girl is not worth losing your life over," rebuked Angel. He made sense.

How his life could turn out this way - all because of a girl?

Because of a girl, Emily, his first love who left him after his fame and his fans got in the way of her wish to start a family with him that he became an alcohol addict. Because of a girl, Ariel, he almost lost his life.

Whatever happened to the almighty Leon Waltz who could conquer and get anything he wanted? Defeated by women.

"The doctor is right, Leon. You need help. We'll be there for you all the way. I can't bear the thought of losing you," Mrs Waltz pleaded with rivers flowing from her eyes.