Rise [Bruno Mars]

Chapter twelve

Chapter twelve

“Hello? Dri?”

I could tell I'd interrupted Bruno's slumber. I was used to hearing that rough voice every morning. This time, it was undertoned with concern.

I knew why. I'd called him at three in the morning, on the way to my own Motel room. Crying had exhausted me and I'd fallen asleep against Joseph easily. Dreamlessly. I suspected it was because of his cigarette. I could never sleep a whole seven or eight hours, and woke in the middle of the night. I was alone. There was a note on Joseph's empty pillow:

I will return at the break of dawn. Do not reach for me, Adrian.

That was it. No saying where he would be. Or what he was doing. There was a voice, in the back of my head, a panicked whisper, coursing through my concern. What if he didn't come back? Beside the note was a small bag of thin cigarettes already rolled for me. 

When my feet met the carpet, something pierced my foot. It was black and metal, squarish, the size of a pea. It seemed to be a part of something.

“Hi.”

“Hi?”

After I couldn't find where the metal piece came from, I left. I could've stayed, but what if someone saw me leaving Joseph's room? I hated this. Being sneaky. But my spirits were lifted as I dwelled on the image of my dad.

Now, I was ascending the stairs to my room's building, new cell phone glued to my ear. “Sorry for waking you. I was just checking up on you.” 

He didn't reply. He must've fallen asleep. That was okay. I wouldn't hang up.

But then he said, “You can't sleep?”

I shrugged even though he couldn't see. “A little.”

“Stay on the phone with me.”

I smiled, wishing I was with him now. I slid my key card into the lock and got settled into bed, listening to his breathing. “Bruno?”

“Hm?”

“This trip isn't going well, is it?”

“No.” I couldn't decipher his tone. There wasn't much to decipher, anyway. It was only a two letter word.

“Do you think there's no medicine?”

“There is,” he said quietly, after a moment. “I can feel it.”

I felt a spark of hope, felt it travel down my spine and to the tips of my fingers. “Yeah? Are you sure, madame?”

He chuckled. “I feel something. I think that's what it is.”

I picked at a string in the blanket. “Do you think Rev has anything to do with this whole lack of medicine problem?”

“You think he got it all for his son?” Bruno spat out the word son.

“I think so. He loves Joseph. He'd do anything for him.” I remembered the way Rev cradled him when he'd attempted suicide. As if he were holding his life in his arms. I wondered if my father ever held me that way. . . had Mom?

“Where is Rev, then, Adrian? His child is on his deathbed every week and he just decides to disappear for months? Oh, that's love all right.”

“He must be looking for it. The medicine.”