She glances down at me, her brow softening, even though I can see the battle behind her eyes. I haven’t won her back yet, not fully.
“I have to go to the washroom,” she whispers to me and I let go of her legs, getting to my feet. She shoots me a small smile as I’m back to looming over her and leaves.
I pull out the chair and sit down, head in my hands, waiting in anticipation for some clear sign that everything is going to be okay. But there’s never a sign for that, is there?
All I know is that that things have to change. And as much as it hurts, as scary as it is, I will make the changes. I’ll face everything head on, I’ll work through, anything just as long as she’ll stay with me. The thought of her leaving is this big black hole in my chest, promising nothing but emptiness.
Her phone on the table rings, startling me, and I glance at it. She doesn’t get many phone calls and the number says Toshio, her brother. Normally I would just let it ring but in her emotional state, I figure she may need to talk to him. Who knows, maybe she’d already called him, wanting to come home.
I answer it. “Hello, Lachlan speaking.”
There’s a pause. Then, “Lachlan. Is Kayla there?”
Something about his voice puts me on edge. “She’s in the bathroom, should be out any minute. Do you mind holding?”
“Sure,” he says so softly that it’s almost an afterthought.
I get up and take the phone over to the bathroom, knocking on the door.
“Kayla?” I ask and she opens it, stepping out into the hall. I show her the phone. “It’s your brother. Toshio.”
She frowns. “Okay, thanks.” She puts the phone to her ear, turning away from me slightly. She clears her throat. “Hey Toshio.” A long pause. “Um, no,” she says to something and her voice warbles slightly. She looks at me but she’s not really seeing me. Her eyes are slowly growing wild.
She gasps loudly, mouth dropping open. “What?! When did…” Her hand flies to her chest and I’m right next to her, peering at her, trying to figure out what’s happening. Her lip trembles and she starts to shake. “No. Oh, no. No. Oh my god,” she whimpers. Her eyes pinch shut and I put my hand at her waist to support her. Something absolutely terrible has happened, far more terrible than what happened last night.
Now she’s nodding, staring ahead with pained, glassy eyes, trying to breathe. “Okay,” she says quickly. “Okay, I’ll be there. I’m coming. Just…” she pushes her fist against her forehead and yells, “Oh god. Oh god.”
The phone drops out of her hands, skittering across the floor.
I quickly bend down to pick it up, trying to hand it back to her but the call has already ended. She turning away from me, fingers pressed over her eyes, her mouth open and I have to pull her back by the arm before she walks into a wall.
“What happened?’ I ask gravely, prying her fingers from her eyes. “Kayla?”
She stares at me in a new kind of horror. Her lips open and close. Eventually she says, “My mother. She had a stroke, they think. They don’t know. Oh god. They…they found her. Toshio found her a few hours ago in the house and…and…” She swallows loudly, licking her lips. “She’s in a coma. The doctors had to put her in a coma to protect her brain. Oh god,” she gasps and nearly falls over. I quickly wrap my arms around her, holding her up. She starts shaking in my arms. “I have to go home. I have to go home right now. I never should have left her. I never should have left her.”
“It’s not your fault,” I try and tell her but I know my words fall on deaf ears. My good friend guilt has a way of blocking everything else out.
“I have to go home,” she repeats, her face frozen in this state of blank fright. “I have to get on the next plane out of here.”
I bury the crushing fear deep inside. “Of course,” I tell her. “Let me handle that okay. Just go and pack. We’ll get you back to your mother. Everything is going to be fine, okay love? Everything is going to be fine.”