✔️Soundtrack to My Youth (18+)

Even When I'm Sleeping

Sam 2020

"Any change?" I asked Bridget when I entered the room, handing her a strong black coffee knowing she'd need it desperately, Bridget had been by Veronica's side since she had come out of surgery, she barely slept and when she did it was only for a few mere hours. It had been four horrendous days since Veronica's car accident, she had been hit by some wanker who ran a stop sign, her car skidded across the road and hit the telegraph pole with such force that she was thrown from her seat, her head colliding with the passenger side door causing a brain bleed. She was rushed into emergency surgery where the doctors removed part of her skull in case her brain swelled and she was placed into a medical induced coma to allow her injuries to heal.

"They said her vitals are up, which apparently is good" Bridget tells me, looking at me with those sunken, desperate eyes, she'd been hanging out for good news for days now so she'd take any sliver she could hold on to.

"And how are you Bridge? Did you sleep at all last night?" I question her, already knowing the answer from the heavy set bags under her eyes.

"I got a bit of sleep, not much but enough" She confirms my suspicions, "I ate though, if that was going to be your next question, the nurses brought me in a tray of food for lunch and again at dinner"

"I want you to come home with me tonight Bridge, I'll cook you dinner and you can sleep in an actual bed, not that fold up death trap they provided you here. I'll even let you shower" I laugh, trying to lift her mood even a little bit.

"What if something happens while I'm not here though" She stresses

"Then they will call us and let us know to come back in. You're no good to Veronica if you don't keep your own vitals up" I remind her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and she gives me the nod that she will.

"Did you see the front page of the paper this morning?" She asks me, pointing to where a copy of The Herald lay on the table at the end of the bed. I pick it up and am not surprised by the headline that reads "Soccer star rushes to dying lover's bedside" accompanied with a paparazzi shot of me entering the hospital two days ago.

"This is nothing new for me Bridge, these vultures follow me around daily making up bullshit about my life to sell papers, next week they'll have me sleeping with some pop star like Taylor Swift or Miley Cyrus and this will be lining the bottom of someone's bird cage" I remark, pointing to the stack of glossy magazines that Bridget has bought from the gift shop on the rare occasion she does leave the room, "I've been putting up with this shit since high school, people talk and every bastard listen to, taking gossip as gospel. It's no different the rumours that Petra bitch would spread about all of us, you just gotta learn to block it out sweetheart"

"I don't know Sam, maybe she is dying and the doctors are just not telling us anything" Bridget frets.

"She's not Bridget, you've got to stay positive, for Veronica. She's going to wake up real soon and  the first person she will want to see is you honey" I reassure her as a young, female doctor enters the room, she smiles warmly at Bridget and I, grabbing Veronica's chart from the end of the bed.

"Hi, I'm Doctor Stephenson, I'm an intern here at the hospital and I've been assigned Veronica's case today" She introduces herself while she studies the chat and makes notes, "She getting stronger and her brain hasn't swelled so this is a good sign, she will most likely be taken back into surgery within a day or two to have a plate placed" She comments to herself and I exchange looks with Bridget.