Chapter 7
Olivia was just stepping out of the shower later that day, when
she heard the doorbell ring. She
hastily toweled herself off and wrapped her purple satin robe around
herself.
“Coming!” she shouted, hearing the doorbell ring again, as she
hurried down the stairs.
She flung open the front door to see Aaron and Angel Carter
standing on her front porch. Her cheeks
grew pink with embarrassment, as she realized she was only wearing her robe.
“Uh… hi,” she said, managing a smile.
Aaron looked just as embarrassed as she felt. “Hi,” he said.
Angel smiled awkwardly. “Mom
didn’t have your phone number, so she wanted us to come tell you the good
news.”
“Nick’s awake,” Aaron finished for her, smiling genuinely. “He’s gonna be okay.”
“Oh, that’s great!” Olivia said, smiling brightly at the
twins. Her smile wavered as she
wondered if Nick would remember that short glimpse he had gotten of her through
his window. She hoped that he was so
doped up and disoriented that he would not remember or think that maybe it was
just a dream, but she wasn’t sure.
“Yup,” Angel said, shifting her weight.
“Well, I think we’re going back to the hospital pretty soon, so we
better get home,” Aaron said. “See ya
later.”
“Okay. Bye,” Olivia
replied, as the two of them turned and headed down the front steps. Olivia closed the door and headed back
upstairs to get dressed.
***
“Nick!”
Nick had to smile as his littlest sister, Angel, came bounding
into his room. She looked as if she was
about to fling herself onto his bed, but she stopped abruptly, as if suddenly
realizing where he was and what had happened to him. The smile left her face.
“Hey, Ang, come here,” Nick said, opening his arms. He had been sleeping off and on the whole
day, but now he was finally wide awake and alert. His doctor, Dr. Filson, had taken him off of
the ventilator, so he could finally talk.
Angel smiled again and tenderly hugged Nick. “I love you,” she whispered into his ear.
“I love you too, Angel,” he replied, suddenly overwhelmed with
guilt as he realized what he had done to land himself in this hospital. Why had he actually tried to take his
life? His reasoning behind the suicide
attempt seemed stupid and superficial now.
What would have happened if he had actually succeeded?
Nick shuddered, thinking about the pain his poor family would have
to go through. Even though he hadn’t
been on the best of terms with some of his family members, mainly his mother,
for the past few years, he still loved all of them, and he knew they loved him
too.
“I’m sorry,” Nick whispered to his sister, still hugging her, one
hand reaching up to touch her dark, silky hair. “God, Ang, I’m so sorry.”
“For what?” she asked, her voice muffled against his chest.
“For doing what I did. For
trying to kill myself,” he answered, his voice growing small on the last few
words. He felt ashamed to even say
them.
“It’s okay, Nick,” she said.
“We forgive you. Just please
don’t ever try something like that again.”
His little sister’s pleading voice was thick with emotion and trembled
ever so slightly.
“I won’t,” he said truthfully.
“Promise?”
“Promise,” he replied, and meant it.
***
Four days
later
Olivia had not seen much of the Carter family in the past few
days, and so she had not heard anything more on how Nick was doing. She had called the hospital a few times
again, but of course all they told her was that his condition was “fair.” That meant nothing to her. So when she heard a car pull into the
driveway next door and doors opening and slamming shut that afternoon, Olivia
hurried to peek out the window.
To her surprise, she saw Jane and Bob Carter helping a tall blonde
man out of their van. It was Nick. Olivia watched as Nick weakly walked between
his parents, leaning heavily on their shoulders, as they led him slowly into
his open garage.
Olivia let her blinds fall shut and backed away from the
window. She sighed with relief, glad
that everything had gone well and that Nick was finally home.
***
