Fighting our demons together

Chapter 5

Owen was unable to get out of bed that morning. The morning light was streaming in through the window, he looked at it, from the bed you couldn't see outside; although he couldn't care less.

He had done his best not to think, not to feel guilty because his war with cancer was over and now it was up to TK. It was his job as a father, to take care of him, to protect him and make him feel that everything, even the greatest of dangers in the form of a brain tumor, was possible to overcome.

He had tried for days, he had smiled, he had answered all the phone calls, all the messages, and every day, whenever he could, he would stop by his son's house if only to talk, to know that his boys were well or at least not completely unwell.

But the smile was coming to an end, he didn't know how much longer he would be able to smile, to pretend, he could call him too and that morning, he felt he had fewer smiles left than usual.

The cell phone vibrated on the bedside table. It took him a few moments to react, maybe he could let the day go by tucked up in bed, but that wouldn't make his son any less sick.

What if it was bad news, what if it was Carlos telling him that something had happened to TK and he was in the hospital, what if...?

He sat up with a jolt making an effort to get that last thought out of his head and grabbed his cell phone. He held it to his chest for a moment and listened to his own heart calm down.

He smiled to see that it was a message from his son.

TK:
Good morning dad. You're off today, aren't you?
I don't want to bother you, do you have plans?

Owen:
TK! Good morning.
How are you this morning?
About my day off, order whatever you want. I'll be at your house in ten minutes.

TK:
I'm not bad. You know how nauseous I get in the afternoon.

Owen:
With any luck, maybe you'll have a good day today.
Okay, tell me what you need.

TK:
Actually, it's silly, I know, but Carlos has insisted.

Owen:
Go on, say it.
What do you need?

TK:
Carlos doesn't want me to spend the day alone.
He's had a shift change and it's his turn to work today.

Owen:
Normal, you may need something.

TK:
It's not that.
These last few days have not been the best.

Owen did not reply with a new message but called his son directly.

"TK? What aren't you telling me?"
"I didn't want to worry you."

"TK... you're worrying me now. What's wrong?"

"I haven't been feeling very well the last few days..." He was waiting for his father's answer, but Owen didn't say anything, he knew his son too well, he was hiding from him, he was afraid to tell him.
"I know Carlos, he's not someone who scares you easily. What happened so that he doesn't want to leave you alone?"

"Sometimes... these last few... I haven't even fainted but... if it hadn't been for Carlos."

"Say no more. Give me ten minutes, I'll take the car and I'll be at your house."

TK said something else. Surely something like there was no need to be in such a hurry or something similar; but Owen didn't listen, he said a simple: "Don't even think of moving, it's better if you're in bed. I have keys, don't worry about anything."

Owen's remnant of smiles grew almost automatically as soon as he got out of the car at the door of his boys' house. Sometimes he would say that Carlos was already a second son and many times in the last few weeks he had told him he was there for whatever they needed.