silent

52

• ELIJAH •

Xander comes out of surgery at seven p.m., but he wakes up half an hour later.

     He peels his eyes open slowly, then looks around the room. When his eyes land on me—the only person in here, since dad went to go get hospital coffee—he tilts his head.

     "What're you doing here?" He asks sleepily.

     I furrow my eyebrows.

     "You should be at the.. the park." He says, lifting a finger to point at me.

     Amusement fills me. "Nah, only on Tuesdays."

     He nods, like he suddenly understands me. "Oh, yeah." He pauses. "Wait. What day is it today?"

     "Wednesday."

     "So you were there yesterday?" He questions.

     I nod, lips tilting up at the corners. "Yep. I was there. I went on the swings."

     He grins suddenly. "I love swings."

     I laugh as my dad walks back in. His face brightens when he sees that Xander's awake, so much so that he abandons the coffees on a small table by the door and rushes to my older brothers side.

     "Hey, Xander." He says softly. "You okay?"

     "Peachy."

     His eyebrows knit together. "Do you want anything? A water? I think the cafeteria's open. Mason's bringing the twins here soon, I can ask him to get you something on the way up."

     "I'm fine." He says. He looks around the room again, pausing on the empty bed on the other side of the room. Dad asked for a two person recovery room specifically, so Xander and Amalia are gonna be able to share. "Where's—where's Lia?"

     "She'll be out in an hour or two, I think." My dad says, his voice nervous all of a sudden. I don't blame him, he told me Amalia was terrified when they put the mask to put her to sleep on her. I can only imagine—though I don't especially want to—how scared she must've been.

The door opens again, and this my grandparents walk in.

"Hey!" Xander exclaims, his voice perky.

My grandma smiles as she walks to his side. My dad said she can come, but only for a little bit.

"Hi, baby." She says to him, looking him over as though assessing for injury. "How are you feeling?"

"Fabulous." Xander says, smiling.

She grins. "Good. We got you some snacks." She says, turning to my grandad, who opens a plastic bag and hands it to her. She sets it on the bed, and Xander sticks his whole head inside.

"Fuck, I didn't mean to do that." He says, taking his head out of the bag. "Oo, skittles." He grabs them out and pulls the pack open. Unfortunately, due to his heavy hands, they go everywhere. His eyes widen. "No!"

     "It's okay, Xander." My dad says, beginning to scoop the skittles into his hands. "We can get you some more."

     He looks up. "Really?"

     "Yeah." My dad smiles. "I'll ask Mason to."

     He holds his hands up in celebration. I laugh.

•

Xander goes back to normal after about an hour, around the time Amalia is supposed to get out of surgery. There's no sign of her for a few minutes, and my dad is about to go to the surgical suite when the door is opened and Amalia is wheeled in on a bed.