After a long day of school, including no lunch (as her purse was, once again, in her bag). Cat finally got back home.
"Mom! Matty!" She called out, walking through the front door and pausing. Silence. She guessed they were at the hospital. No one had bothered to text her what had happened to Matteo, and from the looks of things there was no note on the kitchen table either. Sighing, Cat pressed her mother's contact page on her phone.
"I was just about to call you!" Cat's mother answered, Cat smiled to herself, her Mom hadn't entirely forgotten about her. "Could you bring a phone charger to the hospital? Mine just broke." The older woman continued.
"Oh, I-" Cat stuttered, "Yep yep... sure. I'll be there in-" She looked at the time. "20 minutes if I rush for the bus now." At this point she knew the bus schedule all too well, it being her shuttle too and from the hospital for Matteo's many appointments over the years. It came every hour, at 17 minutes past, about a 5 minute walk from her house.
"Thanks, see you soon." Her Mom replied, ending the call.
"But I called you to-" Cat started, realising she was talking to no one at all now. Guess she needed to run for the bus, she started heading towards the door. "Phone charger!" She yelled to remind herself, turning and grabbing one from her room before leaving out the front door.
Gosh did she have a headache. The lack of food in her system was really making her mind sway now. "I wish I'd grabbed something from the house" She muttered to herself, staring out the window of the bus as it made its way towards the hospital. The bus rocked from side to side as it made its way down those familiar roads. Left at the next intersection, then straight ahead, then right... stops periodically between each road change, picking up and dropping off more passengers. Cat liked the bus but she always found the one to the hospital somewhat sad. Hospitals were rarely happy places, beyond the birth of a child, there's rarely a good reason to go, and it was often reflected in those traveling to it. Of course there were still those who chatted to each other, as the journey continued, but most, like Cat, were silent. Most absorb themselves in music, drifting into thoughts and worries that would erase or grow on arrival. Cat was grateful for the relative quiet.
"Thank you." Cat smiled to the bus driver at the end of the route, giving him a curt smile as she stepped off. On route she'd texted her mum to ask what room they were in, and so she walked in and followed her instructions until she reached the door with a little clipboard outside reading 'Matteo Leonardo Valentine - methylphenidate overdose'. Methylphenidate, the long name for her Ritalin.
She did this, she's the reason Matty was in here she was- No. "Don't blame yourself Catty." Cat mumbled, taking a deep breath, and forcing herself to open the door.
"Ah good, my phone was on 2%." Cassandra said, more grateful of the charger than seeing her own daughter. She looked tired, but had atleast changed out of the nightwear that Cat had seen here in last, a pale blue carry-on bag by her feet. That bag was a staple of the Matteo hospital visits, it had everything Cassandra needed to spend up to a week doting over her son. She wouldn't leave until Matteo did- it was always the way.
"How is he?" Cat asked, noting her brother unconscious on the bed in the middle of the room. Sucken cheeks, pale skin, the shadow of the boy he was years ago. They'd once looked quite similar, Cat and Matty, or Catty and Matty as they'd been known. Both tan like their Italian father, both with their mother's doe brown eyes, they both had the same brown curly hair. But now, Matty was always deathly pale, and with Cat dying her hair red and years of straightening it, they only shared the similarity of their mother's eyes. Matty had always been a lot taller than Cat too, as boys typically are, around 5ft10 compared to his 5ft little sister. Growing up she'd always been adamant she'd catch him up with height, but she of course never did.
"Fine now." Cassandra told her daughter briefly, "They pumped his stomach of the drugs and he woke up a few hours ago, he's just sleeping now." She summarised.
"What happened?" Cat pried.
"He took your damn meds". Her mother quipped, shooting a daggered look at her daughter.
"No." Cat shook her head, trying not to think about that. "I mean what knocked him out."
"They think a seizure." Cassandra told her briefly. "How many times have we told you to lock your door Cat. If this happens again we'll make you stop taking that damn medication. You hardly need it, you're not 10 anymore you can sit and focus now I'm sure of it."
"I... I'm sorry Mom." Cat replied, looking to the floor, and then slowly back up to Matty on the bed. She hated seeing him like this, but it was really a sight she'd gotten used to it. Since Matty was 15 this is where he often ended up, in a hospital bed, or a mental ward. Either way it would be some cold, bright white room, which was currently doing nothing good for her headache. She looked over to her Mom, who was periodically switching between scrolling on her phone or looking up at her son, never once looking over to Cat.
She felt bad for her mom. Once she'd been a dancer, no-one famous but enough to do it for work. But as with many women's careers, they get lost once you have kids. When Cat was young, she started teaching at a local dance college, and she loved it. Cat had once been apart of their kiddy classes. But, along with most things in the Valentine house, it came to a grinding hault because of Matteo. Cat could tell her mom missed her past life, no mother wants to spend every waking hour praying her son wouldn't end up dead. But nor did any sister. Her parents never really gave her much notice, with Cassy looking after Matteo all the time and Leo working- they never had time for their daughter anymore. She guessed that's why she acted out sometimes. She missed when she was a kid and sometimes acted a little too much like it. She didn't mean to, sometimes it just slipped out.
As she thought to herself, Cat's brow furrowed slightly, that headache was still there. Like a numbing feeling behind her eyes, she needed to get something to eat. 'Hrrrg' her stomach seemingly agreed. "Go get yourself some food from downstairs," Cassy said quickly, reaching down to her bag and grabbing a 10 note out. "Get me a coffee too. Two sugars, no milk."
"Two sugars, no milk." Cat repeated, thanking her Mom for the money and navigating back down to the familiar cafe on the hospitals ground floor.