Fall Again (a Michael Jackson fanfiction)

17. Whats happened?

Michaels POV 🥀

I woke up in a better mood today, after finally having the long sleep I needed. I woke up at half 11, so only a short while until lunch.

I brushed my long black curls so I'd look nice for Hope, put on a T-shirt and tracksuit, I'd got so thin that I'd lost most of my muscles - so I debated putting a hoodie on to cover my skinny arms, but decided against it.

I looked in the mirror at my reflection. I didn't look too bad, in fact I looked better than I had in a while.
At home I had barely been sleeping and not eating much, I had a pale face, cracked lips and dark circles under my sunken eyes. I was now eating three meals a day and the medication actually let me sleep.

My eyes had their sparkle back, were no longer sunken, my lips were smoother and had more colour, I had more energy than I'd had in weeks.

I asked the lunch lady if Hope was in today. She looked uncomfortable and replied "I don't know, honey. I think she had a family emergency."

I asked Derek the same question, and got pretty much the same answer. "She's dealing with a family crisis, I can't tell you anymore."

I remember Hopes happy, open face. What could have happened?

I was supposed to be having my first walk with her at some point this week, I wondered if I'd still have it with another nurse. I liked Derek, and Hayley - the student nurse. But no one would be like Hope.

Hope hadn't told me anything bad about her family, she hadn't mentioned any mental illness, any physical illness, nothing. I couldn't imagine what had happened.

Nurses weren't supposed to share their personal life with patients, but they did. Sofia only the other day had been chattering away to me about her sisters post partum depression and her husbands alcohol addiction as she did my meds.

Hope never told me anything like that, she only told me of her and her brother causing trouble in school, and of how stroppy her little sister tended to get when she didn't get her way.

What was wrong, an ill relative? A grandparent with dementia? She'd never mentioned anything. I'd always felt like there was something she was holding back but I didn't want to pry.

I figured it would all be fine, Hope was too bright and happy for there to be anything serious going on in her personal life, right?