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One Life
Mason's POV
"Any news?" Bryan asks a nurse who approaches us.
"She did great in surgery. So you can go in and see her now." Bryan and I exchange a relieved glance.
"Thank you," Bryan says and we step into mom's room.
She smiles weakly at us. "How are you feeling mom?" I ask, sitting down in the chair next to her.
"I'll be alright Mase. It was nothing the doctor's couldn't handle. Plus, you might not know this, but I'm plenty tough." She pats my knee reassuringly.
"I know," I whisper, holding her hand in mine. "I was just afraid of losing you. After I just got you back... I didn't want to lose you again."
"I know baby," she says quietly, running a hand through my hair. Bryan sits on the of her bed and the two of them look at each other in the way people in love always do, eyes connecting, lips curling up even at the most awful moments.
"You guys make me sick. Every time you look at each other its like your having mental sex. Just stop it," Daniel complained and Emma and I laughed. I rubbed her round belly and she grinned at me again, making Daniel groan louder and more obnoxiously.
The light from the window behind her created a halo around her head. Her blue eyes met my hazel ones. Not mental sex, just an unspoken I love you.
"The good news is everyone is okay and we're all here together," Bryan says and glances at me, giving me a nod. I don't know this man, but clearly he loves my mother and she seems so happy. God she can be shot and still stay positive. In some ways, my mom is one of the strongest people I know. I once thought she was a coward, leaving me and my father behind, but she was trapped. Even the strongest people can be trapped.
I stand up from the chair, not wanting to disturb their moment together. "I'll give you guys some space."
My mom opens her mouth to respond, but Bryan just puts his hand on her shoulder and she stays quiet. I walk out into the waiting room again, going down the hall to the cafeteria. I pace here, back and forth, looking at the food, looking at my dead phone. My mind is reeling with the events of the last few days.
My dad getting released from prison.
The conflict in the park.
Coming to Florida.
The shoot out in my mother's home.
My head is swimming with exhaustion so I find a chair and sit down, resting my head on the table in front of me and slip into content, sleep deprived, hazy dreams.
- - -
One Day Later...
After one day, my dad was pronounced dead. I stood in his room while they recorded his time of death. I was happy he was gone. I can feel the times he kicked and punched me in the ribs, hit me with his belt on my back, burned my arms. If prison couldn't hold him, then maybe hell can.
"You okay son?" One of the doctors asked me. "It must be hard losing a parent. I'm very sorry for your loss."
I just shook my head which he took for having no words to express the pain I had bottled up inside, but it wasn't true. But for the doctor's sake, I didn't admit that I wanted him to die all along.
When Bryan turned the gun on him, it punctured his lung. He was a goner. The police came and talked to all of us. They assured us that the court would rule it self defense.
- - -
Two Days Later...
When I woke up this morning in the waiting room, Bryan was gone, so I set out on the quest to find food for my mom that wasn't the jello cups she was beginning to despise.
"I have a bruised apple, a box of corn flakes, and a bagel. A true feast," I announce as I walk into my mom's hospital room.
"Such good service here," she says, laughing. I put her bed at an angle and then put the tray on her lap. They still have her hooked up to IVs and shit, so she has to eat with her left arm and I make fun of the mess she makes.
It's so nice to joke with her and feel the weight of my father's presence looming over us. We can finally be normal again. Maybe even be a real family. The kind who see each other more than every 8 years. I would really like that. In fact, I would love that.
"Look at you two, so cheery this morning," Bryan says, walking in carrying a bag of my mom's stuff and looking clean and freshly shaven. "Here are as many of the things that I could find on the list you requested," he tells my mom, handing her the bag.
"Oh goody," she says and starts riffling through. "Thank god, my phone charger," she says.
"Want me to hook it up for you?" Bryan asks.
"Yes, please." He plugs it into the wall and her phone into the charger. We all sit in relatively comfortable silence while her phone loads. It reminds me that I have no idea if Emma received or responded to my messages.
Bryan picks up the bag again and goes through it until he finds what he was looking for. He hands me a fresh t-shirt of his to change into and I get up, walking to the bathroom to change. In the mirror I see the scruff of my face and the bags under my eyes. I pull the shirt over my head and adjust it. It's too big for me, Bryan is a taller, bigger guy than I am, but it doesn't really matter to me.
"Oh no..." I hear and I open the door.
"Mom? What is it?"
Her eyes are shiny with tears and Bryan is giving me a sympathetic look. "I'm so sorry Mason," she says, her voice cracking.
My throat feels like it's closing up. "Sorry about what?" I demand.
"It's... it's Emma."
"She's dead."
THE END OF BOOK TWO
YOU ARE READING
My Friend's Sister
Romance(Sequel to My Brother's Friend) It's been almost 2 years since Emma and Mason broke up. Over time Emma has moved on, gotten into college, and now has a boyfriend. But Mason isn't giving up so easily.
