"Ever wonder why people are so determined to reach for white picket fences, supposed normalcy, a nuclear family? Well, try growing up without one." Chuck Eddy
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Chapter XXIX – Nuclear
"Ow," I moaned, though my throat was blocked, filled with a tube that was pumping my lungs for me. As soon as I realised that I could breathe by myself, I began to cough and struggle against it.
People fluttered around me as the tube was hurriedly removed from my throat. The air that subsequently filled my lungs burned my throat on the way down. I coughed and spluttered as I tried to get my breathing normal. A tube was immediately then put across my face, taped to my cheeks, as I breathed the oxygen through my nose.
"It's alright, Sara," said a voice I didn't recognise. "You'll be feeling quite out of it for a few minutes, just calm your breathing."
"Sara," another voice whimpered. That was Mom. Mom was here.
"Mom!" I sobbed, suddenly bursting into tears. I felt like I couldn't control my emotions as the sobs came over me.
I blinked, my vision quickly clearing. I was in a small hospital room with monitors and wires connected to and coming out of me every which way. An annoying beeping sound was monitoring my heart rate, which explained the pinching of the clip on my index finger.
As I regained my coherency, I began to feel a dull ache in my abdomen. I remembered everything. I had been stabbed. I had been stabbed. Lex had stabbed me. Lex had deliberately plunged a blade into me to kill me. And my dad ...
"Daddy!" I cried out, anxiously searching the room for him, but Mom and I were alone with the nurse. Dad wasn't here, and neither was Shea.
"No, baby, it's Mom," Mom calmed me, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.
I focused on her face, and saw how terrible she looked, which was hard for someone as pretty as my mom. Her eyes were red and swollen and her cheeks were streaked with tears. Her hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in days, and her clothes were wrinkled from being slept in.
"I'll go get the doctor," the nurse told my mom.
Mom cradled my face in her hands and she cried. "It's perfectly normal to cry after anaesthesia," she assured me. "Oh, baby, you scared me to death. I don't know what I'd do without you. Do you know what happened to you?"
I did. I knew exactly what happened to me. I wasn't exactly sure how I was feeling about it at that moment, but I knew what had happened. But I wondered if Mom did. I hadn't hallucinated my dad, had I? He had been there. I was sure! What's more is, I was certain I'd met him before. I remembered where I had first placed him. I had seen him, talked to him even, at my seventh-grade science fair. He had been there, too.
But ... but wouldn't he be here? Wouldn't Shea be here?
I decided to play dumb to find out what she knew. "No, what happened?" I rasped.
"Oh, honey," Mom sighed, "I knew, I knew they were dangerous. But the look on Shea's face ..." she trailed off, shaking her head. "You were taken from Charlotte by one of them, a man with a grudge against your ... your daddy. He brought you back to Providence and attacked you. Shea managed to find you and he got you to the hospital in time. You needed a transfusion because of the blood you lost, and you're now missing your spleen, but you should make a full recovery with a scar for your troubles. I'm grateful for him, despite everything. I think it's helped me to understand the connection. How he was while you were in surgery, I've never seen anything like it. I was terrified to lose you, but Shea ... he was dying."
"Where is he?" I asked.
"I'm not sure, hon. He was here all day and all night. As soon as we found out you were okay, he left. I think he blames himself. I know he thinks I blame him. I might have said so," she admitted.
"Mom!" I groaned croakily.
Even though I now knew Mom's version of events, she hadn't mentioned my dad, and she was under the interpretation that Shea had found me. I definitely hadn't hallucinated him. I was ninety-nine percent positive. The one percent had me questioning though.
At that moment, the doctor, who introduced herself as Dr Morgan, walked in with a tablet, and began to flick through my chart. She smiled at me reassuringly as she began to check me over and ask me the necessary questions. Once I had told her what year we were in and who the president was, she was satisfied I was coherent. She took my vitals and checked my incision site before ordering some more pain medication.
The nurse returned and injected a solution into my IV. Not too long after the ache of my wound completely dulled.
"Rest, Sara," Dr Morgan ordered. "You've had quite the ordeal. The police will be wanting to speak to you when you're up to it."
She and the nurse both left.
"The police?" I repeated.
Mom nodded. "We're obligated to report this type of injury, sweetheart. Just be honest. That man drugged you, and he attacked you in the middle of nowhere."
It would be the truth. I would just leave out the back story. "Mom, you need to call Shea. I want him to come." We had not left things in a good place when I had run from his room in Charlotte, and to have been subsequently snatched from the hotel, I needed to talk to him.
Mom nodded. "Okay, hon. I'm going to run down to the cafeteria to grab some food and a coffee, and I'll call Shea when I'm there." She leaned over and kissed my forehead, brushing the residual tears from my eyes. She stared at me for a moment, as if she was memorising how I looked, before she left me alone in my room.
I looked down at myself now that I was alone. I was lying in a hospital bed, my abdomen wrapped in gauze and bandages, because Lex had attempted to murder me. I still didn't think it had hit me yet. I had come close to dying. How do you even comprehend your own mortality like that?
I had seen lycans for the first time through my panicked haze. These huge wolves had been in that clearing and they had chased after Lex. What had happened to him? How on earth was there going to be justice for this? Could you even put a supernatural creature in a human jail?
The annoying beeping seemed to get quicker and quicker as I panicked inside my head. My heart right about stopped when I heard that all too familiar voice say my name. My full name. The name my parents gave me.
"Saraphine," he said softly.
I looked up to see my very real father standing in the doorway of my hospital room. He looked like he hadn't slept in days either, which made me wonder as to what day it was.
But I hadn't imagined him. He was alive, and he was here. "Daddy," I breathed, smiling with relief. It was strange. This was the third time that I was seeing this man in my entire life, and yet I felt like I knew him. I felt like he belonged to me. And knowing what I did about him, I knew he loved my mother and me to the ends of the earth.
"I've been waiting seventeen years to hear you call me that, Saraphine," he murmured, though his voice was shaky and nervous, and he offered me a reserved smile as he approached my bed. He placed his hands on the bed rail and looked over me, scrutinising me, memorising me, just as Mom had.
"I thought ... everyone thought ... Mom thinks you're dead."
"I've got a story to tell, I know," he conceded, nodding. "And I will tell you everything as soon as you're well, I promise."
It felt surreal that I had only got to know this man a few weeks ago, and I have grieved him. I felt his loss keenly. But he was here, and he had been alive all this time. Where on earth could he have been? And how on earth did he find me in that clearing?
He walked around the side of my bed and sat down on the edge, hesitating slightly before he reached out to hold my hand. His hands were much larger than mine, and were quite rough, but they were incredibly warm. I found this to be a very comforting feeling.
"You about killed me a half dozen times these past few days, Saraphine," he said, exhaling. "I have so much to say to you, so much ..." he paused, turning his head towards the door. "Amanda is getting off the elevator."
"How do you know that?"
He offered me a sad smile. "I know," was all he said in reply. "I had better go. Amanda has had enough shocks to last her a lifetime. She doesn't need me adding to it."
His excuse sounded weak, as though he was trying to make up a reason to avoid seeing Mom, and I immediately knew why. I had fought with Mom about it. I had been so incredibly angry at her for it. Mom had rejected my dad, she had left him, and taken me from him. She had just about taken his heart from his chest and stomped on it. What kind of person could experience that sort of rejection twice?
But I didn't want him to leave, selfishly. I wanted him here, I wanted them both here with me. "Please don't leave," I begged, holding onto his hand. "I don't want you to go." What if he went away again? He had been absent for seventeen years and had only shown himself to me because my life had been in danger. What if he went back into hiding again?
But, instead, he said, "I've never been far, Saraphine. I'm not going anywhere."
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SO! When we needed to leave to get to the movies on time, my boys were 30 points down. I'm gutted. Like, the momentum is not with us and I can't even stay and scream at my TV, because that makes a difference don't you know ;)
I now know I actually have will power because I sat through two car rides, a two hour movie, and the entire rest of the game without checking the score, a single statistic - nada! I was so proud of myself hahahaha.
I lovedddd The Lion King. I crieddddddd. I haven't cried in the animation version for a long time. I used up all my tears on that one but the new one got meeee!!! Go see it and re-live your childhoods!!
Anyway, so continuing on. I recorded the football on two channels just in case one stuffed up. Can't be too prepared! I fast forward to the start of the third quarter and we go bang bang BANG! We went from 30 points down, to running away with it by 21 points wahoooooo!!!! 50 point turn around yeahhhh boiiiiii.
I'm putting the highlights up on this chapter because yes, I'm still trying to convert you lovely readers into Essendon fans!! My boys are wearing their red away strip!! The game was sooo good! So exciting! 4 wins in a row for my boys, and we're poised to play finals (play offs) for the first time in a loooongg time. I'm a long suffering Bombers fan! I was 6 the last time we won a premiership and I barely remember it :(((((
So please enjoy!! I once heard an American describe Australian football players as basketball height, linebacker build, and with the foot speed of a soccer player. These guys are top notch and seeing them live is just :D
Okay, I'll shut up now. Vote and comment xxx