Chapter 19 of THAT Girl
By IsabellaMarieAntoinette
This chapter is short and I'm sorry it's taken more than a month to get this one up. Summer was hectic and before I knew it school started. Haha. I'm really sorry though. Please forgive me.
The wedding's been postponed for a week. Everybody seems more devastated by that than the fact that poor Mr. Masen's health is diminishing fast. In the past week he's had to visit the hospital twice. I fear the wedding will be put off even longer. However, I can't say I'm too disappointed about it. What with the date approaching so rapidly I've been frantic. My nerves have been getting to me. This one occasion has me terrified and I can't explain why in words.
It is upsetting however that my temporary wedding relief has been brought about because of my father-in-law-to-be's ailment. That's most terrible to be certain. But what's worse is that both my mother and dear Angela have taken up a dreadful cough. They also often say their eyes hurt which I find is most odd.
Edward's father isn't looking at all improved and if, as I suspect those two have what he's been stricken with, the end result won't be pretty I presume.
I know in my heart that this is not a mere cold as Edward tries to convince me. It's spreading, I know. I've heard from people that it's not just occurring here in Chicago, but in the whole state or perhaps the country. Hopefully those are nothing more that rumors and that's it's not escalated so widely. I guess we'll just have to wait the week out and see what's to be done.
A week has passed. Things have indeed gotten worse by a large scale. Benjamin and my own father have taken sick and Edward's father looks much worse than when I last saw him.
There is word that others have begun to succumb completely to this strange sickness. Lauren Mallory from school, it seems, has even been pulled under by the illness. Though I cannot say I am entirely saddened by that bit of news, it is dreadful nonetheless. And it makes me fear even more for those around me.
While the wedding has been the furthest thing from anybody's mind, Edward has requested I wait another week before we go ahead and delay it indefinitely.
"I would wait forever for you," I had assured him. "But you needn't worry about the wedding. Isn't it a bit irrelevant what with all our loved ones becoming sick?"
"Don't lose faith yet," he told me.
So I waited another week.
In such a short period of time I didn't know so much could happen. Edward's father, unable to get out of bed, let alone feed himself, has been moved to a hospital. He is so frail and lifeless. Nothing like the joyful man I knew before. The one who reminded me so much of his wonderful son.
However, as the week progressed, things got even more horrible. My mother's simple cough escalated to a sore throat, then vomiting and awful headaches. This has all led to her joining Edward's father in the hospital. But doctor's are struggling with this disease, the Spanish Influenza they're calling it. It's killed hundreds so far and I don't know if we'll survive this with us all alive.
And then suddenly the world stops. Or it feels as though it has stopped. Edward's father is the first to leave us. He died a few days after my mother was hospitalized. The funeral was yesterday. But it wasn't much of a funeral because the morgues have been filling up crazily and they don't have the time to deal with every recent death.
Horrible as that was, today was worse. Because today my mother died. And today my best friend died.
My mother was early in the day. I went to the hospital to check in on her. I have been alternating between going to the hospital and staying home and taking care of my recently ill father. They don't let many into the hospitals that aren't sick because it's highly contagious but I managed to get in somehow today. There was a flutter of commotion inside the building, as was the usual as of late.
I went to my mother's bedside. She was asleep so I just watched her rest. She was so pale and fragile looking. I brushed some of her hair out of her face and realized she was cold. Very cold. Colder than her usual temperature since she's been ill. I examined her quickly and also noticed her chest wasn't rising and falling. She had no pulse.
I screamed. I heard people rush over but couldn't see them. I couldn't see anything. I screamed again and then everything stopped.
My eyes opened and it was eerily silent. I looked around and found I was in my bed. At home. I was relaxed and calm. And then it all flooded back. My mother died. I got up and searched around the house for my father. I found him in his bedroom. He looked up when I tapped on open door.
His face looked drawn and sad.
"How are you Bella?" he asked me. "How are you taking your mom's de— Um…the news?"
"It's difficult. I…I can't really find the words right now," I said on the verge of tears. "You?"
"The same. But we have each other. We can get through this." Just then our door bell rang. My father started to rise out of bed to answer it.
"I'll get it," I said quickly.
I left him to go answer it wondering who would be calling on us at such a time. When I opened the door it was Mr. Weber on the other side, surprisingly
enough.
I invited him in and he came just inside the doorway.
"Bella," he said. "I'm so sorry about your mother. But…It's Angela. She's gone." His voice cracked on the last word and tears spilled down his cheeks.
My knees gave out, I sank down against the wall to the floor as the realization of this recent news, and my mother's death finally hit me. My eyes flooded and my throat burned as I choked on my sobs.
I don't know how long I cried for but suddenly I was lifted into somebody's strong arms and carried to a sofa where I was set down still wrapped in those arms.
"Shh, shh, it'll be all right," Edward's sweet voice said. I wanted to believe him as much as I wanted to scream that it'll never be all right.
"No, no, no," I whispered. "No, no"
"I'm here. You'll be okay," he said soothingly.
"My mother…Angela…they're…dead," I said in a disbelieving voice.
"I know. I'm here," he said as if that made everything all better. And in a way it did.