Echo on the shore

A Martyr For My Love For You (pt. 2)

(Read as Jack White).

6:47 am

That night was hard for me to fall asleep, maybe because I decided to let Kaiku have the bed and send myself to couch. I was not mad at her though, just frustrated, I really wanted to help her, but I didn't know how, I didn't even know what to say, I never struggled with anything like addiction or depression, and clearly not an eating disorder.

I was laying on the couch face up with my eyes open, as I looked at the ceiling some words were coming to my head about Kaiku, Kaiku and me, Kaiku and her demons, and the posibility of us not being Kaiku and Jack anymore.

"I can tell a joke but one of these days I'm bound to choke, and we might share a kiss, but I feel like I can't go throught with this, and I bet we could build a home, but I know the right thing for me to do, is to leave you alone "

I thought about those words for a moment, but shook them off my head, what a jerk I was for thinking like that, Kaiku was going throught a rough patch, but I did feel we could actually last, I just had to pull myself toghether, man up and figure out how to help her.

7:04 am

I got up and made some coffee for both, brushed my theeth and walked to the bedroom, I was going to wake her up and apologise, I'd try to address things with patience and empathy, we were going to work this out toghether and everything would be fine.

Kaiku was laying on the bed rolled on her side, I sat beside her and stroked her arm softly to wake her.

"K, wake up, I made coffee"

She didn't respond or move, I noticed her skin felt very cold but didn't think much of it, I stroked her again

"K, c'mon, wake up, I'm sorry for last night, let's work it out with some coffee, like before"

Once again, Kaiku didn't say a word or even reacted, I started feeling confused.

"Kaiku..." I said firmly as I shook her gently, nothing.

"Kaiku, wake up" nothing

I rolled her over, she was extremly pale, her eyes closed, then it hit me, the bottles of pills she had shown me yesterday were laying on the floor beside the matress, empty.

"No, no Kaiku, c'mon!" I said as I leaned on her chest to check her breathing, it was very weak, but it was there, I put my fingers on her neck to check her pulse and it was low as well.

My heart started rasing, why did she do this? did she actually try to kill herself? I stopped thinking, grabbed her cellphone and dialed 911

"911, what's your emergency?"

"It's um... my girlfriend, she's... she's not waking up I think she might've overdosed"

"Okay Sir is she breathing?"

"I ... um... yeah, well... barely... can you please send help quick?"

"Yes, Sir, what's your adress?"

"1424 Flatbush Av. Apartment number 3"

"Help is on th way, Sir, how old is your girlfriend?"

"She's 23, please hurry" I said as my voice started breaking

"An ambulance will be there soon, Sir, stay calm, do you know what she might've taken?"

"Um... yeah I think it's... " I grabbed the empty bottles to read the strange names on the labels "Oxy..Oxyco..done and Xanax"

The ambulane arrived moments after, the paramedics lifted Kaiku up and strapped her up on a stretcher, she seemed like a rag doll. We went downstairs and up the ambulance, they put an oxygen mask on her and took her watch off to place an iv in her wrist, they left the watch on a tray.

"Can you give me the watch, please?"

"We'll put it with all her belongings down at the hospital"

"No no, please, she never takes it off, she needs it I don't want it to get lost"

The paramedic looked at me with pity in his eyes and handed the watch.

I held it as if that was the key for her surviving. I tocuhed it's ridges and scratches, I rolled it over and noticed it was engraved on the case, in the middle of the silver back, underneath the branding Casio satinless steel back, water resistant, was a letter "E".