Cold as Ice: The Heart of Stone

Chapter 36 - Wasnt It Nice?

3rd Person POV

The next couple of weeks for Rori were, difficult to say the least. At first, when she chatted her usually rubbish day to day from waking up fully, it was almost like she had adapted a child's brain. Her younger self if you will. Rori couldn't remember the day before and anything she had said, it was like she knew she was in hospital but would say rubbish different to the day before. The doctors said this was normal almost comparing it to a really bad concussion, which they were right because as time started to go on, so did Rori's reality.

"None of it was real, was it?"

When Rori projected those words to her sister a few days back, Izzy saw a window of opportunity. Izzy didn't believe what the doctors were saying about bending to Rori's reality to keep her sweet she knew that wouldnt be the right method for Rori, knowing how she is. After a few days away from the hospital to get her head right she knew what she has to do.

So she told her straight. "No Rori, I'm sorry. Everything—whatever you saw or went through, was a dream."

After going into everything and telling her about the inital rib injury and also about the encephalitis which she developed which ultimately attacked her body into a coma, the words crushed Rori, but she knew there was nothing she could do to change any of that. She tried to see the humour in the situation after it all got explain to her when she was coherent, because what else was she meant to do?

To Rori, it was just her luck.

"Damn, if I had known...I would have killed soooo many people."

But Izzy knew, she knew that her little sister was devastatingly hurting from it all and just hiding behind humour. Obviously, she didn't want to push and ask what she dreamt about to be so upset but really she knew ultimately, it would be something to do with Leah.

Izzy couldn't possibly imagine living a life believing 100% that everything was happening, only to be told it was all fake. She would dare ask or question anything. Not only did she know that Rori probably would tell her, but even if she did it would just upset the girl. She needed to talk about it, but she would do it when she was ready on her own terms.

Rori, pushing asside the pain she couldn't change from living months in her head from Leah, was equally as upset about not only Chris not to exist but also her new appearances. She prides herself on her slim but muscular figure in which she worked so hard to perfect. Now, she was skin and bone. Her face was guant, which meant her cheek bones were popping unnaturally aswell as her already before cut jaw line. Her collar bones were more prominent than ever and just everything body part was worn down to skin. Her muscle was gone, the thing she worked so hard to keep up with, gone.

Her ability to not be exhausted just by breathing was a struggle. Her body was tired and that much was clear. The doctors had Rori doing some walking therapy and general physiotherapy which she only just frustrated with. Laying in a bed for nearly 2 months does take a toll on the body. She wasn't having to learn to walk again as such, but she was having to engage her muscles to connect back with the brain, all of them.

It is tough.

The main thing Rori spends her time doing while she is still in hospital is trying to eat having been told multiple times that it is a gradual process.

Quite quickly, Rori come to the relisation that this would make or break her. Mentally, she wasn't really that great obviously. Physically she was still quite poorly but she knew that she had to work on herself, not just physically but mentally. It had been the first time she came to this conclusion because before she just thought everything was always fine and continued with the facade of being okay even when she knew she wasn't. Maybe, she doesn't want that anymore.

The hardest thing for Izzy, other than seeing her sister struggle, was breaking the news of what Beth had told Leah and explaining what followed. She didn't want to lie. Rori however and probably the most surprisingly; didn't say much, she just nodded in response. Izzy thought maybe she was processing and consealing her anger. Rori however, didn't feel much but maybe everything all at one. Leah knew, it didn't come from Rori but she knew that in itself didn't sit great with the girl but the biggest kick in the teeth came from when Izzy said about her about this new girl, Riley.

"I mean...come on, really? Riley?"

Overall, Rori couldn't say much about the situation no matter how much she wanted to scream and cry. Given that thinking hard back to the coach they weren't even together, even in her other reality they weren't together but that didn't mean it didn't hurt any less on the inside. To her it almost felt like cheating, but she had to remind herself that that isn't the case.

The effort it takes to not have a little stalk on twitter was very much real. Having waking up and finally being coherent enough for her phone meant she scrolled a lot. Luckily only sticking to instagram which didn't have an awful lot in the way off gossip on it recently. She has reframed from messaging any one the girls, leaving it to give herself more time to adjust.

—

"Wasn't it nice?" Rori whispered to the wind having strolled her wheelchair outside of the hospital to get some much needed air. "To feel wanted, even it was for a little while?"

"And if it wasn't real?" Came a voice, critically scrutinising her.

She squeezed her eyes shut and thought for a moment. "It was nice," She repeated through a whisper. "Even if it wasn't real.