Call Me Six

9: 'The Fairies' -Tobias

TOBIAS-

It's meatloaf day at school - and that means the cafeteria is full of starving, hormonal, potential cannibals.

"Please, for the love of all things holy can you stop acting like a moody bitch." Since yesterday morning Uriah's refused to talk to Zeke. But he did manage to give him a grotesquely green bruise on his lower jaw.

"Oh look," Uriah sneers whilst peering over my shoulder. "Tris found another not-boyfriend."

I turn around and see Tris sucking faces with Eric. "Dude look she doesn't care so you shouldn't either."

He grumbles something incoherently and shoves a piece of meatloaf in his mouth before spitting it straight back out again.

"I said I was sorry so suck it up and forget about it," Zeke says.

"Look at you two," I say just loud enough to break their death glare, "you're like a pair of whining, jealous bitches.

"You're not the only ones with issues and if you think that this is worth beating each other to a pulp over then boy are you, two idiots, gonna find the real world hard.

"This is high school you fucking morons! It's only Tuesday goddamnit... you haven't even made it through two weeks yet you assholes." I clear my tray and stand up to leave; smacking them both round the side of the head as I pass.

What a bunch of idiots.

All it took was one girl and they start a Cold War.

I continue my way through the corridors when the receptionist Miss Hale runs up to me with a green note.

"Mr. Eaton," she says almost inaudibly as words tumble from her mouth. "We've received a call from the hospital-" that was all I needed to hear before charging off through the school and out to my truck.

It's like I went into an out-of-body experience. All I knew was that I was driving and no thoughts could change my actions.

A car horn blares and I come to an abrupt halt. I send the driver an apologetic look and then continue down the road I almost jumped a red light into.

It doesn't take long until I'm parking carelessly and running through the wards.

The familiar sign I've spent far too long looking at these past few years hangs above and I know I'm near. CHILDREN'S it reads in big rainbow letters. They try to make it a cheerful environment for them, but the countless hours of dread I've spent surrounded by these paintings of various animals has made all the charm wear off.

"Sophie Eliza Eaton," I say to the woman with the purple nurse's uniform.

"57," she replies; not looking up from the clipboard.

~

I've sat in rooms like this for hours. Each one different, but they all feel the same.

I can hear soft voices of parents with their children. Monotonous beeps from machines. Faint snores. The air vents echoing. The lights humming. Rushing cars and ambulance silence in the distance.

There's always paintings on the walls. And stuffed animals at the end of cots. Occasionally you'll see balloons.

The nurses tend not to spend a lot of time in here. They don't have the time, nor do they need to keep the children company. So they don't. The parents are there for that. Or they should be anyway.

"Hello," her soft voice croaks and her eyes flutter open.

"Hey, Soph." A sigh of relief escapes me.

It's such a shame how a child can lose their beauty when in their weakest state. Her skin is sickly pale making the freckles sit prominently on her cheekbones whilst her blue eyes stare dully.

"Did you bring my glitter?" She asks whilst messing with my fingers.

"Don't I always?"

"Good good. The fairies wouldn't be able to find me if I didn't have it. And I need the fairies to find me because look! My wobbly tooth finally came out!" She beamed widely and, just as she said, there's a gap in her teeth. "But I don't have the tooth. I lost it when I fell down the stairs. So the fairies have to find me so they can see that it is actually gone."