Prepper

Chapter Thirty-One

The morning Sun blasts through the windows in the great room hitting me square in the face. It's unwelcome luminance adding to the litany of scourges I currently endure; I'm uncomfortably hot, sweaty and nauseous. I roll off the couch in an avalanche of swearing, the pistol clatters across the hardwood floor. I'm hung-over as hell and still in the same bloody, stinking clothes I've had on for days. My skull threatens to split wide-open at any moment. This is the downside of persistence.

I kick-start the coffee maker, pop a couple Tylenol and trudge to the shower. Swaying unsteadily, I stay under the relaxing spray until every last ounce of hot water is spent. I shave and try not to make eye contact with the man in the mirror. I try to force myself to return to a routine, normal life, a life where I am a husband and father, but it feels artificial. I have become the square peg in the round hole, maybe I have always been, and I am just becoming acutely aware of that fact.

I have coffee and toast, alone in the silence of the empty house. I move stiffly about the kitchen, wash my dishes and stare out the window at the frost covered rooftops across the yard. I'm not sure what to do next. I'm not sure what to do from this point forward in my life.

I consider walking over to visit Hartt. Feeling chilled, I decide to grab a sweater. As I walk down the hall toward the bedroom the door bell rings. It rings four more times before I can get to the door, I can see the outline of a small body through the frosted sidelight. My heart jumps.

I swing the door wide open and fall to my knees on the doormat. Heath leaps into my arms yelling, "Daddy, you're home!" He wraps his skinny arms around my neck and squeezes with all his might. 

"I am now," I say returning the hug as a nearly unbearable sense of happiness floods over me.

Ari stands, smiling at the bottom of the stairs, Merida and Diesel sit at his feet.

I mouth the word "Thank-you." Ari nods.

"I found this stuck to the door Daddy." Heath breaks away from the hug and waves a small envelope at me.

I open it and find a note from the hospital. I read the first paragraph twice, just to make sure I understand what it says.

"They have Kate! She's okay... Mommy's okay Heath!" There is a great, ponderous weight suddenly lifted from me.

"Can we go see Mommy?" Heath asks.

"Not right away," I explain, still reading through the note. "It says still no visits, but she is in stable condition and resting comfortably in the ICU."

"What's ICU, Daddy?"

"It's a room where they take special care of you when you have a bad owie buddy."

"When can Mommy come home?"

"I don't know, it might take a while for her to get better."

Ari takes this moment to slip away, but he has to stop when Merida tries to follow Diesel back to his house. I collect my dog and thank Ari a couple more times. I have trouble letting go of his hand once I shake it.