𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚜 // 𝚊𝚡𝚕 𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚎 [𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚎]

XII: A World That's Much Too Dark

Dedicated to SweetChildO_A_R for their lovely votes and comments :)

Estay POV

"Liana?" 

As Estay stepped through the doorway, only the quiet sound of MTV coming from the TV met her ears, in the form of Bon Jovi's 'Livin' On A Prayer'. Pushing it shut behind her, she walked further into the apartment, then leant down to take off her shoes, listening out for a reply.

"Liana?"

Hearing nothing and feeling her heart rate begin to quicken - she's probably gone to the shop or something, calm down, Lay- no, Estay* - she entered the living room, laughing in relief as she saw her friend sprawled across the sofa, almost falling off. Approaching the seat, she gently sat down next to Liana's head, smiling down at her friend.

Liana would never realise how much she meant to her, Estay thought. The girl had gotten her out of the existential rabbit hole of madness that was Lafayette and taken her from the bittersweet times it held; rescued her from the hellishly tantalising throes of addiction; and held onto hope on her behalf all the times she'd thought everything was lost and life was fruitless.

Carefully, Estay ran her fingers through Liana's hair, sighing as she realised she should probably wake her up, despite how peaceful her friend looked.

"Liana!" She shook her gently by the shoulder, knowing that usually woke her up, despite any grouchiness it may entail in the aftermath. However, when not even Liana's eyelids fluttered, Estay raised her voice, shaking her harder. "Liana, wake up!"

Her heart sank as no movement occurred in response, cursing her previous optimism as she looked around, suddenly noticing the full pen on the side.

Oh no.

With everything going on in her head, Estay had forgotten to keep her usual reciprocated eye on Liana's diabetic symptoms and insulin shots. Immediately, guilt infused her as she realised how little she had been looking out for Liana in the last couple of days. Despite Liana being the one who had supported her so many times, Estay also had to look after her, both emotionally and medically. And now it seemed she had failed that.

Pressing her eyes shut, she scrolled through a mental list of hazards caused by uncontrolled blood sugar, and felt her heart sink as the mental list paused.

Coma.

"Liana?" This time she almost shouted, shaking the other girl's shoulders in desperation as she mentally begged for her suspicions to be wrong. But as nothing changed in Liana's state, Estay felt the reality of the situation sink in.

She's not going to wake up soon.

~

Estay rushed out of the ambulance, speedwalking to the front doors of the hospital as she glanced over every few steps, confirming that Liana was being taken on a stretcher through the back doors. Pushing her bodyweight against the door, she hurried through the lobby and towards the from desk, noticing a flash of familiar red hair but disregarding the observation in her haste.

The receptionist must have noticed her haste, because when she reached the desk he immediately stood. "Can I help you?"

"My friend is being brought in from an ambulance," Estay explained, words tumbling out in a rush. "I think she's in a diabetic coma."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he replied, sending her a reassuring smile. "Here's the sign-in form. Are you able to fill it out on her behalf?"

"Yeah, I think I can," Estay smiled weakly back, feeling the tears rise in her eyes as she blinked. "Thank you."

A commotion on the other side of the room caught her peripheral vision as several men, one with a distinctive mass of black curls, jumped from their seats and rushed out of the door. Bizarre, she thought, but turned her attention to the form, reminding herself that that was the only thing she could do to benefit Liana right now, and that distracting herself from emotions wasn't going to help anyone.

Estay rifled through the bag she had grabbed on her way out for a pen and began printing the information onto the sheet, steadying her breathing. There was something reassuringly therapeutic and coldly bureaucratic about the process, and it relaxed her, despite the part of her mind working at a million miles an hour in panic.

It'll be okay. The doctors will do what they can. She repeated the phrase like a mantra, forcing herself to calm. There's nothing else you can do.

Except for feel like it's all my fault.

* Just to explain how she refers to herself in her thoughts here - instinctively, she knows herself as Layla, but because she's trying to reinvent herself in LA and forget the past, she 'corrects' the thought to Estay.

Also, my knowledge of diabetes is mostly from research, so if I've gotten anything wrong, don't hesitate to let me know, along with any other feedback/votes - these are always appreciated! Thank you so much for reading :)