A few more days have passed. Nothing's changed with mom's condition. The Neurologist however, has finally spoken to us. He took us all into a little room and shut the door.

"She is not technically brain dead. There is still some brain stem activity. But there has been significant cortex damage."

A few family members had questions, but I had none. Some people were on the verge of tears, I still felt nothing.
We all went back into the waiting room. And so I went to the texting of Kyle, Kenny, and a couple others.

"She's not technically brain dead, there's still some brain stem activity, but there has been significant cortex damage. The part of the brain that makes her "her". Chances are if she does wake, it won't be her. But there is large evidence that she won't wake at all. We are about to start a 48 hour period where everyone can come see her or if anyone changes their mind about what comes next, they may. We have decided as a family to discontinue life support after the 48 hour period."

With that sent, I stuck around while Shelly signed a few papers regarding mom and our decision. I stayed for another hour, doing some school work, before leaving to get Kyle.
The drive was pretty quiet, he already knew everything. We immediately went to the hospital once we got to South Park. We went back to see her. The rest of the family was there. We stood awkwardly, I was only there really because I had to be, and Kyle because he was my best friend. I spoke with Shelly as Kyle was drawn into conversation with my other family members.

It was uneventful. Eventually, we left the hospital and went back to my old house. A few of my things were still there, so we camped in my old bedroom. I got us sodas from downstairs and we played the old Okama gamesphere.
Kyle didn't press me about my mom, and for that I was grateful. He knew what I thought. I think part of him still thinks I'm in shock or something because I'm so unaffected.
Fact is, I'm 22. She's my mom, yeah, we had a decent relationship, but it is what it is. I've made my peace with it. Everyone else however, has not. They continue to hope and pray and shit like that. I'm over it. I hate spending time at the hospital. I could be doing other things. I mean, I'm caught up on all my school work, so I could be gaming on xbox with the guys. I could be not sitting there, bored off my ass.

After a while, I found the old xbox 360 and hook it up downstairs. We play guitar hero for a few hours. Eventually though, we go to sleep because I have class early. The drive to class is tedious but class is moderately interesting, though about half way through I pull out my little tablet and fuck around on it. I pay attention enough to know what's going on, but I don't really care about that class.

I pick up Kyle before going to the hospital again. I've gotta do a few school work things, so we sit out in the waiting room and I do my work while he plays on his phone. It's an overall boring time. Once I finish my school work though, we venture back to her room. Hospital staff hover as the family converses and speak to mom.

I always thought Shelly was above the bullshit they're all doing. I guess I was wrong. She partakes when they pray. She talks to mom like she's gonna wake up and be fine.
I'm so over it. I'm over everything. I'm fucking done. I leave the hospital shortly after, driving to Kyle's parents'. They wanted to see him, as it's been a while since he's been down. We update Kyle's mom on my mom's condition and she says she's going to pray for her. I smile politely, but don't comment. We leave after a couple hours, walking to my house. We flop on the couch at separate ends, trying to decide what we want for food.

"I'm broke," I tell him.

"Fuck, me too."

"I technically have a few dollars though," I mumble, checking my bank account with the app on my phone.

"I haven't had fast food in ages," he comments.

"Taco bell?" I ask, craving their delicious burritos.

"Dude, yes."

And with that, we drive to the nearest Taco Bell. I order our food and pay, sitting down and waiting for it to be ready. We talk about Kyle's life, his studies and his long time boyfriend, Jace.

"You guys gonna get married?" I ask.

"Yeah..., in a few years. I want to have my bachelor's first."

Kyle was smart, he went to college right after high school. I didn't, I waited until last year to start. I was working various jobs and things, I hadn't figured out what I wanted to do yet. I'm still kind of unsure, but I have a better idea.

The worker calls Kyle's name and he leaves to get the food. When he returns we don't talk much, eating in relative silence. We order a second round, and talk some more as we wait for the next batch to be ready.

"How is your partner?" Kyle asks.

"Partners," I correct, "They're good. They're sympathetic but they didn't know mom, so it's whatever."

"Ah," he nods before going to get the food.

We eat in relative silence after that, the drive back also being quiet, but it's not uncomfortable. We watch a mindless cartoon for a few hours before going to bed.