I Chose Nothing

19

     Two hours had turned to three, which led to sunset, then dark. John was fast asleep when a nurse came in to escort them out of the premises. Marc argued back, "Where is she then?" He woke John up with a start, he had forgotten where he was. "She's in the intensive care unit, turns out we found her in more critical condition than we thought. I apologize." The nurse explained lightly, Marc nodded and grabbed John knowing that he was still tired, and left home. Traffic was cleared.
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John walked in to see his mother bed bound, tubes running from place to place, an oxygen mask over her face. He united with his father, who sat kneeling by the side of her bed, praying out loud. John sat down awkwardly in an empty seat, taking in the sight of his helpless mother.
"Joana? Is that my girl?" The woman called out in a hush whisper. John's dad stopped praying and looked up at his wife, John stood up behind him. He tried to reach for her hand but his dad slapped it out of the way, "No darling, she's gone remember?" An evil tone hinted at his fathers voice. John glared at his father, but chose not to get into a conflict with him. He kissed his mother's cheek and left the hospital room, only hearing his father call him a disgrace and a disgusting human being that'll burn in hell. John never looked back. He heard everything his father had said and simply left without defending himself. He hated funerals, and hospitals, but he couldn't blame his father for hating him. His father couldn't help but stay true to what he thought was his faith, but it ended up hurting his oldest child.
John's mother, Emma, was very accepting of her daughters transition to son. But her husband refused to believe it, although the sudden name change and the new pronouns was hard to adapt to for her at first, she got used to calling what was Joana, John. She felt like John was really brave for sharing this part of his life with her, and was saddened that he hadn't come to visit her at the hospital.
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John remembered how he felt about seeing his mother, so he could relate to Marc and how he chose to express his emotions. He must've been really close to Adaliya, she was probably his cousin since he hadn't mentioned any other family. Marc hadn't spoken to John, throughout the entire car ride back home. He cleared his throat, "So uh....you think Sage made it to the concert on time?" Marc stopped at a light, the grip on the steering wheel became tighter. "No." Was all he could muster to say silently. "Yeah, she probably went home after she couldn't find us. Did you tell her we were at the hospital?" John looked out the window and saw people inside of 'La Rosa Bakery.'
     They walked into the complex, John went to the sixth floor, room 627-A. He tugged on the tin can attached to his wall, signaling that he wanted to talk. He put it up to his ear and heard nothing, he didn't hear her laughing, he didn't hear the TV from her living room. A bit concerned, he walked towards her front door and saw some mail for her on her doorstep. The name for who it was for was Adaliya Kelley.

If I had it in my power
I would arrange for every girl to have your
charms