After Tara and Amy had finished picking up their apartment, there was a knock on the door. And on the other side stood the smiling boys they loved, Mark and Ste. Although the girls were thrilled to see them and let their boys know it, they were a little upset with them over the whole leaving Christian alone deal.
“We didn’t really want to leave him alone, but what else could we do? He completely shut himself off from us all morning. Actually, he has yet to say one word to either of us since he got back last night,” Ste explained.
“Any idea why he said last night was worse than expected?” Tara asked.
“Not a clue. She’s still on a ventilator, her poor mum can’t bear to take her off. She believes that Christian’s love will save her daughter,” Ste answered.
“It did once,” Amy remembered sadly.
“Ya know, after that, Ariel always referred to Christian as her Prince Charming. Do bad it’ll take more than a kiss to wake this sleeping beauty up,” Tara added.
“Well, we can’t stay for much longer. We have a soundcheck to do before everything starts. We just wanted to know if you’d like to come with us now or meet us there later,” Mark said.
“Let’s go now!” Amy immediately replied.
At the venue, it looked quite intimate. Three mics and two guitars were set up on the stage with tables semi-circling it. Christian was on the stage, almost hiding out of sight, strumming his other guitar.
“Hey Christian,” Tara said, coming up to him and sitting cross-legged in front of him.
“Hi Tara,” he replied flatly.
“Christian, what happened last night?” she asked.
Christian stopped strumming, but kept his head down. Amy had come up and sat next to Tara while Ste and Mark kneeled behind their girlfriends. All were staring at Christian for an answer.
“She didn’t change much. Her skin is still so pale. She almost looked dead. Her mother came in and we talked for a little while. She may take Ariel off the machines soon,” Christian explained, choking up at the end.
Ste and Mark moved to sit next to Christian, each with a hand on his shoulder. Christian was hugging his guitar, as if as it were for dear life. And in a way, it was for dear life. Just not Christian’s. For the life of his beloved Ariel.
End Chapter 2
