MIA
Author: Kaia Mariacle
Disclaimer: They're not mine, but a girl can dream.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: A boy in need. Futurefic. (Sequel to Halo)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They say that sometimes when you sleep, you dream.
A coma is something like a dream, you think. A place where you can hide, get away from everything, and not have to deal with the people around you.
That night, after sitting by his bedside for hours, Delia's arms wrapped around your middle, Dr. Brown's arm against your shoulder, and Amy across the way,
you think that Ephram must be dreaming
His eyelids are always moving, and sometimes, if you pretend hard enough, his body shifts slightly.
You never told anyone that when you were in you're coma, you dreamt.
Splashes of brown and ivory, tinny voices in your ear, and a loud, bright sky. To this day you can't stand the beeping of your alarm clock, because in your
dreams, you always heard a low throbbing pulse of sound.
The doctors have told you that you should talk to Ephram, that everyone should talk to him, because he can hear what you're saying, and it might help.
You want to tell him that you don't know why, because Amy told you she always talked when you were in your coma, and you don't remember it at all. You
want to scream at all them all, tell them that nothing they can do will help, because what good did it do you?
But you don't, because you're just a boy, just a best friend, and you wouldn't know anything about comas.
Nothing at all.
It's been seven months, and you're afraid that he's never going to wake up.
That he's never going to explain certain manga's to you, or force you to listen to that new mp3 he just downloaded. Or yell at you for watching a basketball game
when you could be outside, staring at the stars. That he's never going to tell you any more secrets, secrets that only you and he share.
Then you feel guilty
You're also afraid that he's going to wake up.
Wake up and look at you with blank eyes, like you're not the one who helped him paint his room grey, or sat and listened as he played the piano for hours on end
every Sunday. Not the one he had anime-fests with every second Friday of the month, or the one he kidnaped on a two-week road trip to New York last summer.
Like you're not his best friend.
You sometimes wish that you could just walk away. Just walk away, and never look back at Everwood, or Ephram, but you love him, and you know you'll never
leave him, not even if he's still this way when you're twenty, or thirty, or a hundred.
Delia groans lightly from your lap, blinks up at you with those beautiful eyes, so like Ephram's, and asks you if he's going to wake up. If she's ever going to get
her brother back.
You have to close your eyes, you have to press your lids down tightly, and you have to lie.
Yes, you tell her.
Yes, he's going to wake up any day now, because Ephram's a fighter, and he wouldn't leave us this way.
You hear Dr. Brown's choked voice as he tells you he's going to get more coffee. Delia follows him, weeping quietly.
You stare across the bed at Amy, almost surprised to still see her in the room, because she's not part of the routine.
The routine that has become your life.
Every day, you go to school, and you somehow manage to get through the day without Ephram's beautiful smirk and caustic comments. Every day you sit
through each class, and pretend that he's sitting behind you, poking you in the back with his pencil, and commenting on how utterly detestable Kayla's looking today.
When school is over, you hop on the bus, and you make it to the hospital in just under two hours. Dr. Brown and Delia are always waiting for you at the
entrance, trying to smile. You try to smile back, and all three of you walk to Ephram's room.
There are three chairs in the room, but Dr. Brown always takes the left, sits down and grabs hold of Ephram's hand. You take the right chair, and help Delia into
your lap, where she crumbles, tired, and falls asleep.
While Delia sleeps, you and Dr. Brown talk to Ephram about everything and nothing.
Delia sleeps for an hour, and when she stirs, she asks you if he's going to wake up, if she's going to get her brother back.
And just like today, you lie.
For some reason, it always manages to catch Dr. Brown off guard, and they both leave the room.
You get 13 minutes alone with Ephram, and for every minute of those thirteen a chant runs through your head.
*Wake up, wake up, wake up.*
And you take hold of his hand, and you whisper in his ear that you love him, and you promise him you'll be waiting when he wakes up.
But you can't do that today, because Amy's here. For the first time in six months, Amy's here.
I'm sorry, she said earlier.
Dr. Brown just looked at her, and sighed, and told her it was okay.
You wish he'd told her to leave instead.
Because all she's doing is staring at you, and telling you that this is the first, last and only time she's going to come and visit.
He never belonged to me, she says, he was never mine.
You don't comprehend it until she's out the door, the click of metal and wood loud in the still room.
You don't comprehend it, because you're staring up at Ephram.
And he's staring back.
~Finis~
