Cry No More

         Had it really been four months since the accident? A sharp pain went through my head at this realization, causing me to collapse on the pile of books I was shelving. Unfortunately I suffer from minor brain damage that caused me to faint randomly during the day or if I became stressed out. Fortunately I lived the quiet life of a librarian and never had to worry much about being stressed.

         Resuming my work, I began to think more about what happened that fateful November night. I had just locked up the library and was in a hurry to get home snow storm was covering the streets with thick layers of ice and snow; I should have known better than to go out in those conditions. About a mile from my house a car pulled out from behind me and swerved around behind me. At the time I assumed they were having trouble controlling the car on the ice, that was until stopped at the stop sign before the street I lived on. The driver accelerated straight into my car and slammed me into a tree. When I woke up I was lying in a hospital bed with doctors running in an out of the room, tending to the bed next to me. I can only remember a little bit of what they were saying. I caught onto words like “intoxicated” and “coma”.

Later, when I had been moved into my own room my doctor explained what happen. Apparently a young woman got into her car drunk and didn’t even notice I was in front of her. When she smashed my car into the tree, a decaying branch fell on her car an hit her head, sending her into a coma. My injuries were caused by my head colliding with the steering wheel and I was very lucky that my condition wasn’t worse. After that I was visited by several law firm representatives asking if I was planning to press charges and if they could represent me. I declined politely. I felt sorry for the girl.

When the doctors said I was able to leave my room on my own I started to visit the girl every day. She was rumored to have had only one visitor that would only come on weekends and was extremely rude to the nurses. A rumor was that he made a nurse cry with his negativity. He never left any flowers or presents. I got to meet him once. From behind I could to tell he was about a head taller than me and kept his hair spiky. When I entered the room he turned around and pierced me with his sharp green eyes. His navy blue sweater showed off the muscles in his arms and chest and made me feel very intimidated.

“Hello,” I squeaked out.

“Who are you,” he asked in a stern voice as he returned his attention to his sister.

“My name is Eli Warren. I was in the other car.”

“I see. If you came to talk to me about insurance or court dates I have no idea about any of that. I haven’t spoken to my drunkard of a sister for about five years.”

“I don’t care about any of that stuff. I’m just making sure she is okay.”

“She’s still a lifeless vegetable as she was yesterday and the day before. Really, if it wasn’t for my mother I would have had them pull the plug already. She probably won’t wake up anyway”

“How could you say that?.”

“The stupid girl almost killed you and herself. The doctors say you have brain damage. Do you really hold no grudge against her?”

“I don’t. She was just trying to get home, just like me.”

He gave a little chuckle and shook his head, “My name is Geoffrey Lewis.”

That was all I could remember, I had blacked out.



Sighing, I returned to my desk and shut off my computer and grabbed my keys. Before heading to my car I made my way drug store and bought a bouquet of roses and a box of chocolates.  Tomorrow was Valentine’s Day and I thought it would be nice to brighten Miss Lewis’s room with something pretty and vibrant. After paying the clerk I hurried out to my car, turned up the heat, and pulled out onto the highway.

I arrived at the hospital a little after three-thirty. Upon my entry, I was greeted by familiar faces of the friendly nurses and doctors who see me every day and was escorted to Miss Lewis’s room. Setting the flowers next to her bed I smiled down at her and wished her a happy valentine’s day.

“You’re still here talking to her? She’s not going to wake up”

I turned myself to face a familiar pair of green eyes staring me down.

“Hello Geoffrey.”

Geoffrey let out a chuckle and stood beside me, slightly brushing my shoulder with his. I felt my face flush from the heat of his touch.

         “She’s not going to wake up Blondie. This is just her karma catching up to her.”

         “How could you say that? She is your sister…”

         “She did nothing but cause my mother and I trouble. She is hardly a person to feel sorry for. If it wasn’t for her my mother would still have her house, I might have gone to a better college, and gotten a better job. Her gambling and drinking debts almost ruined us…”

         For some reason I broke into tears.

         “That’s just not fair!  Just because she messed up, doesn’t mean she deserves death!”

         We sat there in the silence, several seconds turned into several minutes, I kept waiting for him to yell or punch me.

         “Bro..brother…”

         We both looked up at that moment and watched Miss Lewis sit completely still as if nothing happened. After a couple minutes of complete silence, we gave up on her making another sound. Drying my eyes on my sleeve, I turned around to leave. To my dismay I felt myself slowly slip into darkness. Before I could descend to the floor, Geoffrey grabbed my wrist and caught me in his arms.

         “Hey…are you okay?”

         “I’ll be okay.”

         As I gazed up at Geoffrey, I met his eyes again, this time to see a look of genuine concern mixed with guilt. Slowly he brought his face towards mine, to the point where our noses were almost touching. His lips slightly brushed against mine before he let me go. My head started to spin, but this time I did not fall.

         “Forgive me.”

         Blushing I turned to make my leave before he grabbed my wrist one more time.

         “Tomorrow, may I make you dinner? I want to…apologize on behalf of my sister.”

♥

I felt silly fussing in front of the mirror. For some reason a tuft my blond hair had decided to flip up in the front. Desperately, I stood half naked in front of the mirror patting down the front of my hair with water. This wasn’t normal behavior for me. I’ve never been obsessed about my appearance, but since I was having a guest over I was going to try my best to look nice.

After putting on my collared maroon shirt and my fancy black slacks, I made my way into my living room. I still felt a bit nervous about yesterday’s events. Did I seem too eager in allowing him over? My lips started to tingle from where he had brushed against them. Did he kiss me? Flushing, my eyes drifted to the box of chocolates I had purchased yesterday. In truth I had planned to leave them there for him as a nice gesture, but had been too embarrassed to give them to him before I left.

The serene chime of my doorbell rang through my house, snapping me out of my daze.

“Come in,” I shouted a bit too loud.

As he entered the room I felt my heart jump. He wore a fancy black shirt with an elegant silk tie. His hair was slicked back in a suave manner and his cologne permeated the air. My heart began to pump as he sat bags of food on the counter next to me.

“Thank you for allowing me to cook for you tonight…I’ve treated you unfairly.”

A bit taken back by his formality, I sat on a stool on the other side of the bar and watched him familiarized himself with my kitchen, “What makes you say that?”

Geoffrey began to crush garlic under a knife, “When we first met, I snapped at you. There was no way you could have known about her past. You were doing something you thought was right. I shouldn’t have ridiculed you for it.”

“I see.”

Placing a pan of water on the stove he turned his attention to a bag of shrimp and began to peel them, “When I was in my senior year, my sister was had started high school. My mother was sick but was well enough to work and support us, but that was also thanks to the money my late father left us.”

“I’m so sorry.”

He gave me a week smile and continued peeling shrimp, “My sister fell into a rough crowd and began doing drugs and drinking. Soon she began stealing money from my mother. Sadly my mother ignored it, claiming Eliza would see the error of her ways. Unfortunately my mother’s health did not permit her to live to see such a day. Before her death my mother told me that my sister had used all the money our father had left us. That money was supposed to help pay for the culinary school I was supposed to attend as well as pay for my mother’s medications. After her death, I ended up in a community college and wound up with a job as a P.E teacher and my sister went to live with my aunt.”

All I could do was watch him after he finished his story. He prepared the rest of the meal without me saying a thing. Laying out the plates of shrimp and garlic pasta before me, he took the seat next to mine and began to eat. Clumsily, I twisted my fork around in the pasta and took a bite. I was in heaven.

         “Geoffrey, this is amazing!”

         The color in his face started to turn pink, “Thank you.”

         For the duration of the meal I kept complimenting him and asking him questions about his recipe.  After finishing our plates I cleared the island off and began to wash the dishes.

         “Geoffrey.”

         “Please, call me Jeff.”

“Sorry. Jeff, why did you tell me all that earlier?”

“You deserved to know the truth about her. The look of pity you give her…makes me infuriated.”

“I’m sorry…”

I felt my face turn hot with shame and embarrassment. To my surprise he jumped mirroring my embarrassment.

“I didn’t mean it like that! I meant that…you look so sad when you are in the room with her. I used to watch you when I first started visiting. I was scared you would have some sort of grudge. Every time I saw you in there with her you had an expression of guilt and remorse. I didn’t want you to continue wear such a sad face because of her…”

For a second time tears welled up in my eyes because of Jeff. Quietly he stood up and walked to the door, “I’m sorry for imposing on you this evening. Forgive me.”

“Wait!”

I fumbled around in the living room for the box of chocolates and delicately laid it in his hand. My heart was pounding out my chest and my stomach was churning. I felt myself slip away again and once again into his arms. Silently he started to kiss my tears away, and he then slowly made his way to my mouth. His strong hands were all over my body. I had never felt so safe and warm in my life. When I had the strength, I flung one of my arms around his neck and let him lay me gently down on the carpet.