No Midnight Mercy ☾ (gxg)

26-feels right

The hospital waiting room was loud and noisy.

People kept coming in and out, doctors entering and talking to the families of whoever else was in a horrible accident. Every time a person in a white coat entered, Eden would perk up and wait for them to approach her, but they never did. It had been a whole hour.

Gen and Oliver had left, only upon Eden's wishes. They kept apologizing and talking about this and that, trying to cheer Eden up and assure her that everything was alright. But she couldn't feel okay until she saw Cecilia herself or until a doctor told her everything was alright.

She sat there in the uncomfortable chair with chipped wood and a greasy cushion, leaning over with her elbows on her knees. She kept thinking and thinking. She didn't know much about withdrawals, but she knew what could happen if a seizure was left untreated for too long. All she could think about was the way Cecilia looked and felt. Her skin was so warm, like a fire in her veins. Eden realized she hadn't even checked to see if the woman had been breathing.

The door opened and out came another doctor. He looked around for a moment, his grey hair buzzed close to his head, and then glanced down to his clipboard. "Is there someone here for Cecilia Belfiore?"

Eden shot up from her seat. "Me." She approached him, eyes wide and worried. "Is she okay?"

"Are you a close relative to Miss Belfiore?" he asked suspiciously, looking back down at the paper on the clipboard.

"I'm the only person she has," she answered breathlessly. "Please tell me if she's okay."

He hesitated for a moment before nodding, tucking the clipboard under his arm. "She is stable." Eden sighed in relief, palming her forehead. "She did have a seizure and her blood pressure was through the roof, but there are no signs of any brain damage from it. Just a very severe case of alcohol withdrawal syndrome. We've got her on some anxiety medications and lots of fluids. We'll keep her here overnight just to monitor her if she has another seizure."

Eden breathed in all his words and nodded, placing her hands on her hips. "Okay. May I see her?"

"Of course," he smiled, pointing down the hallway he came from. "She's right down there in the room on the left. Try not to wake her, though."

"Thank you," she nodded and walked past him, rushing down the hallway and to the first door she saw to the left. She looked through the little window on the door and paused, gazing through it. There Cecilia lay, still in her white tank and jeans, an IV in her arm and other cords sticking to her arms and chest. She didn't look as pale as before, and it was the first time Eden had seen her peacefully sleep in days.

Gently opening the door, Eden slowly stepped inside as quietly as she could. Closing the door behind her, she tiptoed over to a chair against the wall, quietly moving it to the side of the bed and sitting down in it, scooting even closer. She simply gazed at the woman for several moments, watching the way her chest rose and fell, the monitor beside the bed beeping along with her. There was an oxygen tube resting below her nose, ensuring that she was getting enough air.

Green eyes glanced to her hand which lie limply beside her. She could see her veins bulging from the weight she'd lost in the past week. Slipping her hand beneath hers, she took her other hand and covered the back of the woman's palm with it. She held her hand like that for a while until Eden herself grew sleepy. Leaning forward, she rested her head on the bed, arms sprawled over Cecilia's, and fell asleep to the sound of the monitor beeping.

☾

"Look, it's not gonna come out, so you might as well not waste your energy," Cecilia spoke, taking another bite of her spaghetti-o's which she had accidentally spilled onto Eden's brown couch, leaving a horrid orange stain right on the middle cushion.