Post by ELLEN ELIZABETH WATSON on Mar 9, 2014 0:05:11 GMT -5
and it's over. and i'm going under.
wearing
For the past few weeks, Ellen's sleep was getting longer and deeper. She was finally able to get a full night's rest, and it felt refreshing. For nearly a month, she struggled to even get an hour of sleep, and now she was getting six or seven hours. It still wasn't quite enough for her to function the way she used to, but it was certainly an improvement. Her dreams were no longer filled with brutal images. She still had occasional nightmares, but they were much milder.
Tonight wasn't an exception. Ellen felt very relaxed. It had been an eventful day. She taught her classes, went grocery shopping, and tended to a few household chores she needed to complete. She was ready to fall into bed and sleep. And at ten o'clock, she brushed her teeth, got into her warm, flannel pajamas, and headed to bed. She didn't bother to wait up for Lawson.
When her head hit the pillow, she was asleep. She slept well, until the phone rang. It scared her. She gasped as she woke up. Gently, she wiggled her way out of Lawson's embrace. She then reached over onto her nightstand and put her glasses on before rushing over to pick up the phone. It was 1 in the morning. She had absolutely no idea who would be calling at this time.
She picked up the phone, half expecting it to be her mother informing her that her dad had a heart attack or something along those lines. "Hello?" she said softly, trying not to wake up Lawson. "Hello? Ellen?" a familiar voice spoke across the line. Ellen narrowed her brows when she recognized the voice. "Mary, why are you calling at one in the morning?" she asked. This woman never called her, so why was she calling now at the most inappropriate time? She didn't have any idea.
A long pause from the other side left Ellen uncomfortable, and she could hear sniffling. She was tempted to put Lawson on the line. After all, this was his mother. "What is it? What do you want?" she asked, probably sounding irritable. "It's...you and Lawson need to get down to the hospital," the other woman said, clearly trying hard not to cry. "Mary you have to tell me what is going on. I'm not just going to wake up Lawson and hop into the car to drive to the hospital at one in the morning," she said. "It's...it's Gabriel. He's," there was another pause, and Ellen knew that whatever Mary said after the pause wasn't going to be good. "He's in urgent care. He was in a car accident. They don't think he's going to live he's comatose." Her eyes widened and she immediately looked over to see if Lawson was awake. But that didn't matter. She already felt sick.
Her hands were trembling as Mary spoke, but she couldn't comprehend what the other woman was saying. She felt nauseated. The phone fell from her hand, and she ran to the bathroom. She let herself vomit. She was just in complete and utter shock. How was this even happening? She didn't want to believe it. No matter how badly their relationship ended, she didn't want him to be gone forever. And she had no idea how Lawson would take it. They were brothers after all.
but i'm not giving up. i'm just giving in.