Chapter 3
THREE
The smell of the hospital hits my nose as soon as I walk through the door, a wave of chills running down my back. It’s physical proof of just how much I loathe this place, even my body reacts to the stench.
“God,” Aria mutters from beside me. “I’ll never get used to this smell,” her nose scrunches in disgusts, before she sucks in a sharp intake of breath.
I chuckle, shaking my head as I walk toward the front desk. Eyes are on me with each step I take, Aria’s trying to look intimidating, like she’s some sort of a big, scary dog. No one’s even batting an eyelash at her though, because their eyes are firmly set on me.
“You need to dye your hair back to literally any other color,” Aria hisses in my ear, and I suppress a laugh. “You’re gaining too much attention.”
“Is it my hair, or the fact that you’re actively hissing at people?”
“Irrelevant,” she rolls her eyes. “I’m just keeping an eye out for you. I don’t want some random woman approaching you and stealing you away from Blair.”
I scoff. “That would never happen. I live, breathe and yearn for Blair. Not a single person would ever come close. It’s literally her, then a million spots below empty.”
Aria grins. “Good. I was just making sure.”
“You know,” I smile. “When I first brought Blair around, your reaction was the one I was dreading.”
Aria blinks, taken aback. “Wait! Mine? Why?”
“Mom and Dad would never, ever meddle in my personal affairs. You, on the other hand, live to make my life miserable. I was not sure you’d accept her.”
“There’s nothing for you to worry about,” she dismisses my worries, and it’s like a part of the weight’s been lifted off my shoulders.
“I love Blair. She’s like the sibling I never wanted, but love nonetheless.
She’s one of us now, and there’s no going back.
She’s stuck with us, whether she likes it or not. ”
“Good,” I hum.
Aria takes charge, standing in front of the desk and asking to speak with Mom’s doctor. He’s currently not working, but he'll be here within the next two hours, so we decided we’ll spend the time waiting in Mom’s room.
She looks too pale. She’s lost a lot of weight since I’ve last seen her, and my heart aches at the sight. Aria takes out the old, wilted flowers from the vase, tossing them into the trash can, and replacing them with the new ones we brought.
I drag one of the chairs next to Mom’s bed, then take a seat. Slowly, I move her hair out of her face, toying with the soft strands.
“It’s been a fucking mess since you’ve been in here,” I chuckle.
I’m not the one to talk to Mom, usually, it’s all Aria.
But I know for a fact that patients in a coma can hear everything around them, and I need her at least semi-prepared when she wakes up.
“Paul’s in prison with Dad. Dad’s been really holding back from murdering him, but I have to say, his self-control has grown impressively.
A few years ago, he would’ve killed him without batting an eye.
It means everything to me that he’s not doing it, so Blair can be the one to kill him. ”
“Oh, and he’s been so well-behaved,” Aria adds, sitting on the edge of the bed, and taking Mom’s hand in hers. “As in, he’s never the first one to start any fights. Weird, right?”
“Is it, though?” I snicker. “People know who he is. They’re avoiding him like the plague.”
“And I’m grateful for it. Can you imagine how many phone calls we’d get if he was his old, angry self?”
“Dear God,” I mumble. “I don’t even want to imagine that. We’d have our hands full.”
“Which is why,” Aria says, her voice softening a fraction. She brings Mom’s hand to her lips, kissing her knuckles, “We need you to wake up, Mom. We need you to pull through this. You’ve rested long enough, we need you.”
“It’s been terrible not eating your food, not hearing your terrible jokes, and having you around overall. We miss you, and we need you back now.”
There’s no movement from Mom. She looks as beautiful as ever, as if she’s just sleeping peacefully.
God knows this is the first time in years she’s been able to rest properly.
Her hair’s grown a little, and thanks to the wonderful nurses, she looks great.
All she needs to do is wake the fuck up already.
“We miss you, Mom,” Aria’s soft voice breaks the silence, and it cracks as the words leave her mouth. “I love you, and although I’m almost eighteen, I’m still a kid. I need you, Mom. I just need my mommy to come back to me.”
A lump forms in my throat, and I force myself to look away.
With each word that slips from Aria’s mouth, my heart shatters even more.
Right now, she looks like that little girl that always used to follow Mom around.
Aria’s always been a daddy’s kind of child, but deep down, the bond she shares with Mom is one of a kind.
Seeing her like this pains me beyond words.
“She’ll come back to us, Squirt. She has to.” I say, trying to muster as much confidence as possible.
Aria looks up from Mom, offering a small smile through tear-stained cheeks. “I know. She has to. I’m not letting her die like this. She’s too great to be killed by a simple bullet to the chest, Arlo. She’ll pull through and live a long, happy life.”
“She will,” I reach over, grabbing her hand, and squeezing it lightly. Silence falls around us, and there are no words needed to be spoken. It’s comfortable, and we’re using it to process all of this.
Mom’s lying in a hospital bed.
Dad’s in prison.
Luna is dead, by my hand, no less.
What the fuck has my life become?
“It can’t get any worse, can it?” Aria asks, breaking the silence.
“Don’t jinx it,” I chuckle. “But God, I hope not. It’s fucking ridiculous.”
“Do you think we’ll ever catch the rat among us?”
“Yes,” my response comes quickly, and it leaves no room for further argument. “I won’t stop until I find out who the motherfucker is.”
Aria pauses, her lips pursing. “Do you think we should reach out to X? He’s a valuable asset.”
“He is,” I nod in agreement. “But he’s also dealing with demons of his own. I’m not going to burden him unless it’s necessary.”
“Speaking of X,” Aria gets that mischievous look in her eyes, and all I can do is sigh, shoulders slumping. “What’s his deal anyway? Why is he not speaking?”
I deadpan. “How long have you been wanting to ask me this?”
“Ages,” she grins. “Now, spill.”
“No,” I drawl out. “If you’re that curious, ask him.”
I try to hide the amusement on my face, yet my lip still quirks upward. Aria grows more annoyed with me, as seconds tick by. She’s always been like this – her way, or the highway.
“I did!” She whines like a petulant child. “He didn’t respond.”
A frown tugs on my lips. “How, exactly, did you ask him?”
“I approached him, and point blank asked ‘Hey, why don’t you speak?’ and he just looked at me blankly, and walked away.”
My eyes widen slightly, I stare at her completely baffled. “What the hell did you expect? Out of all the ways you could’ve gone about it, you chose the rudest route?”
Aria shrugs. “Eh, maybe, but I got too excited. Now, spill the beans.”
“No.”
“Please?” she begs.
“No,” I roll my eyes.
I love my sister to death, but this is X’s story. He told me what happened in confidentiality, and there’s nothing Aria can do to make me break the promise. In some sense, X has become a friend over the years, and I won’t betray his trust.
“Pretty please with a cherry on top?” She pouts.
“Absolutely not,” I roll my eyes.
“Then... did he ever speak to you?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Aha!” She grins. “That means he still has his tongue.”
“No one ever said he didn’t, Aria.” I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. For someone so intelligent, she does and says the stupidest shit.
“Well, there are a bunch of rumors going around. Some say that he had his tongue removed for betraying the CIA, some are saying that he’s just choosing not to speak for the same reason, others claim it’s the trauma that caused him to go mute. No one knows what the real story is.”
I smirk. “Ha! I do.”
She groans. “Oh, come on! Tell me something — anything!”
“Nope,” I grin, popping the P. “Stop meddling in other people’s business and focus on your own. Anyway, don’t you have a game soon?”
“Stop trying to switch the topic,” she grumbles, taking her hand out of mine, and folding her arms in front of her chest. “But, yes. Next weekend.”
“Good. You need to be doing things kids your age do. You need at least some semblance of normalcy.”
Aria sighs, running her fingers through her hair. “Yeah. I’ve never really had that, have I? I’m turning eighteen soon, and then I’ll be done with high school.”
“And you’ll go to university.”
“Do I really have to?” she questions.
I shrug. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But you should look into your options. Money wise, you’re set for life. But maybe you’ll find something you’re passionate about, and that’s worth exploring.”
“I’ll do that. Maybe I’ll go to med school or something.”
“You?” I lift a brow. “Sure. That’ll be fun to watch.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re Hudson 2.0. You have no patience. You’re trying to tell me you’ll go through years and years of school, then residency, then if you pick your own specialization? Please, I know you better than that. You’ll drop out before the first semester ends, and that’s if you even get in.”
“Hater,” she grumbles under her breath. “Fine, maybe not med school. But I could go for economics.”
“Do whatever you want, Squirt. You know you’ll always have my full support.”
She smiles. “Thank you. It means the world to me to know that I have you in my corner.”
“You’ll always have me in your corner, Aria. Don’t you ever doubt that.”
“Okay,” she smiles. “Thank you.”
I turn to look at Mom, leaning in and placing a kiss on her forehead.
Noelle Campbell is one hell of a woman. If anyone can pull through this, it’s her.
If not for herself, I know she’d never leave Dad or us.
Call me selfish, but if I need to try and guilt-trip her into waking up, I’ll do that.
Anything just to see her open her eyes again.
Losing her has never been a part of the equation, and it never will be.
She’s too young to die, and we’re too fucking useless without her.
She’s the glue keeping us all together, and she has to wake up.
For her own sake, too.
“I love you, Mom,” I mutter, kissing her forehead again. “We’ll all be here when you’re ready to wake up. Take all the time you need, and we’ll all be waiting. Just come back to us, please.”
“There are so many things you’ve missed,” Aria says. “And I don’t want you to miss my graduation. I need you there. So, please, wake up.”
The silence in the room is eerie. Nothing but the sound of Mom’s heart monitor can be heard, and that’s okay.
Somehow, I know our words have reached her.
It might be wishful thinking, but it’s what keeps me going at the moment, so I choose to believe in it.
Mom will wake up, and she’ll recover from this.
Sometime very soon, this will be all a memory that we can look back on together.
“Let’s go, Squirt,” I say, voice soft. “The doctor should get here soon. I want to speak to him.”
Aria’s reluctant to let go of Mom’s hand, her eyes glued to her sleeping face. “You go. I want to stay a little longer. Call me when it’s time to go.”
I nod. “It’s going to be soon, since we have to go visit Dad, too.”
“Okay.”
I stand from the chair, stretching my arms above my head. With one, last glance at Aria and Mom, I head out of the room, in search of the doctor. All of this has taken a massive toll on our family, and the only way we’ll be able to recover from it is to have her back.
And we will because Mom has never been a quitter. She won’t become one now.