I dropped my head and closed my eyes, wondering what I could say to help brighten her a bit so she could at least fucking eat. I was not like Nick. I didn’t have the ability to just light someone right up and make them laugh. He’d helped me out of dark moods enough times throughout my life that I should’ve at least been able to copy him… but, I couldn’t…
“You need to eat, Sav,” I said, choosing to go with a firm route instead. I hoped she wouldn’t push me on it. What was I supposed to say? I was worried about her? I didn’t want to insult her, but I needed her to be okay.
When she didn’t reply, I got to work heating up the soup on the stove. I was glad to do it. It gave me something to do. It gave me a way to feel like I was helping, at least in a small way.
“How long have you been sick?” I asked again, hoping she wouldn’t ignore my question this time.
She continued watching the sitcom and didn’t look my way when she answered, “I don’t even know, Griff.” She moved to her side and curled in a ball under theblankets.
“Well, the flu lasts about seven to nine days,” I told her. “You’ve gotta be almost done.”
She didn’t reply, just kept her eyes away from me.
When I finally brought the soup over to her, I moved the coffee table closer so she’d have a make-shift table.
I sat next to her and rubbed her back as she ate, but after all of three spoonfuls, she was bolting to the bathroom again.
My mind reeled as I listened to her puking… Did she need more help than what I could give her?
I heard the toilet flush as I prepared what I was going to say to her, but the opportunity never arose to use those words.
As she exited the bathroom, her whole body went limp, and I ran to catch her before her body hit the tile floor.
37. Sav
“What…? Where…?” I looked around at my surroundings and felt my heart beating wildly in my chest.
Did I black out? How’d I get here?
I searched around and relaxed when I saw Griff sleeping in a chair next to me. He looked even more tired and weighed down than when he first appeared in our living room. The only thing still bright about him were his intense blue eyes. It was actually a relief to see them. He was like an anchor, telling me that not everything was gone and lost forever. At least his solid presence was still here. Nothing would happen to Griff. He was too strong.
His foehawk hair was covered by his hockey beanie, and his face was just beginning to get scruffy again. He had shaved for the funeral. I hadn’t seen him clean-shaven since our teenage years back at the Ice League.
He’d look just like his seventeen-year-old self if it wasn’t for the fact that his jaw line was so much more pronounced now, and his body had filled out a lot… He had filled out more than Nick. Nick was destined to stay skinny as a rail for probably another ten years…That gave him both an advantage and disadvantage in hockey. Nick was usually too light and quick on his feet for anyone to hit him, but when he did get slammed against the boards, I think he felt it more than other guys. Griff, on the other hand, looked like he could take a beating– especially with his new black eye. Griff was unshakable.
I looked around me again, realizing that I was hooked up to an IV. This flu must’ve really dehydrated me. At first, I thought it was just my body’s way of grieving… but that wouldn’t last this long, would it? I couldn’t keep anything down… then again, I didn’t even want to.
Everyone brought over all this comfort food, and I just threw it all away.
I couldn’t be comforted
All comfort died along with Nick.
I was an empty, numb hole.
A nurse came in then, carrying a clipboard, and the noise woke upGriff.
He frowned and rubbed his eyes as she started asking me questions.
“How long have you beensick?”
“Um… I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. Everything had been such a blur lately.
“Have you taken any medications?”
“No.”
“Have you-”
