The Framing

The stay

December 26th 2015 9:00am
I didn't really get much sleep last night. All I could think about was Jeremy, and I really hoped he didn't think of me any different than he did before. I don't want anything to change, I'm still me. He's still him.

The visiting hours of the hospital start at 9am. Funny to think that 24 hours ago, my mom was yelling at me to get out of the bathroom before my relatives got to my house. And I wasn't even there for dinner, I'm sure I wasn't missed.

Right away, I walked towards Jeremy's room. He was in his bed, and thank god he was awake. I didn't want to wait here and watch him sleep for however long he does that.

"How have you been?" He asked me.

"Well since yesterday, I'm fine. I have just been worrying about you a lot. I want you to be okay." I admitted.

"Well I'm going to be in this hospital for a while. So you don't have to worry about a thing."

I calmed down a little. "Well when is your aunt going to get here?" I asked.

"Her plane gets here at around 3pm this afternoon. She's coming straight here to see me."

I smiled. "I'm glad she's coming home. I love your aunt." I said, which made him laugh. That was a good sign, right? Laughter?

"It's hard not to love her, she's quite an interesting lady."

I agreed. And then I sat down on one of those hospital waiting room chairs that make your back hurt. But I didn't mind, not at all. Because I was here with the one and only person who I truly cared about.

We didn't do much after that. He turned on the TV and watched some crime show. I sat behind him and enjoyed it too. No doctors came in except to give Jeremy his medicine. I recognized her as the doctor from yesterday, the one who let me ride in the ambulance.

"Jeremy do you remember what happened when we got here yesterday?" I asked.

"No, it's really all a blur to me." He said.

"It snowed. Ocala had a white Christmas, for the first time in forever."

He looked at me doubtfully. "There's no way it snowed."

I took out my phone and showed him a picture. It was of my lit up yard yesterday with about .1 inches of snow covering it. But enough so that you could see it.

"Wow that's so cool. I wish I remembered seeing it."

I half frowned at what he said. "So what have the nurses done to you here?" I asked.

"Well some guy came into my room before and asked me all these questions. I'm having a hard time remembering what they were, and what I said back to him though."

"What else has happened?"

"A few of the female nurses walk in every now and then, just to make sure I'm not thirsty or hungry or anything. They've given me medication now twice, and it hasn't done anything yet. I hope it helps me, I want to feel better."

"Yes, that's a good way to feel Jeremy. I want you to feel better." I said. Which made him smile.

I thought of something else that we could talk about. "So what's the first thing you're going to do once you get out of this place?"

Jeremy looked up for a second and thought. "I am really in the mood for a large ice cream." He said.

I laughed. "Okay so that's what we're going to do. Where do you like to go for ice cream?"

"I like to go to... Cold Stone I guess."

"Well that's the first thing you and I are going to do."

He smiles real big but then frowned again. "Ugh, the nurses also told me that I'll be out of here in time to go back to school."

I laughed. "I don't think you'll want to miss it. Having all that make up work to do is so annoying."

"Yeah, but I think my teachers would understand. I mean, I almost died."

"Jeremy if the teachers down here are anything, they aren't nice. Or empathetic."

"Yes Ally, you do raise some good points."

After that, we both focused on the TV more than our conversation. Jeremy had to get up at one point to use the bathroom. We were mostly waiting until late afternoon so his aunt would be here.

I looked at the clock, it was 3:12pm. Which means his aunt landed about 12 minutes ago. We watched "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" on the TV until she came in.

"Hey aunt Cassy." Jeremy said. I kind of just sat in my seat awkwardly. We all knew what had happened, no one wanted to talk about it.

"How was your flight?" I asked.

"Oh it was fine, I was coming in from Argentina. Now I don't speak Spanish, so I'm glad this time I never left the plane."

We all laughed. She always knew how to make everyone around her smile, which was greatly appreciated. After that, we talked about our lives. We talked about the snow, Christmas and even how we're going to Cold Stone when he gets out. It was all starting to look good again, from a distance that is. I'm sure that Jeremy still has some psychological problems that might never go away, that's why I always have to be here for him.

"So what's new in your life Ally?" She asked me.

I had to think for a minute. Nothing interesting really ever happens to me. "Well my relatives are leaving today, so that's a good thing."

She smiled at what I said. "Yeah, Jeremy is very fortunate that we have no relatives in the area. We'd probably end up moving away from them anyway."

Jeremy's aunt made me smile a lot. I loved the way she lived her life, it was a shame that she couldn't be here more often. But, I guess Jeremy doesn't mind. He gets the house to himself.

For the time being, Jeremy was mentally sick. I did everything I could to make him feel better, I visited him every day, I texted him every night. Visiting hours stopped at 7pm, so that's when I left.

I went home. I saw my mom and dad sitting at the table, drinking, talking, having a good time. "Hey sweetheart." Mom said, dad remained quiet.

"Hey." Was all I could say.

"How is Jeremy doing?" She asked.

"Fine, I guess."

"How are you doing?" She asked.

"Fine, I guess."

I didn't really want to talk about it that much. Which is why I was being so ambiguous answering her questions. I think if one more person asks me how I'm doing, I'm going to start ripping my hair out.