Loving the unloveable

How her sister sees it

Gracie's POV:

"The car crash caused a lot of damage, it broke a few ribs that punctured her lung which we had to operate on. She had internal bleeding and there is swelling in her brain which has put her into a coma...." The doctor-doctor Millard-continues to talk to myself and Ava who is listening intently while I bite my fingernails down until I start to bleed. I switch hands when I taste the copper on my tongue.

"While she is in a coma we will continue to monitor her activity" until they decide whether she is worth the room and resources she takes up and switch the machine keeping her breathing off, if they don't deem her so.
"Thank you doctor" what will we do if she doesn't wake up? I can't live, can't survive without her: she's my sister, my best friend, my mom, my everything. I won't live without her.

"Gracie" Ava shakes me out of my thoughts and I look up at her with alarm. "What?"
"You're spacing out again" I can see the concern in her eyes but my own drift back to our sister who needs all of our concern at the moment. I leave her arms and slide into the seat I've taken for the last god long hours. I hold her hand and I watch her still, deathly pale face that's only colour is that of bruising or cuts. And I pray for her to blink or to squeeze my hand, I pray for anything that shows she's still with us.

"You should eat" a hand slithers across my shoulder but I don't look up. "Gracie?" Kim says with her usual soft tone sounding scratchy. No one slept much last night and we arrived here just before 6 am so every one is a little rough.
"I'm not hungry" I hear her sigh,
"We'll bring you all some up" she squeezes my shoulder before they all disappear with pitiful gazes sent our way.

All except for Elias and Ava. My sister sits by the window that she gazes out of because she's can't face our sister. That's how we differ. I can't look away and she can't even spare her a glance. Elias is in the middle of our extremes, he watches like me but every two hours it gets too much and he looks away to the window. He sees her pain and feels it too because he loves her so much. That knowledge gives me solace in that telling him about our dad wasn't a mistake. He can help. It took me some time to realise that but I know it now, he's proved it to me.

"She shouldn't be here, like this" I shake my head, tears pooling at my waterline.
"Gracie" Ava warns me because she doesn't know that I told Elias, not yet anyway.
"No we never should have stayed quiet" my head swivels to look at her with anger radiating off of me, at myself and her for being so selfish. Ava only shakes her head, tears filling her own eyes.

"She suffered in silence because of us for years, Ava. All because she believed that it was her duty to be hurt if it meant that we would be okay" I wipe away tears roughly. If we had spoken up she never would of ended up here, fighting for her life. Ava's eyes dart to Elias and her expression melts from anger to confusion and then finally realisation. "You told him didn't you?" I wait for her eyes to land on me again before I nod.

"Yes like I should of done months ago"
"She'll kill you, she'll kill us"
"Or he'll kill her! How many times has he tried and nearly succeeded? She's sat in a hospital bed right in front of us, fighting for her life because of him. What more could possible happen before you finally realise that hiding his abuse will only end in iris' death?" Her jaw slacks open as we stare at each other.

"I-I need to go" my twin pushes herself onto her feet, her eyes wild with a whirlwind of emotions.
"Wait Ava-" Elias tries to stop her but I only turn back to Iris and wipe away my tears with a shaky hand. "I won't let him hurt you anymore Iris" I whisper the promise as I press a kiss to the back of her palm. "You've had enough pain for every life time before and after this one" and it's true, from as far as I can remember Iris has suffered. At the hand of someone else or at her own.