Apartment 6F

sixteen; moms and dads

The words echoed in my mind, "We're not sure when he'll wake up, he's in a coma. It's all up to him now."
The doctor hadn't even bothered to sugarcoat it.

Newly released, I had come to visit Casey, hoping to see him propped up in the bed eating disgusting hospital food or something. Instead, I stumbled upon a broken conversation between a woman and Casey's doctor. I peeked around the corner of the door to see inside. I saw Casey's bruised body and bandaged head, asleep in the bed along with a white-coated man beside him. A distressed woman stood next behind the man and I could tell she was crying by the slight sobs that came between the doctor's words. "I'll talk to him as soon as he's done sleeping. We can worry about the physical therapy later," she said. I saw the doctor shake his head before replying with the horrid words. He's in a coma. The woman sat down in one of the chairs and placed her face in her hands. I heard small sobs come after.

I pushed myself around the door frame and walked to sit by her. Her tear stained face looked over at me with with confusion. "Who are you?" she asked. What was I? His roommate? Girlfriend? I couldn't decide which would go over better with whoever this was. "Um... A friend, I guess. My name is Noah," I finally said. She gave me a weak smile,"Well, I'm Casey's mom. I'm surprised he didn't tell me he had a girlfriend," she replied. My jaw mentally dropped. I started to try to reply. "I'm not exactly-". Then she cut me off,"Lemme guess, 'it's complicated'." With that I smiled. "Yah, you could put it that way..."
Casey's mom's eyes wandered over to his limp body on the bed across from us. I could see the pain in her eyes. "I can't lose you too," she murmured. I came over and joined her at his side. He had a bruise covering half his face and a long line of stitches covering the area above his left eye. It was my fault and here I was standing next to his mom acting as if nothing happened. "I can't do this again. I don't to even see these rooms again..." She said. "Have you been here before?" She gave me a look of confusion.
"He didn't tell you?"
"He didn't tell me what? I asked.
"About his dad?" She replied.
"He mentioned you guys were divorced, but I don't understand..."

Her eyes filled with pain again. "Noah, his dad is dead. He had cancer," she said and I could see the tears forming in her eyes. "It was two years ago. And if Casey doesn't wake up, I don't know what I'll do with myself. I'll be all alone. It was hard enough when Casey left for college," she added. She ran her hands through her greying hair. I could see all the stress and pain in her facial expression. "It's my fault," I uttered out. Her brows wrinkled in confusion. "Noah... Don't say that. I know it wasn't." I shook my head in protest. "He looked at me and then the car came out of nowhere, it's my fault!" Casey's mom had a look of remorse, then she wrapped her arms around me in a hug. "It's not your fault, or Casey's, or the other driver's. It's fate's fault. Don't blame yourself, darling," she said. She released me and at that exact moment my phone rang. I figured it was probably Rachel, telling me to hurry up. "Excuse me," I said and walked into the hallway to the sound of my ringtone. I dug my phone out my jacket pocket and saw the caller ID.
Mom.
I was in the hospital and she didn't even show up, and she thinks it's okay to just call me and say sorry. The hospital is only an hour drive from home. I hit answer anyways, and said,"What do you want?" I heard pounding music in the background (as usual), before my mom replied with, "Dad coming," and the phone call ended. That's all she had to say? And what is that even supposed to mean, anyways?

I said goodbye to Casey's mom before heading back to the waiting room to see Rachel. I found her on her phone, eating a bag of chips, I guessed were from the vending machine across the room. I sat next to her, and she looked up and said,"Finally, what took so long?" She paused then said,"Wait never mind, I know," before I could even respond. "What?" I asked. "Noah, you wouldn't of cared as much about him before. Something happened between you too," she replied. I sighed and said,"We kissed. More than once." Her nose wrinkled up. "Ew, Noah... I didn't need the details." That made me laugh. "I think I like him Rachel, a lot." She rolled her eyes and said,"Noah, you're so in love with him." My eyes widened at that. "I can't love him, I barely know him!" She gave me a smile and replied,"Noah, sometimes love is slow and soft, and other times it's fast and hard. Either way, it doesn't make it any less significant, babe." I considered it before shaking the thought of my head. "Let's just go home, Rachel." She rolled her eyes and said, "Okay, but don't deny your feelings!"

I drove home, slightly reluctant to leave Casey. At least he had his mom, though. Rachel drove, considering the fact that I was still suffering from slight brain damage. When she finally made it to the apartment parking lot, it was dark outside, and I realized I had spent the whole day at the hospital, despite the fact that I was released at 9am. My stomach growled, causing Rachel to look over at me. She laughed and said,"I'll order some Chinese food and have it delivered, I have to stay with you after all."

We trudged our way up the stairs, and I mentally cursed at the owner of the building to get the elevator fixed already. My phone buzzed in my pocket, so I took it out to read from unknown number, "I'm here."
What the hell? Creepy text, if I've ever heard one. I figured it was just a prank and ignored it. When we made it up to my room, I pulled out my key to open the door but saw it was already unlocked. I opened the door with Rachel following behind me.
That was when I saw a man sitting on my couch. I recognized him from my childhood. His hairline had receded slightly and I noticed new wrinkles around his eyes.

He was the man who had left my mom and I, six years ago.
"Dad?"