Four Feet Closer

Worry

     Will's point of view:
   I woke up to the sound. The ringing of a phone and I looked around. Stella head was on my bare chest. She looked so content that I didn't shift much. I grabbed the phone off the wooden bedside table and tapped the Green answer on the glass screen.
   I held it to my ear and said quietly with annoyance "Hello?" I heard a male voice on the other end say "Is this Will Newman?" My eyes shifted open and I said "Yes who is this?" I gently got out of the bed, trying careful not to disturb the sleeping Stella as I walked out of the bedroom in my boxers.
   The voice on the other end wheezed and said "My name is Charles Haden. I've been trying to track you down for a long time." I rubbed my eyes and said "I've been out of the country for most of the year. What is it that your calling me about again?"
   The man on the other end cleared his voice and he said "Umm that's the thing. I represent a family member of yours that has requested to see you. It has come to his attention in his final hours that your still alive and he wishes to speak with you."
   I rubbed my forehead trying to think on who would suspect me dead as I asked "I don't think you have the right Will Newman. I don't think their is anyone I know that wouldn't know I'm still alive."
    I heard the shuffling of papers on the other end before he said "Well I've been looking and your mother is Kerry Carter, yes?" I confirmed that as I walked to the window of Stella's apartment before he continued to say "Well this man, his name is Alexander Newman. He was married to your mother for about 8 years before a quick divorce."
     I froze before I realized he was talking about my father. The one person who wouldn't know I was still alive. I turned my head quickly as I thought I heard something before I said "That man left his sick 5 year old son and wife to fend for themselves in a hospital when they found out he was sick. He cannot ask me for anything and you can tell him that."
    I heard a quick shuffling of papers before he said "Wait hold on he doesn't need anything. Like I said earlier he wishes to speak with you, nothing more." I gripped my phone angrily and ran my hand threw my hair before I said "If he really wanted to speak with me, he would call me. I'm sorry but I would rather not speak with him." I hung up the phone and just stood their. My back to the room.
    After all these years, this is how he contacts me. Through a man I didn't know to tell me he wishes to speak with me. It was a crude joke. He left us, and now he's crawling back to talk to me. He had his chance when I was a child though. I couldn't remember the hours in hospitals I spent crying for my father to come save me. Screaming at my mother to go get him, that I wanted him with me.
It was only the sound of movement that drew me out of my raging before the coughing started. I rushed into the room as quick as I could to see Stella struggling to breath. I grabbed her oxygen before moved to her side. I went to help but she held up her hand and I saw her catch her breath. She looked up at me as she slipped the nose piece on before I said "Are you ok?" She nodded before she said "I heard you talking and I tried to call out to you to see whats wrong. I didn't get the words out, I just sucked in air when I didn't mean to. I'm ok now though."
I nodded as I gently smoothed her hair away from her face as she fixed my nose piece that had tangled in my rush out of the room. My chest was burning from the quick burst of speed. I smiled before she said "Come on we have to get ready?" I looked at her confused as she stood. In a long shirt with some short night shorts she looked beautiful as she moved to her closet. I could see her physical pain though as her chest probably still ached. Mine always did during a coughing fit.
   She looked at me and saw my confusion at her comment even after admiring her. She grabbed a shirt as she said "We are meeting Jaime and Julie after the pageant for lunch." I nodded before I said "Why don't we head to the hospital and get you checked out first." She gave me a look for my worrying but I was concerned. While Stella's controlling nature had eased she still liked to stick to her own plans to the last detail.
I saw her grab her portable oxygen container as she walked towards the closet before heading to the bathroom. I sighed at her stubbornness but stood fixing my own oxygen container. I felt my lungs burning as they were desperate for more oxygen as I fixed the nose canal and oxygen hose. I stood from my spot on her bed and ran a hand through my hair as I moved to the dresser which Stella had let me claim as my own for clothes.
I insisted that while I was with Stella I could get my own place but Stella denied the request saying in this economy it wasn't practical. I heard the shower turn off before I waited for her to leave to get ready.