My Crazy Housemate

She thought she was crazy coming here when she was supposed to be in class. If word about this got to her parents, she would be done for. She also had to make sure she returned to the school premises before Louis arrived to take her back home.     

She had used a taxi and on getting to the hospital now, she was beginning to have a second thought.      

It wasn't like she was having second thoughts about seeing him, but what if he didn't want to see her? What if he yelled at her and asked her to go away?      

"Hello Miss? How may I help you?" A young nurse by the receptionist's desk asked with a smile as she looked at Chole who had just approached her.     

"Hello! I'm looking for someone." She replied as her eyes scanned around. In less than 24 hours, she had been in three different hospitals and compared to the one she had been admitted in yesterday, this one didn't look bad at all.     

"Who are you looking for?"      

"His name is Jeremy. Jeremy Williams. He had a long hair." She used a hand to touch her hair as she talked about his hair. That was a distinctive feature of his so she believed the nurse would know him and the nurse nodded immediately.      

"Oh, yes. Jeremy? I remember him. And who are you?" She asked again politely.      

"His Bos— I'm.. his..."     

"Girlfriend?" The nurse asked with a curious smile.      

"Friend!" Chloe corrected immediately. She hadn't really thought they were friends but she was willing to settle for that instead of saying she was his girlfriend.      

"Oh.. O–kay... Take the door by the left and walk down the hallway..."  The nurse gave her the direction of the room he was so she thanked her and was about leaving but paused.      

"But, how is he?" She asked hesitantly.      

"He is recovering."     

Chloe thanked her one more time before following the nurse's direction until she stopped in front of the room with the number '128'.     

Chloe stood in front of the door, she couldn't bring herself to knock on it or just open it and go inside.      

She felt very awful for what she had done to him. On the drive here, she had replayed the way she had hung up on Ellie and switched off her phone, over and over again in her head.      

She heard different faint voices inside the room but couldn't tell who was inside the room with him. Maybe a relative? But he had said he didn't have anyone else except Ellie so she assumed it was probably a doctor or a friend of his.      

She heard footsteps approaching the door from inside and turned immediately but it was impossible to escape when the door opened almost immediately.      

"Chloe?"      

She heard Ellie's familiar tiny voice call her and she turned slowly to look at her. Beside her was a woman who was dressed in a doctor's robe with a stethoscope around her neck.       

Chloe gave a curt nod to acknowledge the doctor before returning her gaze to Ellie.      

Ellie looked at her with a straight face. Chloe could tell Ellie was mad at her. It was always difficult for kids to hide how they truly felt about something or someone.      

"Hello dear? You must be Jeremy's friend?" The doctor asked her in a friendly tone. The woman was probably in her forties, Chloe noted. And she looked nice. Before Chloe could answer her, Ellie spoke up.     

"She is not his friend." Ellie said before looking away from Chloe to face the doctor. "Can we go get the sweets now?"      

"Ellie..."     

"Do not call my name." Ellie said in a quiet voice when Chloe said her name apologetically.      

"You...*sniffs* hung up on me." She used her small hands to clean off the tears that were already leaving her eyes.      

"I was so scared... there was no one else." Ellie burst into tears while the doctor hugged her small body.      

It had been a really traumatic experience for her seeing her older brother in pain, clutching his stomach while throwing up everywhere yet, she couldn't do anything to help him and the only person she thought of ended the call rudely.      

Chloe felt really terrible as she looked at Ellie guiltily. She bit her lower lip painfully, not knowing what to say or do. There was really no excuse for her action.     

Just as Jeremy had tried to convince her that David's sister could have been really sick and had pleaded for her to listen to David and help his sister, she would have also done same and tried to believe Ellie.      

"You even turned off your phone... I thought he was going to die." Ellie said between sobs while the doctor kept trying to stop her from crying.      

"Oh dear.. it's okay. You should stop crying now. Your brother is better, his health may get worse if you keep crying." The doctor said softly.      

"I'm sorry Ellie, I truly am." Chloe said with every sincerity she could muster.      

She could not remember the last time she apologized to someone, and with so much sincerity.      

"Let's go get the sweets?" Ellie raised her teary eyes to look at the doctor.      

She couldn't send Chloe away. Even though she was mad at her, she was happy she had come for her brother and couldn't just send her away since Jeremy liked her a lot and would be mad at her if he found out about it.      

"He is resting inside right now. Try not to disturb him too much." The Doctor told Chloe before leaving with Ellie.      

Chloe watched their backs until they were out of sight before looking at the door again, she could not bring herself to go in. After a little hesitation, she slowly opened the door and stepped inside.      

His bed came into view immediately. He was sleeping peacefully with his back on the bed, wearing ahospital pyjamas and a large head warmer that did a good job in covering his entire hair.     

Her whole body was tensed as she approached his bed slowly and with her lips pursed.      

She was glad to see he was okay at least. She didn't mind that she had skipped a class for the first time for something which was not directly affecting her.