WILD WEST OF THE HEART

T E N

"This could be as a result of stress, tension like overthinking and insomnia. And lack of exercise, as you grow old, the body needs it to keep moving. It's like lubricant to metal" Doctor Harry scoffed, an attempt to lighten the atmosphere. But some atmospheres don't need lightning, some need to be brutal. To be real, to finally acknowledge life—

—and how it can cruel at times.

"We'll start her on her medications which she'd strictly abide by when she leaves eventually. And her diets might need a slight change. I'd also recommend some exercise regimen for her. But aside that, like right now—" Harry looked to Mary.

"She's doing really well. She's a fighter, you know that?" He turned to Ola, whose eyes watered in that instant at the thought of his mother living on pills. It was like his grandma then when she fell ill with alzheimer's. It was normal at first, with just minor memory issues. She's a fighter, they all said.

But Ola of all people had to watch her slowly lose herself and in the process, he lost a part of himself too. It was astounding how someone so full of life, could be reduced to that. To the incapacity to even do the littlest things. He didn't recognize his ma, perhaps it was the sickness and the thousand pills she took that changed her, or a combination of both.

That's why when the doctor said his mother was to abide by some pills, his eyes were filled with tears because he remembered his grandma and how much his father was a mess when he lost her.

"Right?" Harry placed his palms on Ola's shoulders, drifting back into full consciousness.

"What?"

"Fighters need some help sometimes, right?" He raised one brow, as if he could tell what Ola was thinking. All he just gave as a reply was a nod. And he cleared his throat. "Take care of your mother—"

The papers slipped through Harry's palms as he walked out of the door. Silence dawned in the room with Akin, not even uttering a word. Perhaps he was still mesmerizing about loss and life, and how the two seemed to blend together just perfectly.

Or maybe he remembered nana, or just blamed himself for this. It was something they could share because Ola himself wasn’t proud of his last words to her. His right palm grazed the side of his cheeks as he walked closer to his mother. In a moment, he shared contact with Akin’s icy eyes and he just turned away, sniffling under his breath. He turned to Mary, stiff with the intravenous in her wrists.

Shallow, halted breathes escaped her breathes as the rhythmic beeps from the heart monitor soothed his ears. It meant hope, and that was all he had on the way here in the ambulance.

But as they tried to resuscitate his then unresponsive mother, he had to consciously remind himself what the sound of sirens mean. It meant life, and it meant hope. So he assured himself. After all, though he didn’t reply Harry, he knew in himself that Mary was indeed a fighter. And she’d spent her whole life taking care of everyone—

—now it was time to take care of her.

His fingers slipped between hers as he leaned forward to place a kiss on it. At the most, she’d be discharged by tomorrow, it meant he was spending the night here, and probably skip school tomorrow.

The one person that wouldn’t allow him do that was Mary, so— He finished that thought in his head and muffled a chuckle, then he pulled away and brushed against his father’s shoulders. It was like these ones take a step forward just to take two backwards.

But he didn’t even care, all he wanted to do was to just talk to Obi about how he had the craziest day.

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