The Heartbroken - S01 E124

Story 2 years ago

The Heartbroken - S01 E124

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 124

I woke up at past one

a.m., feeling extremely

exhausted from the

dream. It wasn’t the

first time I had it. I

remember having the

same dream when I

was younger, right

around the time my

father died.

It must have had

something to do with

the fact that I’d just

gone to the hospital

earlier.

Hail wouldn’t stop

thanking me for visiting

Lauren. She knew, of

course she knew, that I

had always hated going

to the hospital. It

reminded me of those

few short weeks when

we had to rush to the

hospital because Dad

fainted, when he threw

up so violently Mom

made me go out of the

room, when we had to

stay in the hospital

because Dad was too

weak to go home.

I’d skipped school during

those last few days. My

mom called my adviser

and she didn’t know

that I had accidentally

eavesdropped, hearing

her say, “It could be any

minute now. I just

want her to spend

every last moment

with him.”

It scared me, hearing

her say that, and I

wouldn’t leave my dad,

trying to stay with him

as much as possible. It

felt like every second

was too precious to

lose.

Earlier, when I walked

into the hospital room

to see Lauren sleeping

in that god awful

hospital bed, with this

dextrose pouring into

her through plastic

tubes, I almost felt like

crying. It reminded me

too much of Dad.

But seeing Hail, with a

look on her face that

was so familiar to me it

almost broke my heart,

I knew I had to stay

with her. It was the

same look on Mom’s

face whenever she saw

Dad in that drugged

slumber that was

supposed to take his

pain away.

When I left, Hail hugged

me so tight and I

realized just how

scared she really was.

Now, at one in the

morning, I realized that

the dream must have

meant something like

me chasing my Dad.

The white corridor

might as well be the

hospital and the bird I

was running after was

Dad.

I tried to go back to

sleep, tossing and

turning in my bed, but I

only managed to mess

up the covers.

Whenever I closed my

eyes, images of my dad

in the hospital kept

coming back to me. Not

the good ones, when he

was awake and smiling

and trying to listen to

my stories. The images

that kept coming back

were the ones that

reminded me most of

his death–nurses

running into the room,

him coughing blood out,

my mom trying to be

strong for all of us.

Before I could think

better of it, I found

myself reaching for my

phone from under my

pillow, dialing Seth like it

was nothing out of the

ordinary.

I only realized what

exactly I was doing

when it started ringing.

When had I started

depending on him so

much? So much that

here I was, calling him

at one a.m. like it was

the most normal thing

ever.

I thought back to what

Hail had told me earlier.

Surely, she must have

been reading things the

wrong way. Sure, along

the way, Seth and I had

grown close, closer than

I expected, and it

scares me how much I

care about him, but I

didn’t like him in that

way. I couldn’t possibly.

“Hey, is something

wrong?” he answered

groggily after the

seventh ring.

Ah, f--k, I woke him up.

“No, um, hi.”

I could hear some

rustling over the line.

“What’s wrong?” His

voice, even through the

phone, sent shivers

down my spine.

“Why are you assuming

that something’s

wrong?”

“One does not simply

call at one a.m. for

nothing important.”

There was more

rustling, making me

wonder what on earth

he was doing there. “So,

what’s up?”

He was sounding more

awake now. I felt guilty

for waking him up,

especially because I had

no idea why exactly I

decided to bother him

this late. If things were

reversed, I probably

wouldn’t be taking it as

well as he was.