Run

Chapter 16

Kevin burst through the hospital room, his heart thumping loud enough that he feared if he stopped moving he would start vibrating like a jackhammer. As his eyes landed on the familiar figure of his mother lying motionless in a hospital bed, the thumping reached an intolerable volume, causing his entire vision to swim in a tidal wave of emotion.

Had she not opened her eyes at the exact second, Kevin imagined that his heart would've burst into a million pieces.

"Mom!" Kevin cried, clearing the remaining distance in an instant as relief bathed his body. 

His mom regarded him with calm that was only possible from someone who had found herself in a hospital bed quite a few teams. It wasn't her first rodeo, or second, or fifth. "I'm fine, Kevin." She said in a hoarse voice. "Nothing to worry yourself over, these things happen when you reach my age."

She embraced him in his offered hug and then peeked around him pointedly. He looked back curiously and almost joined his mother in a hospital bed. In his mad rush to the batmobile and then to the hospital, he had completely forgotten Willow had demanded to tag along and now, there she stood, looking quite uncomfortable but most importantly, only twenty feet away from his mother.

He wasn't exactly the type to introduce a girl to his mother. Like ever, but somehow the two had ended up in the same room.

His mother cleared her throat after some more painfully awkward moments passed.

"Er, right...Mom this is Willow, Willow this is Mom," Kevin hurried out, stumbling over his words like a runner with a bad stride.

"Hey, Willow. I wish my son would've told me he had a lady friend so our first meeting could've been under better circumstances."

"Not at all," Willow replied as she removed her hands from her tracksuit pants to take the offered handshake. "You look beautiful even in that distasteful hospital gown."

Kevin's mother smiled brighter than he had seen in a long time. He realized that she did in fact look better than she had the last time he had visited her. Maybe it was the way the sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating her face with a healthy dose of sun that she had lacked in the recovery center, or perhaps the lack of cloudiness in her eyes thanks to the impromptu break from the mountain of drugs.

A nurse entered the room and Kevin quickly took the sudden avenue of escape to walk over to her while Willow and his mother continued talking. He still wasn't sure how to feel about it all. As much as he loved his mother, having an addict as a mother couldn't be the most attractive thing in the world.

"What happened?" He timidly asked the nurse when he reached her. He knew his mother would downplay the situation if he asked her, no matter how serious it was.

The nurse looked up with the bloodshot eyes of someone severely overworked but she smiled kindly all the same. "It was a panic attack, thankfully nothing too severe considering the possibilities." She seemed to summon a notepad that he hadn't seen before. "Is this a common occurrence?"

Kevin sighed. "It was once but it stopped because of..." his voice trailed off with a gulp. 'Because of his father' his unsaid words burned his throat like a packet of raw hot sauce. "It stopped," he finally choked out.

The nurse nodded, understanding not to tread further. "Any idea what might've caused another episode after a long time?"

Kevin could think of a lot, but the most obvious was the fact that his father wasn't here anymore. His father had mastered calming his mother down like a professional animal trainer. Before long, the anxiety attacks had become a thing of the past simply because of his presence. With him now gone, no such cure existed.

The nurse read his silence, not bothering to press the issue. "I see she's enrolled in a Recovery Center?" Kevin nodded. "How does she like it?"

"She doesn't."

Her brow furrowed as she scribbled some more in her notepad.

Kevin wondered about the equation she was scribbling in there leading to the same solution that hardly seemed to work. "You're not about to recommend her to start taking more medicine, are you?"

The nurse paused, some conflict going on under her tired eyes. She was probably supposed to do exactly that to keep the money flowing within the industry but when she spoke there was only sympathy in her voice, "Panic attacks can be for a lot of reasons and it's as important to find the root of the problem as it is to take medicine. Since she's gone a long period without any episodes and...was this without taking medicine?" Kevin nodded. "And without taking medicine in this period, it's best to assume there are other physical factors at play."

Kevin looked at his mother who was still having a hearty conversation with Willow. "Are you suggesting I take her out of the Recovery Center?" 

The nurse paused. Kevin could understand that giving him a personal recommendation could reflect badly on her if it didn't work out and how she might suffer some blowback from an angered individual in such a situation. 

Kevin prepared to let her off the hook but as he opened his mouth she spoke, "I think it would be best for now," she said softly, "I also had a mother that struggled with addiction at a bad time in her life and I wish every day that I hadn't just thrown her in some facility and hope for the best," her eyes had lost focus and her lips morphed into a grim line as she recalled unpleasant memories. Her eyes suddenly snapped back into focus as she hurried out an apology, "Of course I'm not saying that the situations are the exact sam-"

"Don't worry," Kevin interrupted with a comforting smile, "I get it."

The two turned back to the hospital bed where Willow and Kevin's mother still talked earnestly about topics Kevin hoped weren't him. Realizing that with his mother this was almost certainly the case he thanked the nurse for her help, even offering her a quick hug before heading over to the two.

Sure enough, their conversation suspiciously stopped at his arrival with some side glances in his direction. Kevin shook his head, unable to contain the smile that peeked out from his lips.

What a day.

About a half hour later, Kevin found himself back in the batmobile with Willow. On the drive down he hardly acknowledged her presence in the passenger seat due to his frantic state, but now being in an enclosed tin bucket with Willow was really starting to sit in.

She was in his car for crying out loud. The circumstances were not lost on him though and as a tense silence enveloped the car he held back a sigh. In just one night she had found out more about his life than he had ever hoped to reveal, though that might've been a bit unrealistic.

And it wasn't that big of a deal really...right? Then why was she so silent?

He finally summoned up enough confidence to break the silence, "Um-"

"I'm sorry." The words were sharp and quick, and the suddenness of it made Kevin pause to digest her words.

"What? What do you have to be sorry for?"

"Back at the stadium, it must've been so exhausting hearing me complain about my parents being annoying when your situation is much worse."

Kevin shrugged. "You can only speak from your perspective, there's nothing to apologize for."

Willow sighed in relief as if my response had lifted a weight off of her shoulders. She didn't talk again until I pulled out of the parking lot. "Still, your mother is amazing."

Kevin raised an eyebrow, completely taken by surprise. He had expected the pity one gives to something they deem less fortunate, but not Willow. She seemed as much a fan of pitying as she did censoring her words and for that he was grateful.

"Indeed she is."