AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It could be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. There are still a few more tests we need to run.” She squeezed my hand. “But with these new meds, everything will start looking better in the morning.”
I lay back against the pillow, staring at Theo. Part of me was nervous, but mostly I was excited.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Rock Bottom Has A Basement
Theo
Friday
For the last week, I had spent my time basically living out of Felicity’s hospital room. I hadn’t spoken to my family for the most part, other than Walt and Tori. I just couldn’t deal with them. No on
e knew of Felicity’s condition, and she wanted to keep it that way until after surgery, which hopefully would happen over the weekend.
Just two more days. Two more days and we could put this part of our lives behind us. I knew she was scared. On the first day she found out about the tumor, she seemed to take it all in; however, as the days went by, the gravity of everything sort of hit one by one. Not having friends. All the conversations she’d had with herself in public and in private. She was doing her best not to piece together what were her own memories and what were her hallucinations.
Feeling my phone buzz in my pocket as I headed down the hall to Felicity’s room, I answered without even looking.
“Darcy—”
“Theo, where are you!” I winced when Walt yelled on the other side of the phone.
“What do you mean, where am I? I told you I’d be at the hospital until—”
“Reagan Medical, right?” He cut me off.
“Walt, what’s going on—”
“Arty overdosed on whatever drugs he’s on. We’re in the E.R.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” I yelled, startling the nurses at their stations as I turned and ran in the opposite direction, hanging up on Walt in the process.
Again?
This was happening again?
Felicity I could excuse. Arty. Goddamn it, Arty. No matter how hard we tried to get him off heroin, he just went right back to it. Over and over, it felt like he was stabbing us in the heart. This was the third time! Part of me didn’t even want to go, but…urgh goddamn him.
“Theo!” Walt stood up from the waiting room at the E.R. Beside him stood my aunt and uncle, both of them barely even dressed for the day. For the first time, I saw my aunt dressed in jeans and just a shirt. Arthur wasn’t much better, his black-and-gray hair a mess on his head.
Shit. I inhaled deeply. I never wanted them to be in this situation. I had covered up Arty’s prior visits here just so they could have peace of mind. I was the emergency contact for Arty, but since I hadn’t been answering calls, his parents must have been notified instead.
“Look who finally wants to be part of this family again,” my aunt retorted, her eyes and cheeks red as she crossed her arms, like she was doing what she could to hold herself together.
“Lorelai,” my uncle said sternly, shaking his head and not bothering to look at me. “Not now.”
Without a word to either of them, I took a seat in the chairs beside Walt, hating how all too familiar this seemed.
“I was worried because I hadn’t seem him in so long,” Walt whispered, leaning forward with his head in his hands. “We made plans tonight and I came by… I knocked. I could hear his phone ringing. For some reason I knew, Theo. I just knew. When I got inside, I saw the needle still in his—”
“STOP!” my aunt shrieked, rising to her feet and shaking her hands. “God. I can’t… I just—”
I watched as she staggered towards the exit. I expected my uncle to go after her, but he didn’t; he just sat as if he were made out of stone. His eyes were fixed on the E.R. doors.
Damn you, Arty.
Rising to my feet, I followed behind my aunt, quietly leaving my uncle for Walt, but I doubted he would say much or anything at all. Pushing the glass doors open, I stepped out into the cool summertime breeze. My aunt sat on one of the benches outside, gripping it as she tilted her head up to stare at the full moon. Not a star was in the sky. Quietly, I sat down beside her. It was best to wait for her to start talking… and that never took long.
