My first foray in my return to fanfiction.
The first time she goes to see her is just before nightfall, fifteen minutes before the end of visiting hours. She walks through the corridor, blonde hair hidden beneath a large hood, wide sunglasses covering her eyes. Nurses pass and glance at her warily but she walks onwards, with one destination in mind.
She stops outside the door and sighs before walking in, her footsteps echoing on the linoleum floor. She gazes at her, blonde hair strewn all over the pillow, tubes leading out of her body and into machines beeping loudly, proclaiming her continued existence. The scribbled words above her head read "Veronica Mitchell" and she muses upon the fact that nothing ever really changes that much.
She stays all fifteen minutes, watching her sleep and breathe in and out and in and out. She does not look at her watch once. She leaves before a nurse arrives to usher her out but before she does she presses a soft kiss to Ronnie's forehead before sighing deeply and slipping out the door once more.
The second time she comes to visit, it is daytime, though inside the hospital it appears no different to the first time. She walks purposefully towards the same room once more. She stops short when she notices someone else in the room, sitting at Ronnie's bedside. Roxy holds her hand and whispers softly to her.
She backs away in fear of being seen, and steps round the corner, the room still in her view. She notices the cuts and bruises on Roxy's face and comes to the conclusion that she too was in the car when it happened. A man with a scraggy beard, gaunt eyes and an arm in a sling approaches the room now but stops short. He turns around, raises his eyes towards heaven as if praying for strength, and then enters the room. Roxy greets him and then leaves the room.
She's left wondering if she'll ever get the chance to go in when the man stands abruptly and rushes out, leaving the door swinging in his wake. She approaches cautiously before entering. She finds her in the exact same position as before only this time her hair has been washed. She sits beside her once more and begins to wonder how things ended up like this. It's been years since she last saw her and she notices now how pronounced the lines around her eyes are. She's 41 now she knows. Fleetingly, she wonders if she'll be forever 41.
She does not stay as long this time, conscious of the fact that it is the middle of the day and she cannot be seen here. She sighs again, caresses Ronnie's face and kisses her forehead once more, before rushing out of the room, leaving it as though she had never been there at all.
The third and final time she visits, it is later than the last time but earlier than the first. She is prepared this time for unexpected visitors and so it comes as no surprise to her that Roxy should be there, this time with a man. He has shoulder length, greasy hair and is wearing a trench coat, and stands protectively behind Roxy as she speaks with her sister once more. She is not surprised to see her with a man, but what does surprise her is the baby gurgling happily in a carrier on the bed. She feels a moment of pain rush through her and though she does not officially know whose little boy he is, in her heart she fears she does.
The trio leave together and sadness radiates off them. It's been three weeks since the accident she knows and the longer it gets the less hope there is. She steps into the room for the third time and for the first time she finds herself speaking aloud.
She whispers meaningless tidbits of news about what she's been up to and where she's been all this time. She tells her how she's found a wonderful man who loves her for who she is and it sounds cliche even to her. She grasps her hand and tells her how she wishes that things had been different, how years had disappeared without a trace and how she wishes that she - that they, could get them back. She had sworn to herself that she would not cry and yet she feels tears threaten as she thinks of all that has been said and all that has been left unsaid. She is so caught up in the past that does not hear the door open nor does she hear Roxy slip into the room once more, this time without the baby.
"Who the hell are you?"
She stands and gulps, suddenly panicked. She feels the walls close in and the urge to run and never look back manifests itself once more, an urge she thought had been long since dead and buried. She turns swiftly, and knows that she is caught. Her life is about to tip upside down once more and there's nothing that she can do about it.
Roxy is staring at her, a steely glint of determination in her eye. The Mitchell genes are ever present, and she knows that Roxy would have no qualms in hurting her if she believed she wished any harm on her sister.
She smiles back at her and recognition flashes across Roxy's face.
"Oh my God," she whispers as the woman lowers her hood and removes the sunglasses.
"Oh my God," she whispers again, as suddenly, suddenly, the machines in the room go haywire, melding into a cacophony of sound, as if the person they kept alive had finally realised who exactly was in the room with her.
"Oh my God," Roxy whispers for the final time as Ronnie's eyes open and she rushes to her while the woman with the blonde hair and large sunglasses slips quietly out of the room once more.