The Last 384 Hours

5

Song: Listen Before I Go by Billie Eilish

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Most girls want to wake up to the gentle rays of sunlight shining through their lace curtains, reflecting on their pristine bedroom walls and linen.

They want to be woken up by the jubilant chirping of birds outside their window. Or they just want to wake up in a dark room with no birds chirping outside their window. Either way, girls want to wake up to something special.

My special thing would have been waking up in my own bedroom, for starters. It wouldn't matter whether there was komorebi lighting up my bedroom or not or if the birds were singing for me free of charge.

What would've mattered though, is whether or not my little sister would've come skipping into my room, tossing her shoes off, using my bed as a trampoline and screaming at the top of her lungs: "Wake up, Ro! Daddy's making pancakes!"

I couldn't stand waking up and finding the plain white hospital walls staring back at me. Or the eerie silence that reminded me that I was on my own.

But this morning I woke up to something that I'd never woken up to before-even when my soul was still joined with my flesh.

It melted the ice in my heart to find Veronica's large greens staring back at me. Of course her eyes weren't connected with mine, but the fact that she was here warmed my heart.

What I'd noticed from my few days of being in the hospital was that Dad left every morning and returned every afternoon, there was always someone there to check up on me, and that Aiden had never come. Well, I wasn't surprised.

Veronica held both her cheeks in her hands as she silently observed the wounds on my body. I'd never seen her so focused before. She was always yammering about something. But she didn't look as out of character as my parents. Her rich brown hair was neatly brushed back with a silver alice band holding it in place and her outfit looked smart like she'd just walked out of a fashion catalogue shoot.

I tried to stay as still as possible so I wouldn't startle her, but when she sucked in a breath, I couldn't help the excitement that surged through me. I was just waiting for her to say something to cheer me up like she always did.

"Ro, if you can hear me now, I just want you to know that I haven't had enough of you. And I don't think I ever will. None of us will. Not even Mom. She may fail to show it, but she cares. Heck, Serena gave me a five minute lecture yesterday for taking a sip of your orange juice. Dad's rubbing off on her," she mumbled the last part to herself and for the first time in days, I chuckled. It was rare to catch Veronica complaining. She was all-apart from her job-rainbows and sunshine and religion.

It might've been wrong of me, but I always made sure to remind Veronica of her sophomore scandal-that time she punched Sofia Sanchez and got suspended from school-whenever she started pulling out her I'm-a-Christian-and-I-know-what's-right mood. It usually did the job. And that just made it official that all Aiden and I were the blacksheep, but it seems that Aiden was darker.

Before Veronica could speak again, her phone rang and she had to attend to the person on the other end. "Aiden?" She answered, plopping down on one of the armchairs.

By now, my mind was bursting with ideas. If I wanted help, I had to have a source from the outside. Knowing Veronica, I was adamant she wouldn't disappoint me when I needed her human services. I just had to find a way to speak to her without freaking her out.

"Aiden, you're freaking impossible!" She shrieked into her phone.

Remember when I said that it was rare for Veronica to complain? Well, the rarity didn't apply to our brother.
Veronica was fuming when she got up from the armchair, fixed her black palazzo pants and stepped out of the room to continue lecturing Aiden.