A/N: I’m terribly sorry for how Anette’s turned all Sue-ish in this story. I don’t even know how that wound up happening. But anyways, I’m trying my best to fix that. Hopefully it’s not too late to redeem myself for the butchery of her character.
31
Emppu and Marco were sitting together in the bar in the hotel lobby, enjoying a beer and conversation. Emppu seemed to appreciate inane conversations so much more these days, probably because every conversation he had with Anette or Tuomas seemed to be dreadfully serious. Sometimes a guy just needed to relax for a bit. As he and Marco joked about the people in the bar, Emppu noticed, through the window, an ambulance pulling up to the hotel and paramedics rushing out with a stretcher. Mildly curious about it, but not enough to ask, Emppu turned his attention back to quenching his thirst. It wasn’t until later, when the same paramedics were rushing back to the ambulance with someone wrapped up on the gurney, a breathing mask obscuring their face, that the two men in the bar paid attention. For following the paramedics was none other than Tuomas and Jukka. Emppu had a sinking feeling in his stomach that he knew precisely who that was on the gurney, and a glance at Marco showed that he thought the very same. They quickly left the bar, hurrying to catch up with Jukka and Tuomas.
There was no need to hurry though; the ambulance had driven off, leaving the poet and the drummer looking forlorn. Emppu approached them.
“What happened?” he asked softly. Neither answered him, though he could see the muscles in Tuomas’ jaw working. The silence lingered.
“I’m calling a cab,” Tuomas said through clenched teeth, going back into the hotel. The three remaining men watched him go, none saying anything. After a brief moment, Tuomas returned. “It should be here soon,” he said. Jukka started pacing and Emppu shifted his weight from foot to foot. Tuomas stood absolutely still, seemingly absorbed in his melancholy, and Marco sat cross-legged on the ground, looking peevish. They were all impatient to be at the hospital and it seemed to be taking far too long for the cab to arrive.
In truth, it couldn’t have taken more than ten minutes for the cab to pull up in front of them, though Emppu could have sworn it was hours. Emppu, Tuomas and Jukka squeezed into the back seat as Marco took the front and told the driver where to bring them. They zoomed off to the hospital and, upon arrival, rushed into the emergency room, where the secretary calmly told them they’d have to wait for any information regarding her status. This was mightily displeasing to Emppu, who was experiencing quite the déja vu. He knew already they would have to play the same waiting game that they had not terribly long ago following Anette’s attack after the show in Helsinki. Why was everything repeating itself? Would Anette quit the band after all this? He wouldn’t blame her if she did, but he definitely didn’t relish the thought. Not only did he not want to go through the process of finding a new singer again, but the thought of losing a friend like Anette almost didn’t bear thinking about. It had been incredibly difficult with Tarja, with whom he had remained friends up until the end, despite the bad air between her and the others. He didn’t know if he could handle losing Anette too, if any of them could. He sent a quick prayer that she would be fine and continue on in the band, but if he was being honest with himself, he didn’t see it happening, a thought which saddened him to no end. He wondered if the others were worrying about that too.
Returning from one of many trips to the vending machine, Emppu decided to clear up what exactly happened and took a seat next to Tuomas, who was reading a newspaper. Jukka sat on Tuomas’ other side.
“What happened?” he asked. Tuomas looked at him, and Emppu could see that the man was completely exhausted, both emotionally and physically.
“Jukka was pounding on her door, I went out to see what was going on. Anette wasn’t opening the door, so the hotel manager unlocked it. Then we found her passed out on the floor. I’m pretty sure she overdosed on her anti-depressants.” Tuomas spoke matter-of-factly, though Emppu knew he was trying to disconnect himself from the pain. Emppu was surprised at this news and had no idea what to say. Anette had attempted suicide? Then things were so much worse than any of them thought.
“It’s my fault,” Jukka said quietly.
“How?” Emppu asked.
“I told her that…I said she had to tell the police. That…this was affecting everyone. That it happened every day.” Jukka’s voice was pained, filled with guilt, and he didn’t look at either of them as he spoke. Emppu could tell this was news to Tuomas as well, whose eyes had grown wide. Emppu bit back his urge to reproach Jukka, who should have known that was not the way to handle the situation, because he could see the man was tormented with guilt.
“It’s not your fault, Jukka. It’s all of ours. None of us noticed how badly she was faring,” said Tuomas softly. He was right.
After many long hours with nothing to do but read magazines, eat junk food, talk, and text, a nurse finally approached them. Marco had fallen asleep in his chair and Emppu prodded him awake, trying to keep his own eyes open. They hadn’t gotten any sleep yet that night and were all quite exhausted from the show. Tuomas has been nodding off in his chair, but snapped alert at the sight of the nurse. She smiled wanly at them.
“Well, her condition’s stable.”
There was a collective sigh of relief ‘midst the band mates.
“So can we see her, then?” Marco asked. The nurse shook her head.
“No, I’m afraid not. She needs to be monitored for at least a day to make sure the drugs are completely cleared from her system. She’s in no condition to take visitors right now, but tomorrow you can go see her.”
Tuomas nodded, but looked disappointed. He turned to the other men as the nurse left.
“Well, I guess we could just stay here for the night. I don’t care to go back to the hotel.”
There was consensus amongst the group and they all settled in for the night.
