This turned out to be a little 'in-between' part. It did take me a little longer to write; life got busy and I wanted to make some changes on the fly. Hopefully, you'll enjoy the finished project, which I think is a good mix of fun and serious!
All sex is between characters eighteen and older. Any resemblance to real persons or events is coincidental. Be safe out there, and enjoy! ;-)
Chapter Twenty-Three
The damn hospital was miles away...
I'd never driven so fast or so focused — racing my aunt to the nearest emergency room. It still took forty-five minutes to pull up to those gloomy sliding doors... Three-quarters of an hour before nurses pried her limp body from the car. Every now and then, I would look at her; seeing no signs of life.
I thought she was dead.
Having found Terry unconscious, I pulled her onto the passenger seat of her car and rushed to help. My feet were bare and my sleep clothes torn where I'd sat on shattered glass. By the time I got to the hospital, tears were beginning to flow. A day before, I had chased this woman away from her twin and her family. Now, I wasn't sure if she was going to live.
I was already blaming myself, and I was going to be doing it for a while. Part of me thought this wasn't related to me — part of me knew I was overestimating the role I played. Yet, guilt was tearing away at me. I was feeling sick, looking pale, and an agonising headache blanketed my brain.
Using the landline at the nurse's station, I called our home and woke everyone up. Blake answered the phone — the calmest of us all — and she managed to put together a plan. My family would soon be with me, and all I had to do was wait.
Terry had been parked in the street when I found her. The little Fiat she drove was a mess. Its floor was covered in burnt-out cigarettes and rubbish littered the back seat. A few empty pill bottles had frightened me, but the doctors had no interest in those. They said they were old, harmless, unlikely to have caused the reaction they were seeing...
Also in the car, a decades-old photograph of Mom and her twin sister. They looked so happy, and yet it all went so wrong.
Chapter Twenty-Four
My family took about an hour to get to the hospital. Our secret coastal hideaway was far from everything. At first, that was a feature, but now I saw it as a flaw.
I hadn't told my mother that Terry came to town looking for us. My whole soul seemed to think she would hate me for keeping that secret; hate me for chasing her sister away. Yet, when everyone arrived, Mom was the first to embrace me. She held me so tight that I could feel every rhythm of her body. I swore I felt the blood in her veins; pumped by her restless heart. There wasn't a trace of anger — not even an ounce — in the way she held me.
While I was still in my night clothes, the girls had managed to throw on some outfits. Still, they looked tired and concerned. The strongest of us all seemed to be Riley. She didn't have as much of a stake in our aunt's health as the rest of us. That allowed her to put us first in a way that was so beautifully kind and selfless.
We were a strong bunch — almost unshakeable — but this was a curveball no one expected. What stood out most was the fact that everyone seemed to set aside any past contempt for our aunt. Instead, we acknowledged that she remained family, no matter what happened in the past.
As we waited for news, Emily and Riley stuck close while Blake and I did the same. The two couples strengthened one another so that we could channel that strength to our mom. This was the beauty of the life we'd made: intricate, never complicated, resilient... Still, it wasn't quite enough to make the hurt feel better or to wash away our anxiety. No, those things would remain for a while longer, and so would my feelings of guilt.
It was another fifteen minutes before the doctor came to give us a full update. He was a tall man with a full head of grey hair and a calm voice. It was incredibly early in the morning, but a neurologist would soon be on call. The doctor explained that tests would be done, and that these could be uncomfortable. For now, our aunt was out of the woods, and they're treating it as a severe seizure.
"Like, epilepsy?" my mother asked.
"Exactly," the grey-haired man replied.
"My sister doesn't have epilepsy, Doctor."
The doctor smiled sympathetically, "It isn't unheard of for adults to develop epilepsy. This is even if they've had no prior history, and it can be due to many factors. Still, a severe seizure of this nature is unlikely to come out of the blue."
So far, I hadn't mentioned the pills I found in Terry's car to my family members. When I asked the doctor about them, the mood became even more uncomfortable, but his tone soothed us. He spoke carefully and precisely, and I could sense he was even pacing his speech to make his words clearer. Fearing an overdose, I asked my question indirectly. "Are any of those medications related to what happened tonight?"
The doctor nodded to show that he understood the intention of my question. "I'm hesitant to say too much, and it would be better if you could talk to your aunt. I will say that those pills are neither very addictive nor very dangerous. They're most often used to treat mild depression."
My mother began tearing up as she heard about her twin's use of medications for her mental health. She felt like she'd abandoned her sister; that this was her fault. Of course, I felt the exact same way. Sensing that, it was my sisters who supported us; soothing our insecurities by being close.
"It's not uncommon for people to keep these things to themselves," the doctor added. "Hopefully, this experience will help your sister realise that she needs to confide in you."
Everyone got a chance to ask the doctor some questions, and he answered each one. We wanted to know about timelines, future treatment, specialists, support... All questions that indicated a clear intention: that we would be there for our family member. We'd be able to speak to her once the sun was up. Meanwhile, I had to go sort out the insurance while the girls settled into our hotel.
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Blake always lived in the same chain-hotel when she needed to be in the city for work. So, it was the best and easiest place to get rooms for the rest of us.
The place was built of yellow-brick — four-storeys tall — with rooms facing both directions. Its narrow corridors were bleak in comparison to the ocean vistas of our home. Yet, there was something soothing about the place and the way it shielded us from the outside world. We were all still shell-shocked, and it was nice to enjoy the small pleasures of hotel living.
Trying to look 'normal', we had booked two rooms. The one we'd be using had two twin beds that would be pushed together to accommodate us all. However, I started out in the second room, with Blake. We planned on distributing our things to avoid funny looks or clutter, but we hadn't arrived with much. As we unpacked, I asked my sister what she made of the situation we were in, and she pondered for a moment. Her eyes found mine and looked at me softly; in that comforting way that big sister can look at you. "You found her in time and did what you had to, and that makes me so proud."
I turned red, and not out of shyness.
