Aline bro
So the crash was bad. The paramedics came and she got a front row seat in watching them extract Gio from the car. They would only let one person go with him in the ambulance to the hospital, and Aline ended up being the one accompanying him. She knew it made sense for Lui to go with him, since this was his boyfriend (were they still together? She didn’t even know) but perhaps there was still some residual anger left in her from the whole situation, and she fought him on it until he relented. So she sat beside him on the ride to the hospital, gripping tightly onto his hand as the paramedics tried to keep him alive.
There was a lot of waiting and crying and tense conversations after she met up with Lui and her mom at the hospital. Hours later, her mother said she had to go pick up their sisters from school, but Aline volunteered to do so as she was beginning to feel like she was suffocating from the hospital environment. She just really hated hospitals; they reminded her of the dead and the dying and she would rather not think of Gio as dead or dying. So she distracted herself, spending the evening with her sisters and trying not to think of how broken Gio looked.
She and Lui didn’t go to school in the days after that. Aline moved between the hospital and her home, acting as a bridge between the two places for her mom and brother; Luciano spent all his time at the hospital, never too far from Gio’s bedside, while her mom was never too far from either of them. Aline knew that was because Marcia felt somewhat responsible for him, because of the whole disowned-by-his parents thing. Aline had been watching from a bit away when her mom had called his family and told them of the accident, and though she didn’t know the exact words exchanged, her mami looked frustrated when she got off the phone. The call with Gio’s sister seemed to go much more smoothly, and so it was no surprise that it was only his sister who showed up.
It saddened Aline though, to know just how little of a sh!t his parents gave about their own kid… just because he was gay. She knew her mom was holding out hope that they’d show, but Aline didn’t think they should count on it. People like that… they were stubborn like mules, their problematic ideals sticking like honey, blinding them to the little boy who really just needed his parents.
It was Friday now, the day of the senior camping trip. The trip had been something she had been looking forward to for the longest time, but now… well, Lui wouldn’t go and Gio couldn’t go and now it was hard for her to even think about going in these circumstances. But with Gio’s surgery having taken place earlier and him looking to have got through it okay (at least right now), she was beginning to think that maybe it was alright if she took a week off to go on the camping trip. Lord knows she needs the distraction.
Gio’s surgery was early that morning or late the night before, however you wanted to view it, and he was back in his room by the time she stiffly awakened in the chair she had claimed for her bed. Her Papi was at home with the girls so she could stay here with Gio, Lui and her Mami. And Francesca, his sister, who had stayed the night too, what with Gio’s surgery and all. She was in the chair by Gio’s bedside, her body kind of slumped onto the bed. As her eyes slowly sweeped the room, she noticed someone that was somewhat familiar to her but she couldn’t quite recall the name of. She was probably also someone close to Gio in some way or other. Luciano was curled up in another chair near her beside Marcia, his head resting on their mother’s shoulder as he slept. Aline rubbed her neck, regarding them groggily. He used to fall asleep like that almost all the time when he was little, her shoulder always the comfiest pillow. Both of them were close to their mother, but her mom and Lui… they shared a bond that Aline would never even approach.
She walked over to where her mom was tucked with Lui, taking the car keys out of her purse. Sending her a text she would see if and when she woke up, Aline headed home to freshen up. She took a shower and changed, the house quiet in the early hours of the morning. Her suitcase, which had been packed since March, was tucked into the back of her closet, and she cast a forlorn glance its way before leaving the house again, driving back to the hospital.
She was back in his room, her mother awake now and giving her a small smile. Lui wasn’t in the room, which was odd to her as she couldn’t remember a time where he hadn’t been there. Francesca and the familiar woman weren’t there either—Francesca had probably headed to work but she had no idea where the woman could’ve gone. “Hey, mijha.” Marcia held out her arms and they shared a hug, her mother holding her tight in that signature way of hers, the kind of hug that made her feel like everything would be okay. “I’m going to grab Lui and get some breakfast, okay?” Marcia murmured in Spanish after she had stepped back, her hands rubbing Aline’s shoulder. “Lui…” Her mother sighed, rubbing her head. “He needs to get out of here, even though he thinks he’s fine. All this hospital… well, it’s no good for anyone.” Aline nodded slightly, passing the car keys into her hands. “Yeah, okay.”
Her mom glanced towards the door, a thought occurring to her. “Oh and Annabel was here—she just stepped out. She’ll be back soon probably.” She looked like she wanted to say something more, but then she just nodded, kissing Aline gently on the cheek before heading out. “I’ll see you,” Aline said to her retreating back. The question popped up in her mind after she had already gone: who was this Annabel?
Her mom gone, Aline dragged a chair to Gio’s bedside, her hand slipping into his. She looked at him, a sigh tumbling through her lips. “Gio…” she whispered, a tear running down her face. “How did we get here?”
@/CerealKiller k bet