Indifference::Home?.2

Chapter 2!

I awoke in a familiar surrounding, but not one that I’d visited in over a year. It was the hospital my mother was staying in for her chemo therapy. It figured that they’d send me to be with her. I clenched my fists in anger and realized that my hands and wrists were now covered in bandages. They must’ve thought I tried to off myself after finding Father. They never would’ve believed the truth; I didn’t even believe it. I sat up and stared at my hands solemnly.

A voice I knew far too well startled me. "Hey honey. You’re finally awake." The woman who’s existence was a miracle, or maybe I should call it a curse, was sitting next to me. She stared me straight in the eye, unlike any look she’d ever given me. I stared back with hatred. She deserved no better.

"I thought karma would’ve caught up to you by now." I said angrily and something like a growl rose from my throat. I put my hand against my neck. Was that really me? She stared at me disapprovingly, but I didn’t care. She didn’t deserve to live. She hurt me and father so many times, yet after eleven years in the hospital with cancer of the left eye, she still managed to survive. It didn’t make sense. How could that monster outlive my father? At least he cared. I already missed him…

"Ailee…" she whispered, as if it was some sort of secret, "That was a long time ago. You were six. You know I’ve changed. It was the drugs they had me on…"

"Don’t even try to make excuses," I snapped.

At the climax of my anger, the nurse walked in. At first she blushed a little and started to turn to walk out, but I told her to come in. She said that I had a visitor. Somehow I knew exactly who that visitor was going to be. I told her to let him in, and I almost flinched, afraid I’d see the man from my dream, but Metri looked completely normal. It was just a dream… I smiled weakly at him and he returned it with an almost smile of his own. I glared at my mom warning her not to say anything.

I heard about your father Ailee…" he seemed choked up, like he’d been crying before coming to see me. But Metri doesn’t cry, he never has. "I’m really sorry about… everything." What did he mean? "I always thought you had the perfect life… but…" his train of thought vanished and he looked away, breaking eye contact. "I’m sorry," his voice shook.

I stayed solemn, just staring at my bandages. "Would you like to take a walk with me?" he suggested. I sensed his motives weren’t to cheer me up, but anywhere seemed like a better idea than staying in this room. Anywhere. He looked so nervous. He was practically shaking. Metri never got upset. He never has. I was starting to worry.

I nodded and tried to smile, but it came out as a sigh. "Nurse?" he called and she immediately met him at the door. "Can we go for a walk around the hospital? Promise it’ll be quick." He shot her that smile that made me shiver. He had such white teeth it almost seemed inhuman. The nurse allotted us twenty minutes before I had to be taken back to my room.

He grabbed my arm, helping me stand up and grabbed my jacket in the process. "Come on," he whispered, "We’ve got to hurry."

"Where are you going dear?" my mother asked this as if she already knew.

"Out," Metri said in a tone harsher than my own.

As he rushed me out the door I wondered where he was taking me. He held my arm, especially careful not to touch my wrist or hand. I clenched my fists again, loosening my bandages. He thought I hurt myself to. I knew he did. I hated that.

"Where are we going?" I asked him to break the silence.

"I’m taking you to say goodbye to your father… then I’m taking you home," was Metri’s answer as we reached the end of the hall and he opened a door to a very cold room. I shivered as we entered. "Third shelf, fourth row…" he said averting his eyes. I suddenly understood. He’d brought me to the back of the hospital, where the morgue was located.

I began to question him, then stopped as I saw the lid of a coffin slightly open, just where he’d said it was. I sighed sadly. The silence was a depressing one. I walked slowly over to the box that held my world and revealed the lifeless body of the man from the night before. He hardly looked like my father… The blood still stained his skin and even his eyes were left open. Staring at the ceiling.

I almost started to cry, but managed to hold myself together. "Daddy… What have they done to you..? I fell to my knees catching myself on the edges of the coffin, tearing my already loose bandages and opening my wounds. Allowing them to bleed out. Some parts of the bandages even came off completely as the blood soaked through.

"Tell him goodbye," a tinge of sadness was hidden in Metri’s solemn voice, "We need to leave, Ailee."

I got my face as close to my fathers as I could manage. "I love you," I told the corpse. "I’ll see you soon." What had I meant by that? I kissed his forehead softly in the spot that had no blood on it. I stood straight up without so much as shutting the caskets lid. "Where are we going?" I said as I turned to face Metri once again.

"I told you," he said as I approached him and grasped his hand, ignoring all the pain it brought. He looked at my hand with a pained expression, "We’re going home." The entire way out to the parking lot I watch his face. He would grimace every few moment and show his teeth. His canines were overgrown, just as they had been in my dream.

If it had been a dream at all.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you like, what you don't like, what I can improve, and what you think is perfect! I'd love to hear your thoughts. ^^