"Joel!" I yell when I see the familiar greying curls I squeeze him until I am pulled off of him.
"Laila," I hug her back.
"We heard about the accident. What's happened?" Joel asks softly. We take our places on the cold chairs outside January's room. Joel standing up as all other chairs are taken.
The sound of a newborn baby shrieking can be heard making my heart churn as I think about my dead son, whom I hadn't even seen yet.
"Get a grip, why are you crying?" Joel yells at me.
To his annoyance I shake my head not answering him. He swings the door open yelling at the nurses.
"Why is my son-in-law crying?" He yells. I follow in tentatively.
"Papa," January's voice was cracked as she stood near the window with a tiny pink faced baby in her arms.
January walks up to her dad carefully, but with a proud smile.
"This is Luna. I can only have her for 5 mins before she's taken away, as she was born early." She raises her eyebrow at me as if asking if I approve.
Luna? Maybe that's what León was talking about. Maybe I really did have twins!
I nod subtly hinting it was perfect.
"It means the moon, she lit up our world being born." She babbles as she looks down at our baby who was sleeping.
"What do you think of the name León for our son?" January asks not taking her eyes off the baby.
Isn't that the angel's name?
"Perfect." My heartbreaks when she mentioned our son. The son that died. How can she be so unbothered by it? As if he was still alive.
"I'm going to go back outside for a bit."
I excuse myself, watching back into the hallway grabbing on to the chair before I lost my balance.
I feel the sickness rising up my throat.
A few minutes later Laila comes out to join me.
"What's up fantasma?" Laila pinches my cheek like she always did when I was a child.
"How can she be so unbothered?" I huff, dropping my head into my hands.
"About what?" She asked duped.
"Our child is dead." I say bluntly. Laila drops her phone then quickly picks it up examining it for cracks or dents.
"Fuck!" She shouts returning her gaze on me She says.
"She's been talking about him non-stop as if he's alive, has no one told her?" She says rubbing her screen against her t-shirt.
"Ofcourse they told her first!" I yell.
"You need rest, babe. You look tired."
"I'm fine." I respond.
I didn't know how long I'd been asleep for, I didn't know I even knocked out until I heard the sudden cry of a baby.
"Shh, León. It's fine Mama is here." I hear.
"Look, now you've waken up papa." She scolds the child she was holding.
I didn't know what to tell her, rather how I should tell her. That wasn't our baby. She'd just walked out of another room with someone else's baby and the thought she was still in denial broke my heart.
Should I even tell her? No. I should tell her as much as it breaks my heart.
"January that's not León," I struggled to finish as she looked at me confused before bursting out laughing.
"As if I wasn't able to recognise my child! Hah! He looks just like you." She continues to coo at the baby which makes him laugh.
As much as I wanted to see her happy, this was someone else's child.
I reach out and snatch the baby from January without using force and walk away.
"You're not taking him," January stands in-front of me with her arms out.
"Give me my son. Now." She her face was tense, her lips pressed in a fine line.
She was starting to scare me.
"Now!" She snaps making me jump.
What am I supposed to do? This was heartbreaking for me.
"León this is a great time now to jump in and help." I whisper through gritted teeth clenching onto the child.
"You're holding him, now pass."
What kind of hospital was this? Where were the-
The familiar whoosh relieves me. León takes the form of his young self, the tanned one and just stands in-front of Jan not saying a thing. She just stares at him, not blinking which scared me.
I take advantage of the situation and walk into the room next door looking around at the small cots.
They were all full so far, which made me worry.
Just then I notice a empty cot with a knitted baby-blue blanket. On top the bed where a passed out mother slept were banners of 'its a boy'.
This has got to be the one.
I place the baby into the cot praying the mother doesn't wake and not the baby start to cry.
As I tiptoe successful out the room, the baby starts to cry so I quicken my pace stopping when I find León.
"All done?" He asks. I nod in response.
"Now we just gotta get this one back to bed." He nods at January who'd still been frozen.
"I know," he pulls out a spray from his back pocket and looks at it smugly.
"Wh-what's that?"
"Just watch." León starts to spray January's feet, the back of her legs and her spine which causes her to levitate, and move without warning.
We both hustle behind her and she floats into her bed, her eyes closing and her chest rising again.
I pull the blanket over her kissing her forehead. I hated seeing her like this.
"Will you be okay if I go?" León asks his hand on my shoulder.
"Yes. Thank you for today."
"She's a Pimentel. She'll be okay," León finally days before walking towards the exit.
He suddenly waltz round, "look after Sammy."
He says before he disappears out of sight.
Ay Caramba! I forgot about her. She hadn't even come to visit, I hope she's okay.
Quickly glancing at January who'd been sleeping peacefully, I walk out of the room.
I quickly type in Sammy's number and she picks up on the first ring.
"Sammy?"
"Guess again," Darius chuckles before disconnecting.
________________________________
Authors note | so my first exam is on Tuesday.
I'm literally shitting myself because this exam will determine whether I can get a job, or go to university and these results will stay with me for the rest of my life. I know, the UK has a really stupid system so if I mess these up, I'm fucked for life. I hope y'all understand. 💙
Please vote so I know whether it's worth wasting my revision time on or not. Thanks guys for being patient 💙