Flashback to Now
Chapter 14
The tears were streaming down Liz's face. She had brought her guitar, now she was sitting by Pete's bedside, strumming away. She hummed, lips curled into a half smile, as she played Danny Boy. But Liz was in her own world, as often happened when she played. No longer was she sitting on the stiff, uncomfortable chair, and the hospital bed was not next to her. Neither was Pete, pale, thin, and breathing through a machine. Liz herself was back in time, in Pete's old apartment. She could smell it, the mustiness that always lingered. She was smaller, younger, sitting on his worn blue couch, with a smaller guitar, her much smaller hands strumming the strings. Tears also rolled down her cheeks in her reverie, but tears of frustration. Liz was remembering, reliving, the day that she struggled through a lesson with Sully, and remembering the patience he showed as she cried, claiming she couldn't do it. Remembering the words he had said to her, how he had told her, she could do anything. It was at that moment that Liz snapped back to reality, the tears really coming now. Do anything? She certainly couldn't do this. She looked at Pete, how he was suffering in his dreamlike state, and dropped her head into her hands clasped over the guitar, and sobbed.
Ty was not concentrating that day, and Sully could see that. "What's your problem today Ty?" Sully asked, a little perturbed. "Hmmm?" Ty looked up. "Did you hear anything I just said Davis?" Sully asked, more than a little perturbed now. "Sorry. I was, I guess I was just thinking," Ty said. "Thinking? About what?" Sully asked, now a little concerned. Ty thought a minute, did he want to tell Sully? It might make him mad. Ty shook his head, well, maybe he needed to hear. Ty took a deep breath, "I'm worried about Liz." "Liz? Why Liz?" Sully snapped to attention, he had avoided Liz for days upon days, but was really wondering what she was doing. "Well, you heard about Pete, right?" Ty asked, knowing he hadn't. "No, what about him?" Sully asked. "He had another stroke a few nights ago, and Liz hasn't been doing well since then." Ty thought before he spoke again, "and, she was drunk that night. I, I guess it just surprised me. She hasn't seemed right the past few nights." Sully suddenly shot Ty a look. Nights? What the hell did that mean? "Nights?" Sully asked. "Yeah, when I see her," was all Ty said. Dammit, he thought. I shouldn't have said that. "And she was drunk?" Sully repeated more than asked. "Yeah, it didn't seem right to me," Ty responded, relieved to have a slight subject change. "No, it doesn't," Sully stated. He thought a minute, "and this was before Pete's stroke?" "Yeah, right before," Ty said. "Wow," Sully said softly, "maybe she's really unhappy here." And it has something to do with me, he thought.
The tears were still coming, but Liz had started to play again. Her fingers trembled over the strings as the sobs still racked her body. This time, the guitar didn't take her away to another place. Sully's words, years earlier, still rang through her ears. "Liz, come on honey. There are a lot harder things in the world, you know that by now. You've lived it. You can do anything, you hear? Absolutely anything." Those were the words that fueled her leaving, the words that fueled her returning. She rocked back and forth slightly, thinking deeply. Was she stupid for returning? Certainly, she had found some happiness. Yet that happiness was not without its pain. She felt alone, so alone in this. She felt a surge of sadness when the doctor walked in, but she forced herself to look at Pete. "Have you made your decision?" He asked her. Liz could only nod, and turned her head away, feeling the air being sucked out of her as the ventilator was turned off.
