Ebony & Ivory [H.S]

Sixty-Eight

"When your day is long. And the night...The night is yours alone"

"Are you awake?" I hear from the door to my hospital room. Despite being groggy from the medication administered to calm me, I can tell it's Gemma. My back is facing her as I lay on my side, eyes focused out the window to a trail of ants walking along the outer brick wall of the hospital building. How I envy the life of an ant. So marvellously dedicated to its colony, the ant doesn't break down in the event of a crisis. They just continue on, focused on the task at hand. Those are the kind of moments you know your life is slowly going down the drain - when you yearn the life of a mere insect over the life of your own.

Gemma idles over to confirm if I'm awake or not, and before she reaches me, I clutch my eyes closed at the last second, wanting to avoid any more interactions.

"Hello darling," Another woman whispers from behind me, and I continue to keep my eyes firmly shut, pretending I'm sleeping.

"Mum," she replies back, seeming quite startled. "I didn't hear you come in."

"I didn't want to wake her," she whispers, referring to me. "The poor thing hasn't slept."

It's true. I couldn't even guess how long it's been since I've last slept. It has to be well over a day. Can you really blame me?

"Well I'm not surprised," Anne contributes, as she takes a seat in the chair at the end of my bed. It omits a puff of air from a split corner, and I wonder how long it's been that way, and how many others have sat on that chair before her.

"Have you got onto Harry yet?" Gemma asks, keeping her voice low. "I've tried hundreds of times. I don't know what to tell her - she kept asking for him until... well. You know. Then she kind of went into this state. I'm just glad she's sleeping."

"I haven't been able to reach him. I can't believe it," Anne remarks in shock, her voice almost breaking. "First she loses the baby, and now this. When will it end for her?"

Another wave of agony rocks over me, though I remain silent in my emotional torment.

Gemma doesn't answer, and she takes this as a sign to keep talking.