Insomnia

Chapter 40

It was early August. Cal was sitting in Rory's room when the doctor entered again. The doctor looked a bit annoyed to see Cal sitting there, but also a bit stressed.

"Mr. Barkley." Cal nodded.

"Doctor." The doctor sat down in one of the patient chairs.

"It's time." Cal's stomach dropped. He felt like he was going to throw up. He wanted to stand taller than the doctor, but he was stuck to his seat.

"No." The doctor sighed and tried to talk. "No!"

"Son, you're insurance is stopping the payments-"

"Then I'll pay myself!" Cal yelled. The doctor looked annoyed.

"Listen, you probably don't even have enough money to last two payments. One payment is probably enough to last you six months of living. You still need to pay your own medical bills! There's no way-"

"Get out!" Cal yelled. He pointed towards the door and turned away from the doctor.

"Mr. Barkley-"

"Get. Out!" The doctor sighed and left the room. Cal felt the large lump in his throat. He wiped at his nose as it started to run. He knew his face was red now. He didn't even try to stop the tears from coming out of his eyes.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no..." Cal clutched his head and sobbed. He didn't care if the entire hospital could hear him. He cried out.

Cal didn't know how long he cried, but his head was pounding by the end of it. His face was numb and it hurt too much. Cal didn't move. He sat in the dark hospital room, in a wheelchair, his leg broken, staring at his dying boyfriend.

Cal started to feel numb all over. He thought he was ready to hear this news. But now, he didn't care. He didn't care if he couldn't walk again. He didn't care if he couldn't pay for anything else. He didn't care about anything at the moment.

He sat there all day. It got dark, but Cal didn't make any move to turn on the lights. He denied any food offered to him. After a while, the only light provided was the light from the moonlight. It showed his face glistening.

Cal didn't even bother calling a nurse to move him back to his room. He stayed there all night. He didn't even feel tired. He wasn't afraid of sleeping anymore, because being awake was a nightmare too.

The nurses were surprised to see him there the next morning. They were angry and immediately escorted him back to his room. They cleaned him up and fed him. Cal let them do whatever they wanted, because he didn't think he cared anymore. He didn't answer any calls, and he didn't let anybody in.

Cal ended rolling himself back to Rory's room that day. He was expecting to sit there quietly again, but there were people inside. It was Bill, Noah, and Laura. Cal was awkward and rolled in silently. They greeted him, but he didn't say anything. He didn't even say anything when they asked how he or Rory were doing.

Laura's face turned grim at the lack of an answer. She sat down on Rory's bed and held his hand in her own. Cal watched as her face slowly turned red. She watched as she tried to hold in the tears, but failed to do so. Laura put Rory's hand to her forehead as she leaned down and sobbed. All of them watched her sadly. Cal had a straight face, only because he was too numb to cry.

It was that way for a while until the doctor came in. He looked relieved to see somebody other than Cal in the room. The doctor, the sick bastard, even smiled a bit in relief.

"Ah, you're Rory's parents, correct?" Laura wiped her tears and nodded. Bill nodded reluctantly and turned towards the doctor. "Wonderful to see you." Cal was angry. He waned to get up and punch the old man. "I need to discuss some important things coming up. Something with more cooperative people."