The 20 Dates Challenge

Twenty-One - It's Gonna Be A Long Night

It’s Gonna Be A Long Night

Mum parks the car three blocks away from the hospital. Her hand holding me by the crook of my elbow is the only thing stopping me from running those three blocks. Outside the glass doors of the hospital, Alex sits on the steps. When he sees me, he stands. I run into his arms and he hugs me tightly, crying into my shoulder.

‘They won’t let us in,’ he sobs.

I rub his back, tears slip down my cheeks.

‘This is a good hospital,’ Mum says as comfortingly as she can, ‘I’m sure he’ll be alright. Where’s your mum?’

‘Upstairs,’ he says, ‘waiting for the doctors to get her. I decided to come and wait for you guys.’

He steps back and wipes his nose on his sleeve. The last time I saw him cry, he was only nine and he’d gone head-first over the handlebars of his bike. He’d broken his nose when he landed on the concrete and there was blood everywhere. Back then, I knew what to do; I had to get his mum and hold tissues under his nose until we got to the hospital.

But now? I don’t know what to do, and it scares me.

‘Let’s go upstairs and wait with your mum,’ Mum says.

She leads us into the hospital. At the desk, she asks a nurse where the Emergency waiting room is. The nurse leads us down a long hallway, following a red dotted-line. When Charlene sees us, she jumps out of her seat and hugs Mum. Much like Alex’s, her eyes and red-rimmed and tears leave salty trails on her cheeks.

‘Do you know what happened?’ she hiccups at my mum.

‘There was a fire at the shop,’ Mum says softly.

‘Was anyone else hurt?’ Alex quickly asks.

‘No,’ I shake my head, ‘just a couple of burns, but nothing major.’

‘Very good thing Sav wasn’t working today. The roof of the office caved in almost immediately,’ Mum says.

Charlene just nods absentmindedly. Alex wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him.

‘Let’s take a seat,’ Mum says, pulling Charlene back over to the vinyl chair she’d been sitting in before, ‘Sav, Alex, how about you guys go find us some coffee.’

‘Sure thing,’ I reply.

Alex and I exit the waiting room and enter the long hallway again. A shiny, silver sign directs us to the cafeteria. There, we order two coffees and two hot-chocolates. We sit at a table while we wait.

‘How could this have happened?’ he whispers.

‘The police will find out,’ I say.

‘Did you talk to anyone?’

‘Yes, Marv.’

‘Is he,’ he trails off.

‘Just a small burn on his arm,’ I put my hand over his.

‘So the office roof caved?’

‘Yeah, I’d be dead if I’d been working today.’

‘I probably would be too then.’

We sit in an uncomfortable silence. He stares at the table and I watch his eyes. His eyes grow dark and sad. I sigh and he looks up.

‘Life sucks,’ he says.

‘Not always,’ I say.

‘Yeah, well, it’s pretty shit right now.’

I lean over the table and kiss him. He kisses me back, although half-heartedly.

‘Thanks,’ he mumbles.

I smile. The barista calls our names and we collect our coffees and hot-chocolates. By the time we reach the waiting room again, the hot-chocolates are cool enough to drink. Mum is sitting alone in her chair.

‘Where’s Mum?’ Alex asks, looking around the room.

‘The doctor came,’ Mum says, taking both her and Charlene’s coffees, ‘your mum is with your dad.’

‘Is he ok?’ Alex says quickly, looking around more eagerly.

‘He has some very bad burns on his arms and chest. He’ll be in hospital for a couple of months. He has to have skin grafts and he may not be able to work again after.’

Alex’s face crumples and he falls heavily into the seat beside Mum. I sit beside him and take his hand.

‘The shop will go bankrupt,’ he whispers.

He’s crying again and, again, I have no idea what to do. So I just run my fingers through his hair. Then, suddenly, he sits up straight.

‘Where’s my sister?’ he says.

Mum jumps up.

‘I’ll be back in an hour,’ she says before hurrying out of the room.

We watch her go. Alex takes a long sip of his hot-chocolate.

‘Come here,’ he says, putting his arm around me and pulling me down to lean on his shoulder, ‘it’s gonna be a long night.’