by Karla Luna
After work, she knew I was here. So she would come by and visit Evelyn, yet also try and take care of me like any caring mother would. I knew she cared, but nothing was going to help. The only thing that would help was my angel waking up.
It was a Sunday night, the middle of January, and she walked in right after work. Every day she asked the same questions.
‘How’s she doing? Hasn’t woken up yet?’
Then she came to me and asked me how I was hanging in and stuff. Obviously, I didn’t really answer. They were more like nods, a shake of the head. Nothing else. Maybe short replies, but that was basically it. I never had much to say.
“Sweetie, I brought you some Mexican food. I know you love it.”
She passed the bags over to me but I just shook my head. “Not hungry,” I whispered, clearing my throat right afterwards since my throat was aching a bit.
Mom shook her head with worry and came to sit down in the chair next to mine. I just kept my eyes on Evelyn, even after my mother started talking to me again.
“Gosh, Zavier, you need to eat. It’s been a month and you’ve hardly eaten anything. Please. I brought my chicken casserole yesterday and you didn’t even spare it any glance. It’s your favorite!” Honestly I did, it was probably my most favorite thing in the world. But it just reminded me more of Evelyn. I know it may seem like I’m moping way too much, but I just got the love of my life, and now there was a chance I’d lose her? It just wasn’t fair.
“I’m not hungry, Mom,” I whispered again while rubbing my forehead.
“Well… I’ll just leave it here. I need to rest, take a shower. Are you coming?”
“I’ll just go later.”
“You only come to shower and that’s it, Zavier. Sometimes you just shower here. Look, you should at least come over every other night with me. You don’t even go to school anymore. Your education is still important, you know.”
“It’s only been a few days back, I’ll make up for all of them.”
“That’s not good enough, Zavier.”
“Can you just leave me alone!?” I shouted, making her freeze up and gape at me. After a few seconds, I realized what I had done and quickly stood up. I felt a bit dizzy but ignored it and looked at her. “God I… I’m sorry, Mom. I’m really sorry. I-I didn’t mean to shout at you.”
She only took a deep breath and faked a smile, hugging her purse close to her body as if she were afraid of her own son. I felt so bad but it just came out. I really didn’t mean to. “It’s all right, honey. I think it’s best to leave you alone.”
“I’m just frustrated, I’m sorry…”
She tried to give me a real smile this time as she walked over to me and kissed my forehead. “I understand. I get shouted at all the time. It’s rare for my son to do it, but that’s fine. I get what you’re going through. Just please… don’t forget to take care of yourself. When Evelyn wakes up, she’ll want to know how you’ve been. So do it for her.”
After she left, I kept thinking about how she said ‘when’ instead of ‘if.’ Like deep down, she knew Evelyn would wake up soon. Like she had hope in that happening. And I wanted to have that kind of hope, too. It was just very hard.
She was right. I also needed to take care of myself no matter how hard it was for me at this moment. If Evelyn was watching, I don’t think she’d like it.
So I took the food my mother brought and started eating as much as I could, which wasn’t a lot, but I still tried.
Moments after I finished trying to eat, Ian and Darrel walked in.
“Still breaks my heart walking in here every time,” Ian said. “Sup, Zavier.”
I tried to smile at him and Darrel, noticing how Ian didn’t even call me ‘nerd boy’ ever since this happened. And little happy, glutton Darrel… wasn’t so happy anymore. I hated the atmosphere. Although it just showed how much we all cared for Evelyn.
Ian walked over to the side of Evelyn’s bed and grabbed her hand. Then he let go while tightly closing his eyes and turning toward the windows, gripping on to his hair.
Darrel watched him and then nibbled on his lip, walking over to Evelyn. He breathed out but then slowly moved closer and kissed her forehead.
And that’s all there was to it.
It was a week later now, with the same deep sighs and sad routines.
At that moment, the doctor was checking up on Evelyn so we had to stay out of the room. Ian and Darrel decided to go out and eat a little. They invited me but I declined and went over to the vending machines instead, to get water and a granola bar.
At least people around here didn’t look at me so strangely. I bet they saw tired, sad guys every day, with messy hair and huge bags under their eyes. Because obviously that was me all the time here.
In the shop, I had gotten Evelyn a few nice things. But there was one special thing that I always kept close to me, right in my hands. Like I was afraid to let go of it.
A teddy bear.
Sure, it may seem weird to a few. I really should’ve just left it in her room, or right next to her instead. But it was honestly the only thing that helped me sleep at least a little, for some reason.
Sighing deeply, I sat down on one of the chairs right outside Evelyn’s room and opened up my granola bar, leaving the teddy bear on my lap, and the water on the floor.
I ate and thought about a lot of things.
I couldn’t help but think about how things could go wrong all the time though. It always caused me to freak out and get scared, which was the trigger for my panic attacks.
So I sat there, my head on my hand, as I tried breathing deeply, in and out. I didn’t want any of the doctors or nurses noticing again, so I hoped that it would go away as soon as possible.
Okay, okay, just… breathe. Breathe.
Just. Breathe.
“Hey, are you okay?”
I jumped a little at the light voice and turned to my left, noticing a dark-haired, teenage girl sitting right next to me. Her green eyes looked me over and I coughed out, nodding at her. “You sure? I… doesn’t seem like it. Should I get a doctor?”
“N-no, no, no… I-I’m fine,” I said to her, now noticing her in a blue gown, injections plugged in her arm, and tubes up her nose. “I’m fine.”
“All right… Sure hope you are,” she said as she looked down at the teddy bear and then back up at me. I averted my eyes and hugged the teddy closer to me as if she was about to take it away. “You know, every time I come outside to have my daily walk, I see you here.” I stayed quiet and breathed deeply. “I heard the girl in there is in a coma.”
I nodded.
Then silence.
“Well… I heard about this one guy,” she started saying after a few awkward seconds. “He was in a coma for three years straight until his family finally decided to give him rest and put him to a peaceful sleep. I really don’t know how that helps, I’m so sorry. But I can tell that the girl in there is someone really special to you.”
“Yeah…” The most special girl…
“What’s her name?”
“Um…” I sat up straight and swallowed the lump in my throat. My voice was husky, almost like I had just woken up from a deep slumber. “It’s Evelyn. Evelyn Jo.”
“That is like the simplest name ever.” She giggled. “Any middle names?”
“It was never mentioned.”
“Ahh. Well… I’m Allie,” she stated as she held out a fragile-looking hand. I gently shook it, noticing how skinny she actually was. It wasn’t horrible, she seemed healthy to me actually. But obviously she was sick. I just didn’t want to ask. It seemed nosy to me, even though she was asking a bit about Evelyn, too. Though I guess I didn’t mind it.
“I’m Zavier.”
“Nice to meet ya,” she said with a big smile. “Now, I know what you’re wondering. You’re wondering what’s wrong with me. It's all right to ask. I’m anorexic, Zavier. I’ve been in this hospital for a few weeks, and I’ll be leaving after a few more.”
“Oh. A-are you better now?”
“I’m getting better, yeah. Not fun. But you just gotta have hope that things will be all right in the end. Just like you and that girl. She’ll be okay, and I know it. There’s always hope.”
I nodded at her and couldn’t help but notice how happy she looked. Maybe she wasn’t really happy, but still tried to keep a positive attitude. I wished I could be like that.
“Right, well, it was nice meeting you. I hope to see you around so we can talk again.” She gave me a nod as she stood up. Then she looked down at my teddy bear. “That’s a cute teddy, by the way. Ooo! I can call you teddy bear! Zavier, the teddy bear.”
“I-I um…” I breathed out. “Can you please not call me that?” Please…
“Sure, of course. I was only joking. Well, bye!” She waved at me and started to walk away. I watched her leave and then stood up when I heard the doctor leaving Evelyn’s room as well.
When I turned around to go inside, I bumped into Memo, making me stifle an irritated groan. I also stopped myself from rolling my eyes, seeing him with donuts in his hands and a cup of coffee.
“Seriously, what is it with you cops always eating donuts?”
He just stared at me and bit on his donut, talking with a mouthful. “We fight crime every day, give us some slack.”
“You hardly fight crime if you’re eating that much,” I mumbled to myself. I was just about to walk in again when he put his arm in front to stop me. I clenched my jaw and my fists.
“I can also arrest you for insulting an Officer, you know.”
“No, you can’t,” I snapped as I tried getting through the door. But he wouldn’t move at all. “Look, why are you even here? You don’t know her.” Yet he was always in and out of her room like he’s been a long-time friend of hers. Seriously, not even Ian or Darrel did it. I mean, they did… but still.
“I’m security for her room, remember.” Okay, yeah, he was, but come on. Most of the time, it didn’t even seem like it.
I really didn’t like this guy.
“Yeah, sure, okay. And fighting crime every day? You guys don’t fight the crime that really matters, like killing or rape. You do know the police around here make us feel more afraid than safe, right? It’s pathetic.”
“Oh, we do?” he asked as he got all up in my face. I just glared up at him, not even threatened by the fact that he was a cop. At first he seemed nice but spend a few days with him and you'll find out he's a total douche. “Well, I’m happy for that one. Makes us the stronger ones, even though we pretty much are already. I could honestly care less about…” That’s when I brought my fist up, ready to pound his face in when he caught my fist in one swift movement. He shook his head at me and grinned. “Hey, hey, hey! I’m only stopping you because I don’t want to put handcuffs on you for the very first time here.” He threw my fist down. “Now that wouldn’t be so pleasant, especially for your girl in there.”
He shrugged and walked right in, making me want to do such horrible things for acting that way when he shouldn’t. Unfortunately, I’d be arrested for it. And I didn’t want that on my record.
I was about to walk right in, even if Memo was in there, too, but I stopped and turned once I heard Jesse’s voice.
“Hey, dude,” he said, but my eyes were on the guy right next to him. I was about to walk right over to the guy when Jesse stopped me by putting his hand on my chest. I was breathing heavily again. The anger was still there. “Whoa, whoa, okay. He’s here for a reason. Just hear him out.”
“What are you doing here, Ethan,” I demanded, keeping my eyes on his scared little figure. He looked at Jesse and then at me, and I remembered how his eyes were when he told me the whole truth. They definitely weren’t like this.
“I… well I… I um...”
I raised my eyebrows at him.
Jesse sighed as he watched him, and then turned back around to face me. “Davne got to Ethan right after he pushed him when he was aiming at you, which was what caused the bullet to hit Evelyn instead.”
I was surprised and shocked to hear that. I stared at Ethan and wondered why he would do that. But did I even believe it? I didn’t want anything to do with this guy. Why would he even…?
“This guy saved you, Zavier. He just didn’t see Evelyn running behind you, so the bullet hit her.”
I put my hand on Jesse’s shoulder and gently moved him away so that I could walk closer to Ethan.
“Why do I not believe that?”
Ethan took a deep breath and moved his hair away from his eyes. I saw the bruises on his eye and forehead. Then, he unzipped his coat and there were also bruises on his neck. He lifted his shirt up and I had to look away when I saw even more bruises, they looked even worse. I wondered how he could even walk at the moment.
“He, um… he beat me up a few days ago. The cops haven’t found him but he’s been hiding around. I-I don’t know where though. I… he’s just been talking a bit with me. For I don’t know what reason, I just…”
“Hey, calm down. We have to get you checked up,” Jesse told him. Then he turned to me. “I know it may not seem like it but this did happen. And you know it.”
“Davne used to give me bruises just like those,” I said to him, cringing at the memories. “Just get them checked out.”
Jesse nodded at me and put his arm around Ethan to help him walk. I still couldn’t believe he’d do that. Try and save me? I wish he hadn’t. Or I wish Evelyn hadn’t come.
But things don't always turn out the way you expected them to.
Turning around to finally head into Evelyn’s room, I saw Ian and Darrel walking toward me. I tried giving them a smile but they seemed to be frowning at something close by.
I stopped smiling and turned around to see a tall, dark haired guy with a stubble and very dark clothing. He was behind me. Then Ian and Darrel caught up to him and greeted him.
“You’re here,” Ian simply said. “Why are you here?”
“I’m here to see Evelyn,” the guy said, his voice deep, as he stole a curious glance at me.
“Well, it’s been a month, dude. The hell you doing here right now? Could’ve come a whole lot sooner.”
“Couldn’t get out. I got caught for something and they kept me there. But whatever, that doesn’t matter. Where is she?”
“Who are you?” I asked out of the blue, not being able to keep my own curiosity in. I hated myself for asking since it was none of my business, but hey, if he was involved with my girlfriend, then I wanted to know.
All of them stared at me and the guy gave me a genuine smile before answering. “I’m Drake. Evelyn’s ex-boyfriend.”
Oh. All right then.
48: Her Superman
• Zavier •
Ex. Ex. Ex. Ex.
All right, calm down, Zavier. It wasn’t like this guy was here to take Evelyn back. No, he came here to visit and be a good, supportive friend like Ian and Darrel. Don’t think anything else of it because that was all there was to it.
Right? Please tell me I’m right.
“And I’m here to take her back,” he said with a grin, and that made me clench my fists. He probably saw my aura change and so he chuckled, putting his hand up to stop me from coming on to him. As if I could, this guy could just grab me from the collar and sling me towards that wall. I wasn’t risking anything with him. “Nah, I’m fucking with you, man. Don’t worry. I’ve got my girl back in Virginia. Evelyn means a lot to me so I came by to see her for a few. What’s your name again, Glasses?”
I took a deep breath and tried to give him a nice smile, though it appeared sort of fake. “I’m Zavier, her current boyfriend.” Didn’t know why I put emphasis on ‘current’ but I just felt like it, even after he told me he’s got his own girlfriend.
I still held my hand out for him to shake and all he did was look down and slap it. Well… perfect greeting, huh. I can see where Evelyn got that one.
“Nice to meet ya, Glasses.”
All right, a new nickname. I was almost surprised no one else came up with that one before.
But how could this Drake guy act all giddy and happy when his ex-girlfriend was in a coma? Was it just a way to forget about it? I hoped so. Because he was doing pretty well at it. He wouldn’t come here just for the fun of it all, would he?
“So you’re the uh… guy Eve’s been talking about. You seem like a nice guy. Yeah, hurt her and I’m killing you.”
I gulped but tried to seem less scared at that statement.
I knew for a fact that he wasn’t kidding about that.
“But really, I’m not here to cause any trouble. Maybe a little. Now, what room is she in?” he asked, and Ian gestured toward her room. Darrel stayed with me but he never really made eye contact, just continued looking down.
When suddenly, he spoke up. And his voice was quite hoarse from barely talking. “Zavier…?”
I licked my lips and looked at him again, though he was still looking down. It was almost as if he lived in his hoodie, never taking it off. I scratched the back of my neck and waited for him to tell me whatever it was that he wanted to tell me.
“Do you… think she’ll be okay?”
I sniffed and dug my hands in my pockets. Oh, I hope she’ll be okay. She’s a strong girl. A fighter. Even though I had doubts, I would always want to believe that she’d be alright in the end.
Because she was Evelyn Jo. The kick-ass, tough girl.
When I was sitting in silence in her room, I remembered those times when she would come and save me. I never appreciated those times as much as I do now. And they made me want to help her out in return. I wanted to save her any way I could. By the time she wakes up, she’d know she has a guy that would make every sacrifice for her. She has a guy that would continue to respect her and love her. She has a guy that would protect her from any trouble coming her way. She has a guy that won't be an absolute coward.
People want to hurt her? They’d have to go through me first.