Story Of A Girl

Frank Iero stared at the tiles under his feet. He nervously bit his thumb, glancing around often. Over two hours ago, they made him sign a sheet allowing them to perform surgery on Evelyn. The doctor had told Frank he’d explain everything after it was done. He also said there was an 87.6 % chance she wasn’t gonna make it. He puked again after that.
He looked at the nurse at the front desk, her clam aura irritating him.
“Evelyn Stewart?” A man called, coming into the room.
Frank jumped from his spot and walked towards him. He started to panic when he saw the stressed look on his face.
“You’re the one who signed the sheet?” He asked, pointing to Frank.
“Yeah.” Frank nodded numbly, wondering how the man was gonna tell him that Evelyn was dead. Frank sighed loudly, shaking his head. “She’s dead, isn’t she?”
The man’s expression didn’t change. “Horrifyingly close.”
A jolt ran through Frank’s chest. “She’s not dead!?” He asked, smiling.
“No, but she will die if this happens again.” He said, shaking his head.
“Can I see her?” Frank asked, glancing down the hall, wondering which room she was in.
The doctor sighed at the joyful expression on Frank’s face. “Yes.” He said, deciding not to explain what was wrong with the 17-year-old patient. He could tell by the look on his Frank’s face that all he cared about was making sure that she was in-fact alive. “Room 302.”
Frank walked quickly down the hall-way, glancing at the doors. His heart stopped as he stood in front of her door. Ever since he met Evelyn, he had hated her. So, why did he care if she was dead or not? He said his life would be better without her, just three hours ago. Why the change of heart?
He shook his head, and pushed the door open. She was just as pale as before. She had about 16 tubes hooked up to her. She was asleep. Frank winced at the sight of her hair, it was even redder against her skin now, only bringing the current events that brought her here, back to his mind. He grabbed a chair from the corner and brought it next to her hospital bed. He didn’t stare at her face; he didn’t want to.
It wasn’t because he thought she was ugly, it was because he felt guilty. If he hadn’t tricked her into drinking, then she wouldn’t have thrown up. It was his fault and he knew it. He laughed bitterly at the cupcake on her wrist. He picked up her hand and examined the inked picture. He smiled distractedly at the softness of her skin.
His hazel eyes wandered over her ghostly skin. Her veins shone against her wrist. He gently traced his index finger up to the palm of her hand, before gazing at her slender fingers. He glanced at her face, making sure she wasn’t awake, before lacing his fingers with hers. Maybe John was right. Maybe Frank did need a low blow. A really hard low blow.
○○○
“So,” Frank shrugged. “why did you guys have to perform surgery?” He asked, sitting in the chair across from Evelyn's room.
The doctor sat next to him, sighing. “Do you know what being anemic is?” He asked, staring hard at Frank. Frank shook his head. “It’s where you don’t get enough iron to make up red blood cells. You can get iron from protein and you can get protein from meat or any kind of leafy greens.” He explained. “Being anemic makes you pale, as you saw with Miss Stewart.” He gestured towards the door.
“So, Easter’s anemic?” Frank asked, raising his eye-brow.
“Yes. She’s also extremely under-weight. She hasn’t been eating enough lately. Her skin is straining against her ribs.”
“Really? Wow.” Frank said, staring at the door.
He nodded. “Did she consume any alcohol last night or today?”
Frank paled. “She drank pretty bad last night.”
“I’m guessing she threw it up this morning?” He asked.
“Yeah. She ran into the bathroom and I could hear her puking. I left for about ten minutes, came back and she was lying on the bathroom floor.” Frank shook his head at the memory. He looked at him. “Why’d she puke up blood?”
“If this was the first time she drank, it’s natural to throw it up. But, being as small as she was and as tight as her skin was against her ribs, throwing up only caused more stress to her ribs. One rib simply cracked up the pressure and it scratched her lungs, causing her to start internally bleeding. The blood came out where everything else was, her mouth.” He shrugged. “You said you left for ten minutes, why’d you leave if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Um, my friends and I were swimming. I ran to get some towels when she woke up. I left to bring them the towels and when I came back, there she was. Why?”
“I don’t mean to sound like I’m pinning this on you, but I guarantee you, if you would have stayed with her, calmed her down, things would be a lot less worse. She wouldn’t have panicked from throwing up and there would have been no extreme stress to her ribs. You did good by bringing her here. She lost a lot of blood.”
Frank paled. So, this was even more of his fault! He couldn’t feel any more guilty! “Oh,” He whispered, staring at her door.
“We did surgery to fix her rib bone. By Monday, I’m sure she’ll be ready to leave.” He said, glancing at Frank white face. “I’ll leave you to collect your thoughts.” He patted Frank’s shoulder and walked away.
Frank stood up and walked to her door. He stared at her through the small window on the door. He hated seeing all the tubes connected to her. He hated himself even more for basically putting them there.
○○○
“I told him not to,”
Frank’s head shot up and he looked at Evelyn. He had been in her room, holding her hand and lightly tracing her tattoo with his finger. He smiled at her. “You told who not to?” He asked, happy that she was finally awake.
“Trent.” She croaked. “I knew he shoved people in their lockers, I knew his friends did. I told him he would get in trouble and to stop, but he didn’t listen. I’m really sorry.”
He shook his head, laughing bitterly. “You’re in the hospital, pretty much dying, because of me, and you’re apologizing for something your crack-head boyfriend did? Geez Easter, you’re so nice, it’s almost sickening.”
She smiled lightly. Her eyes popped open and she stared at him. “I’m not in here because of you.”
“Yes. Yes, you are. I made you drink. I knew this was your first time drinking. And, I left you to puke your guts out.” He shrugged. “My fault.”
“I didn’t have to drink, Frank-”
“No, you didn’t have to, but if I asked you too, would you have said no?”
“No.” She said quietly, shaking her head.
“Exactly. You’d do it because you knew I wanted you to.” He shook his head, slightly irritated. “God, why couldn’t you have said no!” He glared at her.
“Because I wanted you to like me.” She said, staring back at him. “I came in, ruined your life, and I thought doing what you wanted would make you not hate me anymore.”
Frank sighed, shaking his head. “I guess that’s my fault, too.” He laughed. “You ruined my life? I’m pretty sure I ruined yours.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” She said, smiling.
The door shot open and Tim and Shaun bust through the door. Frank quickly let go of her hand, turning to look at them while Evelyn blushed, not even noticing he was holding her hand. Tim’s eyes fell on Evelyn’s white hand. His eyes rose up to meet Frank nervous hazel’s. He turned around, shoving past Shaun, and stormed out the door…