Olga got to the hospital about 20 minutes after leaving the house. Her mind was still blank. None of her usual upbeat music had accompanied the car ride. She thought of nothing as she was ushered outside of her mother's room. Even the fear of the worst had taken a backseat to the confusion that was racing from her heart and through every capillary of her body. She simply sat on a chair in the hallway and waited, her chin in her hands. She still couldn't even believe that she was there.
"Miss Pataki?"
The voice finally blew away the fog hanging over her mind. She turned around and saw a woman in a white coat heading toward her. The world suddenly regained its color, even if that color consisted of the dull floors and white walls of a hospital.
"Yes?" Olga got up.
"Hi, I'm Doctor Amara." The woman greeted.
"How is she?" Olga immediately asked.
"She's stable now. We also managed to avoid permanent brain damage from this episode."
Olga breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"However, I really need to talk to you about...other things."
"Other things?"
The doctor sighed. "Your mother came in here with a blood alcohol level of 0.42. She was really lucky. If she'd drank just a bit more, or if she collapsed in a place where no one could have called for help...she might not have made it."
"I see..." Olga replied as her eyes started leaking again.
"There's more." Doctor Amara continued. "We had to pump a lot of alcohol from her stomach. More concerning...your mother's liver resembles that of a 65-year-old liver cancer patient. She's also showing signs of potentially developing Alcoholic Cirrhosis in her liver."
"Alcoholic...Cirrhosis?"
"That's a condition where the liver develops permanent scarring due to heavy, frequent drinking. Put simply, the scarring begins to kill off and replace healthy tissue, leading to a high possibility of liver failure. Death is also a possibility."
Olga groaned as her head once again collapsed into a hands. Her face reddened. Tears piled up in her palm.
"I'm sorry to be the bearer of more bad news, especially at this time of the year, Miss Pataki, but your mother's brain isn't in good shape, either."
"Go on..." Olga sighed. Stiffening herself and regaining eye contact with the doctor.
"Your mother is in the early stages of Alcoholic Dementia. Quite simply, her brain is beginning to resemble that of an elderly patient suffering from dementia-related illnesses."
Olga groaned again. Her knees felt weak.
"So, this is why I wanted to ask you a few questions. Have you noticed any drastic changes in her behavior recently?"
"I can't answer." Olga sighed and wiped away tears. "We've been...estranged."
"Oh..." Doctor Amara trailed.
"Will she be OK, doctor?"
"For now, Miss Pataki." She answered. "But OK is relative in this case. If she doesn't stop drinking - and soon - she's going to develop irreversible brain and liver damage. Now, I'm going to do some more checking on the patient. I'll let you know when more news develops."
Olga collapsed back into her seat as the doctor walked away. Her first thought was to call Louis. She needed him, but she knew for certain that he was still in his meeting, and decided against it. She was in no mood to read any of the magazines nearby, either, so she just sat there, blanking out again. She didn't know how much time had passed before hearing a voice.
"Miss Pataki?"
Olga jolted back into consciousness once again to see a nurse standing in front of her, looking down with a warm smile on her face.
"Your mother is awake. You can go see her now."
"Thank you." Olga responded and got up, walking toward the indicated room.
Now her heartbeat raced at mach five and her legs felt like they were submerged at the bottom of the ocean while carrying two ton weights. She didn't know how she was walking, or breathing for that matter, her breath was that short. Finally, she emerged in the drab room, illuminated by sterile, fluorescent lights.
"Mrs. Pataki." Doctor Amara beckoned Miriam. "There's someone here to see you." She smiled and looked toward the entrance of the room.
Miriam's eyes widened slowly and she turned her head equally slowly in the direction the doctor was looking at. When she got there, a gleam returned to her eyes and her lips sluggishly curled up into a warm smile.
"Oh...Olga...hi honey!" She slurred faintly and weakly.
Olga began crying again, uncontrollably this time. She hadn't seen that face in nearly two years and now she looked so pale and frail.
"Mommy!" Olga blurted out and ran over to her bedside, getting on her knees to look her right in the eyes. She threw her arms around Miriam and began to convulse in sobs.
Doctor Amara smiled and left the room.
"It's alright, honey..." Miriam smiled and returned the hug, mustering a lot of effort to do so. "My smoothies today were just a little bit stronger than they should have been. It's no big deal..."
Now Olga broke the hug and frowned, staring directly at Miriam with an expression that startled her. Olga knew that her mother had never seen her look at her so angrily.
"No big deal?! You could have died, mommy!" Olga lectured as angry tears poured down her cheeks. "Mommy, I spoke with your doctor when I first got here. She told me your brain and liver are in bad shape and will be permanently damaged if you don't change quickly!"
"Oh honey, don't worry about it! They say stuff like that all the time!" Miriam said in a lighthearted tone.
"NO, MOMMY!" Olga's face now grew red-hot, making Miriam gasp in shock. "You need help, mommy! Admit it!"
"..." Miriam was speechless as her eyes shifted to and fro. Finally, she spotted it - Olga's engagement ring. The diamond's sparkle seemed like the only thing actually brightening the room. Miriam's lips quivered when the light from the diamond flashed in her eyes. Finally, the tears came, and they came in a torrent, surpassing Olga's own waterworks.
"Mommy?"
"Oh, Olga..." Miriam trailed. "I guess I just saw that story in the paper with you and Helga in it, that whole 'engagement party' thing, and I just...well...I can't really find the words, honey... This isn't the way I wanted to see you for the first time in almost two years. I'm sorry..."
Those last two words hit Olga like a ton of bricks. She'd never heard them before in her household. Ever. Now Olga rushed to her mother and hugged her again, with Miriam returning it more strongly this time.
"What happens now?" Olga finally asked after parting from her mother.
"Well...the doctor said they'll be keeping me overnight as a matter of routine. And after that I guess I'll just go home and..."
"Oh mommy, you can't go back there!" Olga pleaded. "I know what's happened since...well, that night, and even if it didn't..."
"...But what else is there?" Miriam asked almost absent-mindedly, barely managing to avoid slurring her speech.
Olga balled her dainty fingers into a shaky fist. There was no alternative and she knew it. She had to do the unthinkable, inviting back the very thing she'd run away from, letting in the possibility of shattering the life of bliss she'd had in the last two years.
"Mommy, for too long, I responded to our family's problems by putting my head in the sand and pretending everything was on cloud-nine. It was because I felt powerless to do anything about it, even when I grew up, but I'm not powerless anymore. I have a show tonight, but afterward, I'm going to talk to Louis to see if you can stay with us for a while. Maybe that way, you can start getting better."
"Louis hates your dad and me." Miriam responded instantly. Her reply was so fast that it surprised both her and Olga. "...I mean..." Her eyes and voice drooped, finally realizing what it all meant. "...And I don't think Helga would be thrilled, either..."
Olga sighed. She'd responded on autopilot before. Now she realized the difficulty of what she had just committed herself to. "Louis...isn't the most compassionate person in the world, at least not with people he thinks willingly bring disaster on themselves." She admitted. "But...I don't think he hates you. If you approach this with the right attitude, I actually think you have more of a chance with him than you might realize. I think he'll at least hear me out." Olga said with a smile as fresh tears leaked from her eyes.
"And what about Helga?" Miriam asked, seemingly trying to find a way out of what she and Olga had stumbled into.
"Helga..." Olga slowly spat out, trying to collect her thoughts. "Helga's still a kid. We love her, but she doesn't make the rules in our house. She'll ultimately have to accept what Louis and I decide to do." Olga put her head in her hands and cried into them once again as soon as the words were out, knowing how huge of a deal they were. She'd just willingly put herself, and more importantly, her sister, into a minefield.