Saving Grace (editing)

08: elliot // Sleeping Beauty

e i g h t

"Shhh, Ewiot you wait here."

The little girl instructs him with a small finger pressed to her mouth before turning to creep into a room a few doors down.

Shaking his head, he leans against the bleached white wall.

And he does what he is told; to wait right there.

One minute passes.

Two minutes pass.

Three minutes pass.

Four minutes.

Five minutes.

Six.

Seven.

Eig-

Okay that was long enough now. What was taking his little sister so long?

He walks towards the room and enters to see Susie sitting on a plastic chair, dangling her feet over the edge as she swings them back and form.

She doesn't seem to notice his presence, continuing to look closely at the hospital bed with her chin propped up with her hands.

"Hey Ewiot!" The girl whispers excitedly after noticing him.

"Look see!? Isn't Sleeping Beauty so pwetty?" She says in a hushed voice, pointing towards the bed before sighing contently.

Just as he was about to tell her that they aren't supposed to be in this room, his breath catches in his throat and all his words dissolve away from his tongue.

There is a girl laying on the bed.

Her wavy hair was tinted with hues of brown and gold, sprawled out on the white pillow like an opened fan and she seemed to be around Elliot's age.

Her dainty eyelids were closed shut and her chapped lips were slightly parted, taking in slow breaths.

Her skin was pale and seemed cold.

Underneath the clean white linen blanket, he could make out the outline of a small frame.

There were multiple wires and tubes connected to her with monitors surrounding the room, steadily beeping and showing scientific images he didn't quite understand.

The sleeping girl was in a coma.

His mind falls back to that cold morning he got locked out.

He vaguely remembers the headline of an article he came across and he wondered if this was the same girl.

His eyes drift down to where her arm is stuck out from underneath the sheet and he can faintly see fading red marks along it.

He winces.

"Ewiot look, you can see a little bit of battle-scars on her arm too." Susie's eyes are widened with wonder. "Just like what you used to have."

He chooses not to say anything but instead walks towards the bed.

His mind is almost in a muddle and it is as if something is pulling him towards her, like a magnet.

He ever so gently reaches his finger down along the cloth of mattress, and pausing first, he lightly brings it along to trace the fading lines on her arm.

Peering closely, he spots a small tattoo of a flying bird below the palm of her hand.

He doesn't even know this girl but Elliot is so intrigued by the haunting girl.

He stands back slightly and he is about to turn around to tell Susie they should leave.

But a flicker catches his eye, before the soft sound of rustling sheets disturbs the constant hum of the room and a raspy inhale cuts through the air.

He turns quickly to the bed and the first thing he notices are the striking blue irises looking straight up at the ceiling.

Her mouth is open, taking in shallow gasps of air.

He is stunned and frozen on the spot.

Then the eyes flicker to meet his.

[a/n: this chapter has been rewritten/edited as of 18/01/17]