art. [joey trotta]

eight; abyss

I woke up to hear the birds chirping outside my window. I walked to the bathroom and brushed my wavy hair, I decided to leave it down for the day. I really felt like I was living in a fairytale. Yesterday's adventure with Joey had put me in such a good mood I knew that nothing could dull it. That was until reality came crashing down. My mother was still in hospital and my best friend/brother was a few hours away. I pulled on some jeans and a plain white shirt and headed for the kitchen. I had gotten home quite late last night and was overly tired. All I remember was smacking my hip against the kitchen bar and pinning a piece of paper onto the pin board. I walked over to inspect what the paper said. Surprisingly it was a phone number, at the top of the paper it read 'joeys number' followed by his number. I smiled to myself and poured a cup of coffee into a mug.

I lounged around the house for the rest of the day, waiting for a phone call from dad or the hospital. After hours of waiting I fell asleep on the couch a book draped over chest and my glasses placed precariously on my face. When I woke up I was covered with a blanket and my glasses had been placed on the coffee table, next to a fresh cup of coffee.
"Glad you've decided to join me sweetheart, I was getting a bit lonely" I heard my fathers voice ring through the living room. He was sat on the chair opposite me, reading the newspaper.
"Dad! How's mom" I said springing up from the couch.
He looked down at his newspaper.
"Listen, Olivia, we have to go and pick Derek up, they said we need to think about saying our goodbyes. After you left, your mother fell into a coma, turns out, the pain in her side was only mild, compared to what was going on in the rest of her." He spoke, clasping and unclasping his hands, a habit he had.
Tears flowed down my cheeks and I sniffed loudly.
"Okay, I'll go get him now" I stood up and walked over to the dish we kept car keys in. I grabbed my keys and a sweater and walked outside to my car.

The car ride was filled with silent tears and thoughts of nothing, before I knew it I was pulled up at Regis and entering through the front halls. I went to Derek's room and checked to see if he was there after signing in with the dean. After finding his room empty I decided to check Billy's room to see if he was in there with him. I knocked and wiped the few tears remaining in my eyes and tugged in the hem of my shirt. A few seconds later I was greeted at the door by Joey.
"Olivia...what are you doing here?" He smiled, leaning on the door frame.
"Is Derek in there? I've got some bad news" I sniffed, looking down at my worn, navy converse.
"Yeah, uh, come in" he opened the door wider and allowed me to walk past him.
I walked to where Derek, ted and billy were sat either on the floor or on beds. Joey walked to where I was standing and placed a hand on the small of back as he tried to get past.
"Derek, can I speak to you?" I spoke up.
All the boys turned and looked up, billy smiled and ted waved.
"Yeah sure" he walked over to where I was standing, I grabbed his wrist and pulled him outside, close the door in the process.
"What's so urgent? You've only just visited, I thought you were coming back up in a couple of weeks?" He spoke, not letting me talk.
"Derek, will you just let me say what I have to say!" I raised my voice slightly.
"Jeez, if it's that important" he mumbled.
"It's mom, she had to go into surgery yesterday, she's in a coma and..." I said, tears slipping down my cheeks.
"And they think she won't make it through the night" I finished, wiping my eyes.
Derek was leaning against the door, his head in his hands.
"I just... I knew it was going to happen, just not now" he said, crying himself.

We said goodbye to the other boys and Joey pulled me into a hug, whispering in my ear. "Call me if you need anything"
I nodded my head and left with Derek, the car ride was silent. We pulled up to the hospital at 11:23 and ran straight through the doors, I asked where moms room was and she directed us there. Dad was sat in a seat across the room, his head in his hands. Me and Derek pulled up chairs next to moms bed, she had woken up an hour ago but was still extremely weak. We each took one of moms hands and stayed with her for the rest of the night. Sometimes talking and sometimes not. Our whole family was together for the last moments of my mothers life. She died at 4:43 in the morning surrounded by the ones who loved her most.

It was 10am by the time we returned home, dad had filled out all of the sheets that
needed to be attended to, Derek and I sat in the waiting room, staring into the constant moving abyss we call life. When we got home I showered and changed into fresh clothes, I lay down on my bed, staring at my ceiling, the glow in the dark stars I had never bothered to take down. It was 12:00pm when I heard a knock on my bedroom door. I heard my door creak open and saw Derek come and sit on the edge of my bed.
He then got back up and came and lay down next to me, staring at my ceiling also.
"I just, I just can't believe she's gone" he whispered.
"I don't think she would want us to be sad, she always told me that there was happiness even in the worst moments of life" I replied.
We both sat up and embraced each other.
"It'll be hard, but we'll get through it" Derek gave me a sad smile.
I knew my mother would want us to both keep living, and to pay respects to her legacy... We both knew we would.

A/N - Hi guys! Hope you enjoy this chapter, I've got big plans for the next couple of chapters so stick around and I just want to thank you all for your amazing support and lovely comments!
Lots of love
-ffp xx