English Accent (The Accents #1)

I promise

That's been our talk for the last fifteen minutes. Me, trying to calm her and her coming up with different scenarios, all of them ending with me disabled for life or simply dead. Apparently, Sierra took care of my parents and either her or the hospital had called them. Some time earlier Dominic's and mine little hug-fest was interrupted by Sierra bursting into the room, saying I had a call. Since that time I've tried convincing mom that I was going to live and no, wasn't going to end up mentally handicapped. But apparently, there was no way to get to her hysterics-controlled mind. The scheme of our little talk looked like this:

Me: No, mom, nothing happened to my brain.

Mom: But you hit your head!

Me: But I'm alright.

Mom: But you've had a concussion!

Me: But I'm okay.

Mom: But you could have lost your memories!

Me: But I didn't.

Mom: But you could have become disabled!

Me: But I'm not.

And so on.

Right now she was back to worrying over my concussion, because somehow, this was the word seemed to evoke the worst thoughts in her head.

"Mom, can you pass the phone to dad? You will be able to calm down and we'll just talk later, once you think everything over."

"But-"

"Mooom."

I heard her sigh. A second later she yelled something away from the speaker and back to me:

"He's coming."

"Thank you."

I waited and listened to the shuffle on the other side of the phone before my dad's voice sounded in the speaker:

"Hello, darling."

I grinned.

"Hi, Dad."

"I hate to say it, but you bring shame to my name. Your first party and you get hit? Who does that?"

My grin widened. Yeah, that was Dad. He always had to come up with something like that. A second later the smile faded, though, and not because it hurt like hell. Dad mentioned the fight. Which meant he knew why I was here in the first place. Which meant -

"You know what happened?" I asked.

He chuckled.

"Yes, honey, I do. Fortunately, I was the one to answer the phone at one a.m."

I was caught between feeling guilty for being the reason they were woken up in the middle of the night and being relieved that he was the one to get the news, not Mom.

"So I get it Mom doesn't know, then?"

"Nope. She thinks you fell off the bed. You're lucky you were such a messy sleeper as a kid. Now it's easier for her to believe."

I smiled at his reference to the times when I fell off the bed on average three times a night, almost always managing to cause myself harm when I was younger.

"Honestly, though." Dad started and my smile faded. "Are you sure you're okay? There's a flight in the afternoon. We could still catch it and -"

"No, Dad, there's no need." I cut him off. "You'll see me, I'll be coming for Christmas."

"I know, but it's still so looong." He groaned. "And Ted can't wait to see you."

The corners of my lips tipped up at the mention of my little brother.

"Tell him he'll get presents when I come in December." I said. "But he doesn't know about me, right?"

"No, he's asleep. He, on the other hand, couldn't be woken by an atomic explosion."

I chuckled. It was true. There was no way to wake Teddy for school.

"Good. Don't tell him. I don't want him to worry."

Ted might be young still, but he took everything very seriously. He would freak out once he knew something happened to me and he couldn't be here to see me.

"Sure thing, honey." He said, then yawned.

I giggled.

"Go to sleep, Dad. I know it's a free day tomorrow, but you need sleep."

"Nah, I don't have to. We can talk if you want."

"To be honest, I was hoping to go to sleep, too. It's still stupid o'clock here."

"Ah, right." I could hear a smile in his voice. "Well, in this case, I wish you goodnight, Abs. Or is it a goodday?"

"It's a whatever, Dad." I responded.

"Oh, okay." He sounded sleepy. "Alright, I'm leaving you alone now. I'll tell mom to leave you alone, too."

"Thank you." It was my turn to yawn. "Bye, Dad."

"Bye, honey. Oh, and one more thing!" He called into the phone.

I paused.

"Yes?"

"Do me a favor and don't get involved in fights anymore, would you? Or at least learn how to throw good punches. Don't embarrass yourself and your family, right?"

I laughed out loud.

"I promise, Dad. Can I go to sleep now?"

"Of course. Goodnight, darling."

"Night, Dad."

I ended the call and smiled to myself. Yeah, I definitely missed my parents. I couldn't wait to go home for Christmas.

I sighed. Let's just hope I managed to survive long enough to see them again.