“Imagine the doctor telling one of them, “She’s gonna go at any moment.” and so the other is struggling to say awake and be with them in the last moment, but eventually falls asleep, and while she’s asleep the other just slips away”
I’VE BEEN SLACKING FOR TOO LONG (the last two weeks have been an absolute whirlwind). A continuation from Day 5. ~700 words
She’d watched them leave. Michiru’s mother had at least had the decency to cry, but she’d let her husband escort her out with a firm hand. “There’s nothing we can do. We’ll only be in the doctor’s way.” They hadn’t so much as looked at Haruka, tucked into the corner of the waiting room. She felt a wave of a feeling too twisted to name. Staying here wouldn’t put them in the way, it was what a waiting room was for, and the doctors had said all they could do was ease Michiru’s pain anyway, shouldn’t they want to be with her instead of their socialite dinner guests? Hadn’t Haruka been right about them all along? But that was what brought Michiru here. Haruka could not resent them.
She found her way to Michiru’s room in their wake. It was too bright for the time of night, too bright for the injuries she’d sustained. The purples and blues and horrible garish reds that mottled her skin were thrown into too strong a contrast with the sterile white surroundings. Michiru would have said something about color composition. She did that sometimes, illuminating the art that could be found in life for Haruka’s uncultured appreciation. But Michiru couldn’t say anything now. A tube ran down her throat to keep her breathing.
“Excuse me.” A nurse tapped on Haruka’s shoulder. “It’s family only now.”
“I’m…” Haruka cleared her throat. “I’m her sister.”
The nurse eyed her lanky frame, then Michiru’s delicate broken body in the bed. Cousin, why hadn’t she said cousin? That was family, and more believable. Haruka could do nothing right. But then the nurse cast her eyes to Haruka’s face, and her gaze softened.
“She’s going to go at any moment. We can’t do anything more.” She patted Haruka’s back. “It’s good if she has someone.”
Haruka didn’t want to try her luck by climbing into Michiru’s bed, so she pulled the hard plastic chair they gave her as close as she could. “Hey, Michi.” Her hand was the wrong shape, they hadn’t bothered setting the bones in light of the rest of the damage they couldn’t fix. Haruka held it anyway. Michiru had taken such care of her hands. An artist’s pride, she’d always said. Her callouses her still there, the only thing that felt right to the touch.
“I’m—“ Haruka’s breath caught. “Let’s run away together. We don’t need this place, I’ve been saving up money.” She stroked Michiru’s hair. It was still beautiful, even tangled and bloody as it was. “I was gonna buy you a ring, a real nice one, but that can wait.” Haruka tried to smile. “You know I love you, even if I can’t do all the things I’m supposed to for you. I want to take care of you as best I can.”
She would have, she swore she would have. She never could have given Michiru the life she was used to, but she’d have done everything she could to make up for it. Haruka loved her. Wasn’t that something more than she’d had? Money couldn’t buy that. Her parents had it all, and they didn’t even bother to stay, that wasn’t love. Haruka was here for her.
Even though Haruka put her here.
“I’m sorry.” Haruka kissed Michiru’s gnarled hand. “They were right about me, weren’t they? I did ruin you.” She cried then, hating that it was more for herself than for Michiru. If she loved her, she should have stayed at the goddamn dinner. She’d left, just like Michiru’s parents, how could she hate them for it?
“I won’t leave you again. I’m gonna be here. I’m here Michiru.” She rested her head on her pillow. “You’re not gonna be alone.”
She stroked Michiru’s marred cheek. The heart monitor beeped like clockwork as all Haruka’s emotions began weighing heavily on her eyelids. She had to stay awake until it stopped. She had to be here. And maybe it would never stop, and there would be a miracle, and she had to be awake…
Someone was shaking her. “Sweetie, you… we have to move her.”
Haruka’s head shot up. The heart monitor was switched off. Michiru’s skin was cold.
There had been just one thing Haruka could do for her, and she’d failed.
SittingOverHereDreaming 