Till You Come Back Home

chapter 6

I sprinted into the hospital. I was annoyed when the receptionist made me stop.
Luckily she was kind enough to tell me where my mother was.
I sprinted over there and found Riley waiting on a bench outside mum's hospital room. He was busily typing on his phone .
"It's alright, you can leave now," I sighed. I was breathing a little heavy from running.
"Am I allowed in?" I asked him.
" Yeah. Just walk in, "he said as he finally took his eyes off his phone and looked at me.

" Okay then, thank you, " I sighed again.
There was a hair band that I always wore on my arm. I quickly pulled it off and tied my hair up into a messy bun and walked into mum's room.

She was in there with so many wires and tubes going in and out of her.
Surprisingly, she was alone. No one else was in there but her.
"Oh, mum!" I sighed as I took hold of her hand lightly and took a seat next to her.
I closed my eyes because I wasn't ready to cry yet.

I don't know how long I was there, I must've even fallen asleep because I was awoken by a doctor. Mum was awake too.
"Mum! Are you alright? what were you thinking?" I cried.
" I wasn't thinking , " she said quietly.
The doctor told me that she'd be fine and if it wasn't for the aid that'd been administered to her before she got here, he wasn't sure she'd make it.

"I guess I'm not leaving you alone again, am I?" I joked. No one laughed.
The doctor told me how I'd take care of her and the medicine he'd be giving her, he actually said quite a lot but I wasn't sure I'd understood it all.

He left and I took a long look at my mother.
"You're selfish, you know!" I mummbled.
" Billie, it was accidental. "
"That's not true," I said quietly.
"Well, I'm sorry. It won't happen again." She sighed , looking me in the eye.

"It better not ,mum. Because from now on, I'm not leaving you alone," I said.
" Not really. I had the doctor call my sister. "
"Aunt Martha?" I asked.
She nodded.
"She'll be taking me away for a while." Mum said .

"What?" I asked. " Don't you think that'll make you look like a suspect? Running away? " I asked.
"No, I'm not running away. I'll be back. I just need some time away from this all," mum sighed.
I nodded.

"What if something happens in the case and you're not here?" I asked.
" I'm in contact with officer Becky, " she said. I nodded.

"And you'll have more time to yourself," she said softly.
I rolled my eyes playfully.
"Mum, it's okay ,you can stay," I urged .
"No, I want to go. It's been long since Martha and I had some good ole time together."

I knew there was no convincing her other wise so I just decided to be happy for her. "Well, I hope you have fun." I smiled . She squeezed my hand just a little and smiled.

Mum was asleep and I was still holding onto her hand. I had been   thinking about everything and I just didn't know what to do.
Suddenly the door opened and stopped my train of thought.
"Riley?" I asked looking back at him. He was carrying a lot of food.

" What're you doing here? " I asked.
"I brought food. I didn't know what you'd like so I got a little of every fucking thing I saw," he said. I smiled. How thoughtful .
I let go of mum's hand and helped him with all those goodies.

I wasn't going to lie, I was hungry. I'd only had a drink of water which I didn't even finish. I hadn't had breakfast because I wanted to meet up with Nia pretty quickly.

He took a seat away from mum's bed on the table. It was a large room and there was a table in the corner and a large couch at the other corner.

I joined him on the table and grabbed a burger. I wasn't waiting for anything. What if I died the next minute?
"I like you're tattoo," he said .
"Hmm? " I mummbled.
"The one back here," he said indicating to my neck .

Ohhh, he meant the demon thing under my hairline.
"Thank you. " I mummbled as I ate.
He pulled up the sleeves of his long sleeved shirt and that's when I realised he was always in long sleeved shirts or jackets. Maybe he always wanted people to see his well defined muscles all the time.
Har har har ! I wish.

I was about to ask when I saw the probable reason for that. He had a large tattoo on his left arm. I could only see that it started from his forearm, where he'd extended the shirt to and all the way to his wrist.
It was patterned like those Samoan or Polynesian tattoos.

It was so beautiful, it made all the ones I had look like rubbish.
"Wow," I mummbled after I'd finished up with the burger.
He wasn't even eating. Just studying the place.

"I like your tattoo." I said. He smirked. Oh lord! He had a dimple on his left cheek. Obviously his left side was the better looking one.
"Do you even know what it is? Or is it just the patterns you like?"
" I know it's Samoan. And you don't look Samoan. So do you know what it means? " I challenged.
He laughed but didn't answer me. He looked stunning when he laughed. I swear, my breath caught in my lungs. I couldn't breath when he laughed, so I looked away.

"So why do you hide it?" I asked.
" I don't hide it, " he mummbled.
"Yes you do," I said matter of factly.
"You're the one that hides yours," he fired back . As if annoyed.
"No. I don't hide mine. They're just in places that can't be spotted easily," I said.

He shrugged. I always thought he had a skin disease. All along he just didn't want his tattoos to be seen.

I ate the rest of the food silently and couldn't believe how much he'd bought. Rather, I couldn't believe how much I'd eaten. I'd eaten a while lot of everything.
All that was left was a slice of pizza, a little pasta and rice , a little sushi and a small amount of noodles. He'd bought a whole lot more than that, I'd devoured everything else.

He looked at me with concern.
"What? I was hungry," I defended myself. I excused myself and went outside the room and walked to the balcony to burp. I really was hungry, huh?

Suddenly, I looked down to see Nia sleeping in her car! Oh god! I'd completely forgotten about her. I ran to the elevator and headed down.

I sprinted to her car and knocked onto her window.
She woke up with a start. When she saw that it was me, she sighed in relief and opened the door and got out.
"I'm sorry, I forgot you were still here!" I exclaimed .
She smiled sleepily.
"It's okay, as long as there's a better place for me to sleep in this fancy hospital than in my car," she said as we walked back to the hospital .

She was right about the fancy part. I had no idea how I'd pay for it all. I decided I'd pass by the reception and ask about the fee tomorrow.

When we got to the room,Riley was gone. As if he wasn't there at all. All that was left were the left overs. Everything else was gone. All the trash, all the bones, all the pieces of chilli wings I'd spat out, gone!
Wow, I couldn't believe he'd cleaned out my mess.

Nia happily ate the left overs and fell asleep on the couch.
I stayed up waiting. I don't know what or who I was waiting for, but when they didn't show up, or rather, when I got tired, I fell asleep holding onto my mum's hand.