The Day the Call Came

The routine is always the same, never changing and seemingly never-ending. Right now, James Langdon sits on his couch to eat his breakfast and turns on the TV. ln the middle of one of his bites, his house phone starts to ring, and he ignores it, having the machine pick it up. The phone ring continues to sound out throughout his living room before it ends. He sighs in relief since he does not want to talk to anybody today.

"Pick up son, we need to talk."

Hearing that voice again caused him to wheeze and send his food down the wrong pipe. He starts to hit his chest and begins to cough so he could breathe again. Once he could his mind began to clear up. Why is she calling me after so long? He thought to himself. He still remembers every moment of the last time they spoke, he still remembers her screams and being pushed out the door into the pouring rain, his clothes becoming incredibly uncomfortable due to the moisture and sadly, he remembers the look of complete heartbreak on his father's face that made him hesitate, yet he continued out onto the sidewalk to his car.. He shakes his head taking him out of that horrible memory. He picks up the phone and dials back. "Hello son" He slightly flinches expecting a cold tone in her voice but is surprised at the slight break that appears in the middle of it.

"Mom what's wrong?" He questions with concern all throughout his voice taking him by complete surprise.

"Well," She starts to say but sniffles before she can even finish the sentence. "Your father hasn't been feeling well lately so we took him to the doctor..." Everything just fades away as he begins to think of the worst scenarios possible. The man who cheered him on when no one else did. Noticing that he has not talked in a while, his mother continues to speak but he is not listening so she hangs up. No goodbye. No, I love you. Why do I keep getting surprised by the way she treats me? He thought bitterly. He ignores this and tries to focus on the situation at hand.

Dreams and nightmares haunt his head all through the night, he wakes up in a cold sweat with no intention of closing his eyes again. The nightmare is still rolling in his head hours later. His father on his death bed and James is just there to watch his father suffer. James then shakes his head and gets up out of his bed, if his father really is extremely ill then he is going to spend every moment he can with his father. He leaves his home and gets in his car, trying to prepare himself.

Within 2 hours, James reaches the carefully decorated house. He reaches the door and knocks, almost immediately he sees his mother and is shock by her appearance, her clothes covered with stains and face appearing to have withered.

She smiles before bursting into tears and hugging him but having difficulty due to their height difference.

James slightly flinches but accepts the hug, nonetheless. He stares over his mother's shoulder seeing clothes scattered all over the place and pill bottles strewn about on all surfaces of the living room. In the distance he hears the sound he dreaded the most.

"Where's dad?" He questions whilst looking around for the room his father is in.. His mother nods her head knowing that there is nothing she could do to comfort him, taking him into the master bedroom where he supposes his dad is.

His worst nightmare has come true, he sees his number one supporter on his death bed. All he can do is stare before tears start to fall. What does he say to a man on his death bed? Does he reassure him that everything will be okay? He slowly approaches the bed, just now noticing the at-home nurse in a chair in the corner of the room.

"Leave him be sweetheart, he's sleeping" The nurse warns. He nods his head and just stands at the edge of the bed watching his father sleep. Now that he thinks back to the last time he saw him, he did notice how his father was not as lively as he usually was. "Have you come to say your goodbyes James?"

He looked at Jessica, the nurse and nods saying, "I guess so" while looking at his mother. She never told him his father was this far gone, but accepts the fact that she lied to him, again. His mother looks away in shame because her own son is used to this. James looks away from his mother and back to his father and he smiles when he sees his eyes are open, he runs to the side of the bed and grabs his dad's hand. "Hey dad, how are you feeling?" His father looks at him and smiles seeing his only son there. James noticed his father trying to take off the ventilator so he asks the nurse "Can he take that off?" while motioning to the ventilator. The nurse nodded and began to help him take it off. Once it was off, his father began to speak.

"Hello son, I'm fine, how are you?" His father said with the brightest smile on his face. James was a little shocked at the happiness in his dad's voice. He looked towards his mother with eyes wide, but his mother just watched on with a sad smile on her face. He looks back at his father. "What are you doing here son? Did you come to visit your mother?" James continued to look at him and tried to figure what was wrong with his father when he came to the saddest realization and soon tears started to line his eyes. He turns his head towards his mother, and she nods in confirmation. He turns his head back to his father.

"Yeah, I'm here for mom, but I came to see you before we left." James says with a smile on his face that is covering the pain he felt. "You know I love you, right?" His father nods and James starts to leave the room, he leans on the wall only to fall to the ground as the tears begin to flow. He starts to retreat into his head and wonders how long his dad has been like this. What am I supposed to do? Another heartbreaking thought popped into his head. Is he even still the same man who raised and supported me? He thought. James enters reality again and notices the tears flowing down his face and aggressively wipes them away. He looks back into his father's room and sees he is asleep again with the ventilator on. He quickly looks away with tears starting to line his eyes again and begins to enter what used to be his safe place. His head.  I am going to have to watch my father wither away. James thought wiping his tears. There is nothing I can do to stop this.