Discharged

6

6

The stretches were painless, and Dr. Glint officially cleared me for release. It was a bittersweet feeling to realize that while I had only really lost a day of my vacation and still had plenty of time to explore Boston, I now had to share it with personal babysitters.

We waited in the lobby until Lizzie finished her phone call. She emerged eventually, eyes red and puffy. When I rose to greet her, she just sighed and indicated toward the door with her head. Mom and Dad shared a glance but didn't say anything. We were silent until we reached the sidewalk where we waited for an Uber to pick us up.

I grasped Lizzie's hand as we sat on a park bench outside the hospital. The air was chilly from yesterday's storm, and I tried my best to ignore the smells of smokers who were wandering around outside. Lizzie's hand was warm, but stiff. I comfortingly leaned my head on her shoulder, and despite a slight moment of uncertainty, her worries melted away and she reciprocated, resting her head on my hair. "My parents are fighting again," she said simply.

"Of course they are..." I muttered, trying not to sound as bitter as I felt. I already had to deal with an aggressively protective mom, I wasn't looking forward to frequent phone calls where Lizzie tried to play peacemaker between her parents. I knew Lizzie was stressed though, so I tried my best to hide my concerns. "Dad's being an asshole?"

"He threatened to hit her..." Lizzie said shakily.

"Oh..." was all I could muster to say.

"The whole thing is so stupid... They heard you were hospitalized because of the whole electricity show, and Dad quickly started berating Frank. He never liked Frank, which isn't saying much, he hates everyone on Mom's side of the family. But he really hates what Frank does for a living, saying it's stupid and apparently now dangerous. Mom's trying to stay peaceful, but the number of times Dad criticizes her family is starting to get on her nerves."

"What does any of this even have to do with the accident?" I asked, annoyed on her behalf.

"That's the thing, it doesn't. Dad just got all weird about it when he heard Frank was involved. I don't know what his fucking deal is with Mom's family, but Mom's getting sick and tired of it. I tried to tell him that I love both of them equally and thereby their families equally too, but he's practically begging me to just give up on Mom's side of the family."

"I love them both equally." I didn't dare challenge Lizzie's words on that. "And he threatened to hit her?"

"He said she was being ridiculous, that a slap to the back of the head might be just what she deserved. I spent so long trying to calm him down, and I don't even get why he was so upset..."

I sighed and rubbed her arm comfortingly. Her sweater was incredibly soft. "I'm sorry. I'm here if you ever need to vent."

"I love you," she was her only response.

I checked my phone for the time. Nearly one o'clock in the afternoon. For whatever reason, I was still full of energy, but I could tell that Lizzie was nearly drained from the day's events. Figuring she needed some cheering up, I decided to put myself aside for a moment. "I feel like maybe we should just go back to the hotel rest for a bit."

"Really?" she asked amusedly. "You're still tired after doing all that sleeping yesterday?"

"Not really," I said. "But I can tell you're kinda exhausted, and honestly I'm not really in the mood to go exploring the city with Mom and Dad hanging over us."

"What?" Lizzie said, raising her head from the top of mine to stare at me. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, I guess I forgot to mention," I said a bit awkwardly. "Mom tried to convince me to come home from the vacation, but I convinced her to let me stay. Unfortunately, she's decided that means she's gonna stay with us to keep an eye out."