When The Sky Finally Falls

In my flashback, it had been my mother saying those words as she walked through the door. But now I was brought back to reality by Jeremy saying them. He waited patiently as I slowly turned in my bed to face him. The scared look in his eyes shocked me. 

     "So, like I said, there's something very important that you should know." He cleared his throat before continuing. "Laura's pregnant." He stared hard at the ground.

Laura. The name took awhile to click. His girlfriend? I assumed that was the case.

     "Um, wow, Jer, that's great. Congratulations. But..." I paused, knowing that this could be risky. I decided knowing some of the truth would be worth whatever the consequences are. "Who's Jonathon?"

He sighed and looked up at me. He seemed to be debating how much to tell me. 

     "Jeremy, you can be honest. Whatever happens, you're still my brother. And that means more than anything possibly could."

Instead of encouraging him like I had intended, this statement seemed to make him finally fall apart. I saw an emptiness in his expression that I had never seen before, even on his worst days. He walked over and sank into the chair by my bedside. He looked at the door, just as a doctor walked in. The doctor was tall and thin, with a long face. He looked very official and rushed, with a clipboard and a crisp white lab coat.  I was surprise that I had never seen him before. In fact, I hadn't seen any doctors at all while I've been here. Or I don't remember seeing any doctors, I thought. 

     "Miss Crovo?"

     "Yes, that's me." I said, sitting up. I hope he would give me more details about the accident, since getting them out of Jeremy seemed impossible.

He turned a page of my chart back and forth a few times. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

Uh oh, I thought. This can't be good.

The doctor, whose ID card read Benjamin O'Malley, M.D., opened his mouth to speak, but apparently decided against it. 

     "Um, Miss Crovo, everything seems fine for now. You'll need some follow-up surgery later but, fortunately, there were no complications." He turned and swiftly walked towards the door.

     "Doctor?" I nearly shouted. I needed to know more about what happened.

 He sighed, but returned to my bedside. "Yes?" he said, plastering on a fake smile.

     "What happened to me? Why did I need surgery? How bad was I hurt?" From the corner of my eye I could see Jeremy burying his face in his hands. Was he afraid of how much the doctor would tell me?

     "Well, you needed surgery because you experienced some severe head trauma. You were hurt pretty badly, but after the surgery, everything's healing nicely. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other patients to check on." He sped out the door before I had a chance to stop him.

I sighed. Then I remembered that I was getting close to prying information out of Jeremy. 

     "So, who's Jonathon? You were about to tell me." I said, stopping Jeremy from using the silence as a segue to change the subject.

     "A friend." He paused, probably debating how much to tell me. "I met him recently. When I was....looking for money."

     "When were you looking for money?"

     "When Laura got pregnant."

     "Why did you need money? I thought you had a steady job at that sports store."

     "I got fired. And then....I gambled a little bit. But I'm done with that stuff now. I want to stay on the right track."

I was shocked at how casually Jeremy told me these things. His life went downhill really fast, and he's just telling me as if it's no big deal.

     "Anyway, Jonathon is like a moth."

     "What do you mean?"

     "You remember, from that song, '' by Islands?" He looked at me, surprised. For a moment we were young children again, with no troubles. I did remember the song, and I knew what he meant. I wanted him to explain it to me, though, so I could feel like a little girl again.

     "I think I remember, but tell me more."

     "Well, the opening line of that song is  'If the clothes make the man, then the moths make the holes, and it shows, yes it shows, by the shape the hole grows.' I built up a nice wardrobe, let's say, for myself. And Jonathon slowly ate away everything I ever had. I barely noticed it while it was happening, but now, looking back, my life is in tatters. I- I don't know what happened. But I can't change it now." 

I could tell that Jeremy felt better after telling me this. But there was still desperation in his eyes. How did his life get this low? He was always a good boy, a rule-follower. And what did he mean by "looking for money".

Author's Note

I recommend that you listen to that song ('If' by Islands). Please rate and review.