Fiona sighed exasperatedly, redialing the number once more, punching in each button with extreme intensity. If the numbers didn't eventually break, her fingers surely would. Still, no answer. Not a single "hello." Ironically, she found herself on the one day out of 365 that Marshall has actually found himself something to do. After the sixth call, she caved.
"Marshall? I need you to get to the hospital right now, the one we went to last time? Right by the Ice Kingdom Slushie Shoppe?" She thought of more and more describers which she then debated sharing, lest a lack of words depict a lack of urgency, or at the least a lack of sincerity, "I went over to visit you, this evening, and your mother-"
Fiona paused, glancing back over her shoulder and through the open doorway, barely able to make out the motionless body in the bed due to the heavy concentration of doctors that were entering and exiting the room, filing in and out in harmony with the coming and going of each minute. She really didn't want to talk to him about this, at least not over some recorded message. She needed him to see her face and her to see his. To make matters worse, her voice had begun to tremble and shake. It was unlike her to react to sadness with such softness.
Fi knew what it was like to have a broken family as well. Her parents had abandoned her when she was very little, leaving her and her mangled cat at some shoddy excuse of an alleyway. Cake had been her only real family growing up, and when her dear pet finally died she had sort of just...given up in regards to caring. Her one exception being the child of Brookeview Hospital's newest patient. The blonde traced her fingers on the furnished white wall, closing her eyes and breathing deeply for a bit to regain her bearings. The roughness of the wall of her choosing bit into her calloused fingertip, but not enough for her to make a bloody mess of herself.
In and out. For her at least, breathing was easy. Something she could control.
Fiona had lost all of her family, and she wasn't willing to allow the same fate for her closest friend.
"I just need you to get over here, okay? It's very important." Fiona clicked her phone shut, allowing the message to end, but even as she was doing so she was already finding it to be shoddy and unfinished. Not good enough to suffice its context.
And with that, she sunk down against the cold tile and rigid walls and cried.