Flames and Starlight

14🌘

Ruben

"Seriously, boy, I can't believe you were stupid enough to do some shit like that," my father grumbled as he paced back and forth at the foot of my bed as my mother silently sat down in the chair next to me.

I bit back a growl that wanted to escape my throat. Not once had any of my parents asked how I was doing despite being in the hospital. My head was pounding, the medicine was kicking in and making it difficult to stay awake, the shoulder that was shot was throbbing. Hearing my father go on and on about how dumb my decision was to help Laura wasn't helping anything and I wanted to snarl at him and Mom to get the hell out of here and leave me alone. I could have open heart surgery and they'd still find something to gripe at me about.

"Daniel," Mom finally said, giving my father a warning look. "Now is not the time. He needs to rest."

Gee, now you say it, Mom.

He turned his withering glare on her. "No, Beth, he doesn't need rest, what he needs is a good dose of reality."

"I know you're upset about him getting hurt and the hospital charges, but he was trying to do the right thing by saving that girl. That gang had killed too many shapeshifters and it's very honorable that he helped her."

He turned away, grumbling under his breath, low enough I couldn't hear. I was glad I didn't. If I heard what he said, I would've probably ripped all the IVs out of my body and tackled him to the ground.

Mom and Dad had always been hard on me since I was little and wasn't affectionate at all and could even be downright cruel at times. Mom was hard and tough on me but always let me know that she at least cared about me. At least a little.

Dad, however, didn't have a caring bone in his body and always loved putting me down. I could win the Nobel Peace Prize and he'd grumble about how undeserving I was. And he wondered why we weren't close and I wanted to move out as soon as I turned eighteen.

I closed my eyes, trying to give them the hint to go and just leave me the hell alone.

"Come on, Daniel," I heard Mom say. "He's falling asleep."

Dad grumbled some more but I couldn't make out what he said. I heard their footsteps leave the room and a sigh of relief escaped me. How I'd survive two more years of living under their roof without committing murder, I had no clue, but I prayed for the peace and patience I didn't have.

As soon as I was eighteen, I was moving out of there whether I had money, a place to stay, a job, or not. I could not live there much longer.

I dozed off and managed to sleep for the rest of the night then had to be woken up as one of my nurses checked my vitals. A glance out the window showed the sun slowly rising, painting the sky with orange, pink, and red, a promise of a new day, a day where I hoped and prayed wouldn't end up in a bloody fight and extended time in the hospital.

The day went by painfully slow. My phone was still in Dad's car, where it was probably still parked in front of Georgia's coffee shop and I had nothing to read, so all I had to do was watch the news channel on the TV in front of me and stare at the wall. Other than the nurse and doctor coming in every once and a while to see how I was doing, nothing else was happening and no one came and saw me.

I was almost asleep again when there was a sharp knock at the door. I jerked and snapped my head up to see Nick standing in the doorway, wearing that stupid grin on his face.

"Hey man!" he said and lumbered into the room.

A smile spread across my face as he came to my side and fist-pumped me. "Man, you look horrible."