ICU
1054 Words
Aunt Kate and I followed behind the ambulance. We had arrived a few minutes after the ambulance, and William had already been taken in and rushed up to surgery. Conall walked past me on his way out, but made a point of ignoring me while making a wide berth around me. I'd tried to call out to him, but he had carried on walking.
Aunt Kate and I had waited around for a while, until a nurse came down to us and told us that he would probably be in surgery for a while and that he wouldn't be able to have visiters until later the next day in any case. We left and I felt nothing but anger. What if he died? I wanted him to have the opportunity to speak his truth. I was angry that Conall seemed to know things, but refused to speak to me.
I had this overwhelming feeling, deep in my chest, that I needed to be with him. It was crazy, we had barely spoken two words to eachother, and when we had, he'd been rude and aggressive. But all accounts I should've hated him, but all I wanted was to be with him, and to feel that buzz of electricity through my body again. I started to empathize with Violet... Was this how she had felt about William? Was I destined to the same fate as her? No. I made a promise to myself that I would not let this take over my life, and I was not going to do anything to force him if he didn't want me.
The next morning, Barbara and Eryn had picked Aunt Kate and I up, to go to the airport. Aunt Kate had spoken to Barbara, and asked her to take me to the hospital later to visit William.
'Are you sure?' she'd asked, knowing bits and pieces of information that Aunt Kate had shared with her over the years.
'Yes' said Aunt Kate. 'We came across some... New information. It's changed our perspectives. Liv needs to speak to him.'
After saying our goodbyes, we headed back to the house to pick up my clothes and toiletries, and then gone back to the Moore's house. Eryn's closet was huge, and since we were both the same size, we kind of mixed and matched our outfits on the shelves. Since there was a chance that Conall might be at the hospital, him being a paramedic and all, I'd made a little extra effort to pretty myself up. I still hadn't told Eryn about him, she'd probably think I was crazy!
'My half brother is coming over for dinner later' she said, non chalantly.
'Half brother?' I asked. 'I thought it was just you and your mom?'
'Yeah, it's a long complicated story... When my mom had just finished school she was dating this guy, like the "bad boy" around town, and she got pregnant. It was a whole big family shame thing, like her parents were totally against it, and wouldn't let her see the guy any more and wanted her to get rid of the baby. They wanted her to go to college and said she was too young to have a child and it was a really big deal. His parents adopted the baby and moved away, so he lives with his dad, who is also his brother, and it's just some weird Jerry Springer s**t. Anyways, he got into contact a few years back, and he moved to the edge of town. He works here and all but we only see him like once every few months. He's like weird and grumpy. '
My jaw hung open, but Eryn just acted like it was a normal part of life. She noticed my face and started to giggle.
'Yeah I know it's kinda weird, but it's just how it is. I was really excited when mom told me about him and we were gonna meet for the first time. It was a few months after my dad died, and I thought having a big brother would fill the void. But he's a bit of an asshole so, whatever. '
We both laughed, and headed downstairs to remind Barbara that the visiting hours at the hospital would open up soon. We got to the hospital, and disappointingly, there were no ambulances parked outside for me to bump into Conall. We went to the front desk to ask where we could find William, and the nurse gave us directions to the ICU. Just before walking in, Eryn had given my hand a little squeeze. It was family only, and although I didn't really have any proof, I knew that he was my family.
I walked in, expecting to see William, lying on a bed with tubes and needles sticking out of him, but was not expecting what I saw. There he was, sitting up in the bed, chatting to one of the nurses and cracking jokes.
I cleared my throat. 'I, I thought you were dying. I thought you went for surgery? You look fine?' the words came out a little more aggressively than I'd expected them to. William looked around, saw my face and smiled.
'It turns out that this old man has more life in him than anyone expected!' he said proudly. 'I stabilized before they got me to theater, and they're just keeping me in to run some tests. Doc says there might've just been some kind of a blockage that worked its way out. He called me a miracle!' he looked like the cat that got the cream, but something in his eyes belied the truth that he knew exactly why he was so well today.
'I take it you came to get the rest of the story? Does your aunt know that you're here?'
'Actually, I came to see if you were okay.' I said, and I saw a spark of gratitude in his eyes. 'We found Violet's diary. I know what happened.' the words seemed to cut through him like a knife.
'It shouldn't have come to that.' he said sadly. 'I was denying fate.'
I looked at him, puzzled. 'she was right. She was right about everything. But I was so God damned stubborn that I... I drove her to her death.'
- Writer
