Chapter 37
Ethan
Deep down, I should have suspected life couldn't be all roses forever.
My team had won the biggest game of my career so far, my grades in college were good, and I was in love with two people at the same time who, even if they weren't ready to return the romantic feeling now, one day would be.
Meanwhile, they returned my desire, and a lot.
I even had a pet, like I'd always wanted!
It was too much happiness for too long.
I'm in the back seat this time, with Katniss sleeping in my lap and acting as a compress on my left leg, which woke up complaining about all the effort I made yesterday, both in the game and in bed.
We're on the road, heading back to Frosthaven after spending Sunday wandering around Boston, when my phone rings.
Taking the device out of my pocket, I read my dad's name on the screen and answer right away.
"Son... good evening."
"Hi, Dad, good evening. I was actually about to call you to see how you and Miss Marta are doing," I greet, and I can hear his sigh on the other end of the line.
"I'm fine, Tan. But your mom isn't," he confesses, and a chill runs down my spine.
My mom had a serious kidney problem. She'd struggled with it her whole life, but five years ago her kidney function started declining, until it reached its current point: she did dialysis every day, waiting her turn on the transplant list.
Despite everything, my mom never let herself get down. I knew dialysis was cruel and that her body suffered, but she always called me with a smile on her face and said everything was "as bad as ever, but nothing out of control," and she soothed my fears about her health.
I was also aware that they spared me from some things, which had been the reason for fights between us several times.
However, after a while, I ended up having to accept their reasoning that I had my own life to take care of and needed to keep my head here, studying and playing, and not on someone sick several hours away, for whom I couldn't actually do anything to help.
Nothing besides donating one of my kidneys to her, which I tried, but my mom wouldn't accept it at all, not from me, not from my brothers, and my dad wasn't a match.
But I had faith that at some point the ideal kidney would show up, and things would go back to normal.
And I prayed for that every night.
But when my dad says she's not doing well, I know it can only be something very, very bad.
I swallowed hard before asking.
"What happened?"
"Last week we found out that your mom's kidney failure and high blood pressure had caused an aneurysm to form in her abdomen, which needed to be operated on before it ruptured," he says, and I lose the ground beneath my feet.
"And you didn't think it was important to call me and tell me that?" I exclaim, already sounding desperate. I only notice that Logan pulled the car onto the shoulder when I see the two of them turn in the front seats to look at me with concern.
"Your mom wouldn't let me. You know how she is."
"She doesn't get to decide everything, Dad. You should have told me!"
"Ethan..." He tries to speak again, but I interrupt him.
"I've said a million times that it's not fair to leave me in the dark."
"Ethan..."
"Especially about something this serious!"
"Ethan! Listen to me, damn it!" my dad shouts this time, and I'm startled, stopping the flow of indignation. "Your mom had surgery yesterday. It was twelve hours of surgery and she... she still hasn't woken up. And they don't know if she will."
And that's how my world falls apart.
Logan
Ethan becomes a total mess. After hanging up the phone and telling us about his mom with tears already falling down his face, Charlie and I take a good hour to calm him down slightly.
Our trip back to Frosthaven turns into a desperate drive to Dover, Ethan's hometown and where I also lived for a good while. Luckily, it was a much closer destination, and we reach the hospital where his mom was admitted in less than two hours.
The player jumps out of the car before I've even turned it off, which forces us to run after him, leaving Katniss sleeping in the car with a window cracked open a bit. I'd have to come back to check on her later.
Since he'd let his dad know we were arriving, Richard meets us at the main door. I watch Ethan hug his dad in desperation, and I'm heartbroken by the pain screaming from both their eyes.
"How is she?" he asks, without even ending the hug.
"They're keeping her in a medically induced coma, so her body can fight the infection," he says, looking defeated, but trying to hold the line for Ethan's sake.
"She has an infection? You didn't tell me that!" he almost shouts, running his hands through his hair.
I feel Charlie lace her hand with mine, and we share the worry through the touch.
"I was just going to make you more worried during the trip, son."
"I don't care! I'm tired of not knowing everything! Argh!" he groans in frustration, rubbing his face. I rest a hand on his shoulder and squeeze while Charlie strokes his back. "Is there anything else you didn't tell me? And where are my brothers? Have you told them too?"
Richard looks at him, devastated, but shakes his head.
"Yes, I told them, and they're on their way too.
And there's nothing else relevant, I swear.
It was a high-risk surgery, like I said, but it had to be done as soon as possible, since if an aneurysm actually bursts, things get a lot worse.
The aneurysm was even bigger than the scan showed, so the doctors spent double the time they'd predicted removing it.
But her blood pressure has stayed high ever since, her kidneys are...
" The older man pauses his explanation to sigh and also run a hand through his graying hair.
"Or rather, they're barely doing any function at all, so she's hooked up to a ventilator and the damned dialysis machine. Add the infection to that and..."
Richard doesn't finish the sentence. He can't.
I swallow hard, and it hurts me to see more tears fall from Ethan's beautiful face.
He shakes his dad by the shoulders.
"You should have called me sooner! I had that right! I had the right to have seen her before..." He gets worked up in the middle of his crying, and Richard just shakes his head, in a mix of guilt and pain. "Where is she?"
"In the ICU. Visiting hours are only in the morning, but I talked to them earlier and asked them to make an exception when my sons arrived. We'll be able to go in, but not stay more than about five minutes," he warns, and Ethan nods.
Richard finally takes a moment to look at Charlie and me, and I hold out my hand to greet him.
"Hello, Mr. Clarke. I'm so sorry about all of this," I say, and he pulls me into a hug.
"Hey, kid. Thank you for bringing my son. Him driving with a hot head like this would have made me even more worried," he remarks, and I murmur that it was nothing. He then focuses his attention on the girl beside me. "And this must be the new resident of the apartment."
Charlie gives a contained smile.
"Yes, I'm Charlotte McCarthy, but call me Charlie, please," she asks, holding out her hand to him, but she's also pulled into a quick hug by the older man.
"Thank you for coming to support my Ethan too, Charlie," he says with honesty, and she nods.
Richard goes back to focusing on his son.
"Come on, I'll take you up there," he says at last and turns, walking into the hospital. We follow him in silence, going up in the elevator to the third floor and walking down a long hallway.
Heavens, why did hospitals always have to be so grim? The cold corridors, the white color covering all the walls, the too-bright light... Everything there seemed made to leave us even more apprehensive.
Finally, we stop in front of double doors with the ICU sign above them.
I watch Ethan wipe away his tears as he registers and gets a visitor's badge. I'd give anything to be able to go in there with him and give him support, but I know the safest thing was for Marta to have the fewest visitors and the least exposure to outside germs.
He can't even look at us before going through the doors with his dad, and all we can do is stand there, praying she recovers. Or it would destroy him.