Broken Minds » l.h. [SLOW UPDATES]

Nine

*Flashback

The smell. The smell of hospitals is always the same. It's not about sickness or death. It's about all those feelings that come along with the smell, all the despair, the grief, the hurt, the agony, the not knowing. 

And it was supposed to be a happy day. But I can feel all the energy contained in one smell taking over everything now. I've received Luke's message, and I knew then that it was wrong. 

Can you come? Something happened to my mom

The world itself is just wrong. I didn't answer him, I just got into the first bus and came here. I knew they were already at the hospital cause earlier Luke had called me to tell that his mom was into labor. I was planning to visit them tomorrow.

I walk the wide highway looking for any sign of Luke or his dad, when I get to some sort of waiting room, the silent makes my heart bump faster and I have the uncomfortable feeling that anyone could hear it. But I spot him, I spot Luke's father. 

He hides his face in his hands, some hair tangled in his finger. His body shakes and I can hear him crying, I can hear his pain. I approach slowly, my legs suddenly weak.

"Mr. Hemmings?" I say, my voice so low that it surprises me that he could hear me through his sobs.

He looks up, seeming a bit lost, his eyes are red and I don't even know how to look at him.

"She's dead" He whispers "She's dead, she's dead" He repeats over and over.

Though I wish to just sit there and cry along with him, I know I can't.

"Mr. Hemmings, where's Luke?" I ask calmly, but he simply shakes his head roughly and continues crying.

He won't answer me, he's too desolate. I've never seen him like that, I've never seen anyone like that to be honest.

I walk the halls, asking if anyone has seen Luke. I gotta find him, I just hope he didn't leave the hospital. I can only finally find him after one of the nurses told me she saw a blond boy going out a while ago. I see him sitting on the floor in front of the hospital, resting himself against the cold wall. The street is almost empty, maybe because it's quite late, and I watch Luke's fingers grabbing his hair tightly, supporting his elbows in his knees and staring at the ground. There's a few tears running silently through his cheeks.

He doesn't even blink when I sit beside him without saying a word. His finger knots seem to get tighter and tighter on his hair every second.

"It survived"

He says, his voice low and cracked. I look at him confused, he doesn't sound like himself and I don't know what he's talking about.

"What do you mean? What survived Luke?"

"The baby" He says, still not looking at me.

I realized that I've forgotten about the baby for a moment, relieved to hear that Emma had made it. But that's not right, why is Luke referring to her by it? I turn, trying to make him look at me.

"Well, that's good, right?"

When he finally lands his eyes on me I'm not even sure if he can tell who I am through all that red. His bottom lip is shaking and he doesn't try to stop the tears.

"My mom...Hailey, she's..." He can't finish the sentence, looking down and trying to recover his breath.

I hug him, caressing his hair and letting him hide his face on my shoulder "I know"