Chapter Text
Violet
April 26
My phone rings, once, twice.
Would it be Finch calling? I wonder, while I grab my phone. I stand in my bedroom, my phone in one hand and a glass of water in the other. It could be Finch, honestly. He’s sent me an e-mail earlier this morning and he’s been sending me random Facebook messages spread over the last few weeks.
But when I look at my screen and read, “Kate Finch”. Somehow I’m nervous about picking up, because I haven’t heard anything from the Finch-es. Not since Theodore disappeared into nothingness.
I finally pick up the phone, before it disconnects. “Hello?” I ask.
“Finally,” a voice – Kate’s voice – mumbles on the other side of the line. “Violet, come to the Terre Haute Regional Hospital, now! It’s important.”
Kate sounds scared and sad, like she’s been crying. I don’t think I’ve ever heard this much emotion in her voice.
“W-what’s going on?” I ask, not knowing if I even want to hear the answer.
Kate stays silent for a while, but eventually she says, “Theodore attempted suicide.” She pauses and takes a deep breath. “Look, it’s not good.”
I stare at the wall full disbelieve. My tears are followed by a loud clattering noise. I look at the floor, my feet are wet and the ground around me is covered in glass shards.
“Violet!” my mom yells. “What was that? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine!” I reply, but voice breaks in the middle of the sentence.
“Violet,” Kate continues. “Just, please, make sure you get here. I want you to be with him when…” She pauses. “… if he wakes up.”
Tears are running over my cheeks. How can Finch have done this?
I already picture him lying on the ground after jumping off a not-high-enough building. Or in Little Bastard, crashed after taking an overdose of sleeping pills.
I shake away the images and tell Kate that I’ll be there as soon as possible. I first have to slip past my parents to get to the hospital.
I look up the Terre Haute Regional Hospital on my phone and find out that it’s more than an hour ride away from Bartlett. It’s also very close to the Blue Hole. That’s when I realize what Finch probably tried to do; he tried to drown himself in the Blue Hole, but he didn’t succeed.
I fold my hand in front of my mouth and cry. I can’t believe he tried to end his life.
I put some clothes and my phone in a bag and take the car keys from my desk. I walk downstairs, tears still dripping from my eyes.
I go to the living room and walk inside. My parents look up from what they’re doing and they immediately seem concerned.
“I’m going for a drive,” I say and I try to keep my voice from breaking.
“Violet,” my mother says with a concerned look on her face. “Is something wrong?”
I don’t reply to her question, “I’ll try to be back before it’s dark. Bye.” After saying that I make my way to the door. I feel guilty about lying to my parents, but after all I can’t leave Finch alone now.
I walk to the car, followed by my parents. I’m in the car just fast enough, they can’t stop me now. I look at them, tears blurring my vision.
I drive away.
* * *
I arrive at the hospital about one and a half hour after I left my house. I felt guilty and sad the entire drive to the hospital.
I walk inside and Kate is waiting for me at the entrance. She looks at me with some strange form of pity and says, “Thanks for being here.”
I nod and try not to start crying again. I ask, “What exactly happened? What is going to happen? Where’s Finch… I mean Theodore?”
Kate looks at me and a sad smile appears on her face. “One question at a time,” she replies.
I glance away. “What happened?”
“We think Theo tried to drown himself,” she says and I see she’s struggling not to cry as well, which surprises me, honestly. “The owners of the place found him and called an ambulance. They think he’s been under water for quite some time, so it’s a miracle that he’s still alive.”
Kate lays her hand on my back and carefully leads me to the waiting room, where Decca and Finch’s parents are waiting for something or someone.
“How’s Theodore doing now?”
“We don’t know,” Kate replies and her blue eyes stare at me. “We arrived here when Theo already was taken to an ER. There could be a doctor coming for us any moment now.”
“How long have you been here?”
“For a few hours now,” Kate says. The day has only just yet started and they’ve been here for a few hours already. I can’t believe this takes so long.
I stare at my hands, resting on my lap. They’re shaking heavily.
My phone starts to ring and when I look at the screen, I see that my mother is calling me for the tenth time. I walk away and after hesitating I pick up.
“Violet!” She sounds worried. Of course she sounds worried, I basically ran away. “Where are you, Violet?”
“I’m at the hospital,” I answer.
“What? Violet, did something happen to you? Are you okay?”
I start to cry again and say, “No, I’m not okay. It’s…” I sob loudly and I already hear my mother stressing out on the other side of the line. “… Theodore. He’s at...” I lean against the wall, wiping away the tears. “He tried to kill himself.”
“James, that boy tried to kill himself, Violet is at the hospital now.” My mom talks to my dad, whose reply I cannot understand. “Violet, what hospital?”
Kate walks around the corner and whispers there’s a doctor waiting for them.
I tell my mom that I must go and break the connection before she can say anything.
Kate has already gone back to the waiting room and when I walk inside I hear her talking to the doctor. She’s obviously the person who cares the most about Theodore in this entire room.
“I know only family is allowed,” she says, she sounds desperate. “But Violet is really important to Theodore, she’s basically family.”
“I’m sorry, miss Finch,” the doctor says and he glances at me. “But I’m not allowed to let anyone other than family know all the details on your brother.”
“I know, but…” Kate looks at me. “Look, she’s by far the most important person to Theodore, please, sir. He needs her if he wakes up.”
The doctor – whose name, according to his name-card, is Marco Brown – looks from Kate to me to Finch’s family and back to Kate. He takes a deep breath and says, “Okay, for this one time.”
Doctor Brown turns around and tells us to follow him to his office, where he’ll explain what’s going to happen from now on. Finch’s family follows him up front, I follow them.
Brown’s office is a small room with four white walls, a pale blue floor, a desk and a few chairs. There aren’t enough chairs for all of us to sit down, so I stand next to Kate’s seat, leaning against the wall.
“Do you want something to drink?” Brown asks to no one in particular. No one replies, so he takes a seat as well. He folds his arms on the desk and looks at us one at a time. “So, Theodore Finch has nearly drowned.” Brown begins with telling us something everyone already knows. “We had to give him CPR and rushed him to the hospital. After taking a look at his condition we had to insert an emergency tracheostomy, colostomy bag and some other things. After that we brought him to the ICU.”
I look at Finch’s family. Kate is closely listening to every word Brown is saying, while Finch’s father doesn’t even seem to be listening. Finch’s mother is tightly holding Decca against her chest and I genuinely hope that Decca isn’t listening.
“The lack of oxygen caused your son to get in a coma. We don’t know when and if he’ll wake up.”
Brown emphasizes on the “If”, which makes Finch’s mom sob. I wonder if she saw this coming or not.
Kate looks at Brown and asks, “And what if he wakes up? What’s his condition now?”
Brown takes a deep breath. “We can’t tell for sure, but we think your brother might’ve incurred brain damage. We don’t know in what condition his brain is exactly – and we probably won’t know until he wakes up – but we’re afraid that there’s some damage done to his brain because of the lack of oxygen.”
Kate takes a deep breath as well and glances at me, mouthing something like “Fuck”. After that she looks back at Brown. “When will I be able to see my brother?”
“I think it’ll be best if his parents…” Brown looks at miss and mister Finch. “… go in first and have some time to be with your son alone. Later today the other family like sisters and… friends.”
Miss Finch looks at Decca, still sitting quietly on her lap. “Can we please bring Decca in with us?” she asks and of course Brown does agree with that.
Kate nods, but I see that she doesn’t actually agree with Brown. I get that, she cares more about Finch than both his parents and Decca. “Okay,” she says in a monotone voice. “Good luck, mom… dad.”
We all leave Brown’s office. Decca, Miss Finch and mister Finch disappear in the Intensive Care, while Kate and I go to the waiting room.
Before Kate takes a seat, she says, “I’m going to get some coffee, this is going to take a while. Do you want some to?”
I nod. “Thank you.”
Kate leaves and I sit alone. My shoes tap on the colored floor and my head leans against the darker blue walls. I look out on a desk, a woman talking with someone on the phone, ticking away on her computer.
I stare at the clock, minutes seem to last hours. I wait and wait and eventually Kate comes back with the coffee. I hold the plastic cup, warming up my hands. I stare at my lap and all I can think of is Finch.
I want to see Finch.