Twilight Rays

26. And yet she was gone

When I woke up after what seemed to be like an eternity, a nurse was standing next to the bed I was laying in. I couldn't find Twilla - no surprise here.
"Where is she?" I muttered when the nurse realized I was awake.
"Your girlfriend? She had to take a call, she should be back soon."
"She's not my girlfriend."
The lady just looked at me funnily and pressed a few buttons on the machine next to me.
"Let me in! It's my brother!" I heard Mo yelling.
He stepped in, a coffee in his hand.
"The visits don't start before 3 o'clock." Said the nurse matter-of-factedly.
"For the last time, I am his brother!"
Then he turned to me and noticed I was awake.
"Gosh, Twilla just called me, are you okay?"
"He just woke up, go easy on him." suggested the nurse.
"I don't know, how bad does it look?"
"Ew...I won't answer to that one." Mo grinned.
"Did you see Twilla here?"
"She's still here? She gave me some coffee then she stayed downstairs to call someone. I figured..."
"Hey Mo! Is he still sleeping?" Twilla said as she got in.
My brother blushed and didn't reply anything.
"Hey, Twilla", I whispered.
The nurse left (it was 3 o'clock now) as Tweetie stepped closer.
"Hey, Ray."
"You didn't run away."
She smiled a little.
"I was supposed to... but Mo was working and your parents are still on their way-"
"They're coming?"
"I called them too."
"You're the best."
"No I'm not. You..."
She stopped herself.
"I should get going now."
Only at that moment did I notice she was holding my hand the whole time. She was about to leave when I asked her:
"What is the last thing I told you yesterday?"
She removed some of my hair from my face and whispered in my ear:
"You said you loved me."
"You love me too."
"Shut up." she giggled slightly.
She kissed me on the cheek and left the hospital room.
"She saved your life." Mo brought up softly.
"And yet she's gone." I sighed heavily.

She was gone.

"Where did she go?" That's what everybody kept wondering. To cut me off was one thing, to cut everybody off? Now, that was low key rude.

DeeDee was the most worried but she wouldn't tell anyone why. When I got out of the hospital, almost two weeks after the aggression, I sent Mo to her house first.
"She won't say anything, we're wasting our time!" he said, exasperated.

But we still reached her front lawn 30 minutes later.

I hopped out of the car and waited for Mo to pull out my wheelchair - I had a broken ankle and two cracked ribs, so technically I wasn't even supposed to be standing up - and rolled myself to the door bell. Destinée opened the door, surprise readable on her face. "Are you crazy? You just got out of hospital!"
"He is. Now we all know what's up, so just tell him so I can go to bed", said tiredly Mo.
I felt bad about how exhausted Mo was and how I hadn't even noticed. Working, studying, visiting me, really he had to be longing a good night of sleep. Deedee looked like she knew that too, because she answered:
"Just get inside and get some rest, I'll deal with Ray Jay over here."
"I missed you too, Destiny's child." I replied playfully.
She went to see me at the hospital but she had left the week before for a trip at New Jersey for the spring break, so we hadn't seen in a while.

"Gee, I feel so bad", I said for the hundredth time to Destinée, looking at my brother snoring.
"For the last time, Ray, it's not your fault. He's not blaming you for this."
"He should, if I had come home when he asked me to..."
"It could've happened too, God only knows it could've been even worse than that. They haven't taken your phone, for example."
"Yeah, Twilla..."
I stopped myself, remembering the reason I was there.
"Do you know where she is?"
"I guessed where she is. She turned off her phone or something, cause I can't reach her nor track it down."
"Where, DeeDee?"
"Clara's. She kept getting calls from her."
"Ugh, when is she gonna let go of this family? Your parents are like the best!"
"So are yours, that's not the point. She's just figuring out who she is, and they're the ones with all the infos."
"Okay, but Clara?"
"The thing is, she also thinks Jo and cie have something to do with your aggression. She went to test the waters. "
"She told me once that she'd go to Clara only to figure out whether or not she's involved in this. Might not be totally true, but still."