I wasn't originally going to write this chapter yet, but then it kind of snuck up on me. So, yeah. Lucky you.
When she's ten, the people in her class start to treat her differently. Either they're too nice, offering to do this, to do that, do you want to play with us, I've saved you a seat. Or, they ignore her completely. Blank her during Recess, ignore her every time she attempts to talk to them. The teachers act like she's going to break, let her get away with everything. And that would be excellent if she was the kind of person to behave badly. Though, Audrey understands why. Of course she does. Her mother has been in a coma for the past two years and her father is not taking it well. And they didn't expect him to take it well, not at all. Just… not this badly. They thought he was rational, that he understand what exactly happened to his wife.
Audrey knows. She got the doctor to tell her what happened. Giving birth to her brother, the stress and the pressure on her body had caused a blood vessel in her mother's brain to burst, her brain had swelled and she'd slipped into a coma. The first few days had been hopeful. The next few weeks had been tentative. And after that… well, she can tell by the way the nurses look at them. Judge them, judge her father for keeping their mother and his wife alive. A waste of a bed and medicine and equipment for someone who's never going to wake up. They think they should let her go. Properly let her go. The body in the bed barely resembles her mother anymore. Everything that made her her, has long since gone. She's an empty shell.
That's how she explains it at school. When people ask, it's that her mother is a shell and we're just waiting for her to come back. Audrey isn't one for believing in hope, not really, but if other people want to hope that everything will turn out right then she's not going to hold it against them. How can she when they're the ones hoping for her mother to recover? For her mother to open her eyes, and be okay and for everything to go back to normal. No, she's not against hope and prayer and wishing on the first star you see at night, she's just a firm believer in reality. People call her a pessimist, tell her she should be praying every night, but she doesn't know who to pray to. If God existed, if God was there and he was watching their family then how could he have let this happen? How could he let her mother waste away in a hospital bed when she could be at home, with them? No, maybe she is a pessimist, but at least she won't be disappointed.
Healy doesn't seem to find anything wrong with not having a mother. Why would he when he's never known otherwise? Their father does everything he can for them, he's a mother and a father and a friend all at once, and he'd give them the world if they asked. Audrey helps where she can, helps to tidy, gets Healy dressed, tries to do her homework on her own just so she can give him a rest. She knows he needs a rest. A break from it all. He's wearing himself down, and she can tell that he's exhausted almost all of the time. When was the last time they went to visit mommy? Last week? Yes, last week. But it wasn't for long because none of them had slept well and Healy was cranky. Various uncles and Aunties visit on a regular basis, take turns in looking after them when it all gets a bit too much. Lets him do what he needs to do to get through the day without breaking down. Write, sleep, scream or cry. Audrey's heard him do that on more occasions than she likes, has grabbed a blanket and curled up on his lap more times than she can count. She thinks he's been drinking, can smell that sour stench that she's not sure she likes, but he needs her, and he cuddles her, keeps her warm, whispers silly words in her ears and calls her his butterfly.