Not Good Enough chap 2
Kat sat in the hospital's waiting room for two things: her brother, and her sister. Many anxious texts and missed calls later, Natalya had finally been informed of the predicament. Ivan was in the hospital. Apparent suicide.
'What would make Ivan, of all people?' Ivan was always known for being the strongest of the siblings, even from childhood. Besides asking for help occasionally, he had been completely self sufficient and independent. Natalya even looked up to him with great respect. If they weren't siblings, she'd want a wedding. But what had happened?
Just then, Natalya burst through the door, a trench coat flowing around her shins. Finding Kat, she immediately bombarded her sister with a series of questions. "Where is he?! What happened?! Is he going to he okay?!"
Kat thought about these questions, trying to find answers. After a few seconds, she realized she wanted them too. "Nat, sit down. I don't know." Kat said slowly. The fear in her voice was apparent. She didn't know anything about the predicament. "All we can do is sit and wait..." Natalya didn't sit down. "...and hope."
Natalya stood there with serious composure, seemingly going over the situation in her mind. She finally walked over to the chair adjacent to her sister, her flats clapping against the floor. The bow she always wore in her hair was out of place, Kat noticed. Her hair was a mess, what little make up she had slightly smudged around her eyes. Natalya sat with her head held up by her hands, elbows against her knees, hunched over her purse staring straight ahead.
The toll of the predicament was obvious on both of them.
The two of them sat there, waiting for someone to come out of the double doors they both knew Ivan was somewhere behind. A doctor or nurse to tell them what happened with the treatment. An orderly to call them through to see for themselves. Perhaps Ivan himself, so they could all just leave and go to one of their houses for dinner. None of this happened.
Kat looked at her cell phone, the one it had taken so long to find earlier. 8:57. It had been nearly five hours since Ivan was admitted, yet the entire incident seemed to have occurred centuries ago. Kat's stomach grumbled slightly, but loud enough for Natalya to notice. Natalya glanced over, keeping her serious composure, then began sifting through her purse. She took out her wallet, and opened it, checking the bills.
Natalya replaced everything, stepping up and looking at the hospital's map layout on the opposite wall. "What?" Kat wondered. Natalya turned to face her sister "Come on, let's get some food." Kat stared at her sister, confused. "But... What about Ivan? What if someone -" Natalya cut her off. "Ivan wouldn't want us to go hungry. He'd feel terrible knowing he went hungry for him. He'd feel even worse about this whole ordeal knowing that he put us through the trouble." Natalya stated in a monotonous tone. Kat simply stared and ran the words over in her mind. She knew how Ivan worked, and obviously Natalya did too. He would feel so much guilt from this. This was the least they could do for him at this point.
Kat stood up and moved next to her sister. "Where's the food court? Or what they call them in hospital's?" Kat asked solemnly. The thought of not being here when Ivan needs them ran through her head. She hated it. "Just follow me." Natalya stated, still monotonous, walking off with a definite idea of where she was going. A college girl like her was hard to come by.
Kat followed her, Natalya leading down 3 hallways, two lefts, and a right, their shoes clapping the floor in unison before getting somewhere that seemed like the right place. "I'm buying. Just pick some stuff out." Natalya stated. The arrangement seemed varied: some soups, some solid foods, some thing's that would look more at home in another country. But Ivan stayed on Kat's mind. She needed something to help get him off of it. "I want that pizza." she said blatantly, pointing out some slices behind the plexi-glass counter.
Natalya's eyes widened. "Since when do you eat pizza?" Kat never did. She didn't enjoy anything about it: the taste, the texture, the smell. It was too different from the stews she had grown up eating. "I just need something to get my mind off Ivan." Natalya took a second to think before nodding and ordering their assortments. Neither of them ate very much, a combination of bad food and no appetites, though it had been a late dinner for both of them. They both sat silently, the only sound in the form of Kat's chewy pizza crust.
"How much do you know?" Natalya asked after what seemed like a long while. Confused, Kat stopped eating for a moment, trying to think. "About what happened." Natalya continued. "Your messages said you found him like that." Kat stared at her sister, thinking.
Should anything be left out? How much should be said exactly? What's this going to do to her? These questions ran through her head before she began. "I went to his house to check on him. He didn't answer the door when I came, so I used his flower pot key to let myself in. The house only seemed to resemble his. There were no lights on, only shadows brought upon from the outside. There was dust everywhere, and the house was in complete disarray. I searched his house quickly, finding him in his bathroom. In a puddle of blood, water, and glass. I called an ambulance, rode with them here, and had been in the waiting room since."
Natalya stared down at her food, pondering the information. Kat had seen her in a serious mood before, but never like this. The circumstances were far more severe than anything they had encountered together as siblings. Nothing at all. Even their estranged fathers weren't as bad as this, as their mother was their only common relation. None of them cared. Family was family.
They both finished just after 9:30, seemingly in worse moods then when they'd come. The walk back to the waiting room seemed longer than before, though perhaps there had been more people walking by. The waiting room seemed quieter as well, the two sisters alone in their shared world, almost lacking a sibling. They sat in the same adjacent chairs and when they had left, waiting for the answers they clearly needed.
"Hey Kat? You said that you rode with the ambulance here, right?" Kat thought for a moment, wondering what had brought the question up. "Yes... why?" She responded curiously. "So you left your car at Ivan's house?"
Kat hadn't even thought of this. She did leave it at Ivan's house. "I did actually..." She responded. Kat eyeballed her little sister curiously. "So I'll have to drive you there to pick it up?" Natalya asked. Once again, Kat had no choice. "Yes, that'd be appreciated."
Natalya looked over at her sister, a small, rare smile placed on her face. "You should also lock Ivan's front door while we're there." Kat thought about this response. She didn't think to lock his front door before she left. She didn't know why, but this made her smile and chuckle. Of all the things that could've been thought of, Natalya remembered his door. "I guess I should. That'd be a good idea indeed."
The two sisters sat smiling at each other over the thought. "Once we see Ivan. Make sure he's okay." Kat said, grabbing her sisters hand. Natalya gripped her sisters hand, knowing she was not alone in the ordeal.
After a couple minutes of sitting together, a woman in a white doctors coat walked through the double doors.