It All Started With a Diary

again

I shook my head yes.

"I have no idea," he mumbled before pulling me alongside him to the room.

I'd been asleep for most of my time here, and despite fleeing whenever I was awake, now gave me time to absorb the uncomfortableness the hospital had on me. I absolutely despised them, and everything about them.

As a child, a travel to the hospital only meant questions. Questions meant a raged mother. And, a raged mother only meant beatings. It was all a cycle.

The smell of the hospital continued to taunt me. It smelt of an air-borne sickness that caused you to wrinkle your nose in distaste. The unexplainable smell resembled a cleaned, yet smothered plastic scent that grew normal on you after a bit. The smell was a close reminder of reality of where you could be at any moment.

I averted my gaze to my brothers' back. "Ryland?" I called to him as he walked ahead of me.

I saw him nod at a nurse. "Mhm?"

"What were you and the doctor talking about yesterday?" I asked in a curious manner.

"Nothing," he answered simply.

I frowned. "It seemed important."

"We're here," he switched up as we stopped in front of the door.

I didn't know how to react. This could forever be the room of my dad's death. Or, it could be something less painful. Like a common migraine, or something simple.

Fuck, I hope so.

Ryland noticed my reluctant state. I stared at the door as he gripped my shoulder then squeezed.

"We're going to be alright," he said to me. "He's going to be just fine."

I feigned the smile he had seen so much. If he looked closer, he would notice the cracks in the surface that only hid my insecurities.

With a push of the door, we were soon slapped with reality. The air drifted from my lungs as Ryland allowed me to walk inside of the room first.

I didn't think that my heart was able to respond to anymore pain. But, at the sight of my dad, the man who raised me, the knight in shining armor, my heart completely fell right out of my body.

The monitors around him only added onto my worry. His arms were by his side, his skin prickled and probed with different patches and IV's. A blanket was over the lower half of his gown covered body. The slow rise and drop of his chest worried me, and the beeping of the machines only continued to increase the heavy weight my shoulders carried.

I could feel the tears coming again. My body was rigid at the very sight of him, despite my hand plastered against the pale, white wall.

The doctor placed his glasses down with a smile. He looked at me and Ryland, who stood to the side of me with the same expression of concern.

He opened a yellow file, peering down at it. "Alright, well let's begin with what caused this. The tests directed us toward signs of a stroke, and we tested this again to see that we were correct. The stroke was not as severe as it could have been, so let's hold onto that bit of good information," he informed us. "But, his condition is far serious than just a random stroke."