Rockstar Serenade: The Chorus

Ch 20: Mother, Father, I Am Sorry

KAILEY~

I am running--panting, chasing my breath as the white corridors turn into a blurred tunnel, wherein the end feels too distant to reach. Disinfectants and hospital equipment greet me with their stinging sterilized scent. The atmosphere is chill... too chill. This place is too clean and quiet. Being used to a mass of rowdy people, cocky rockstars with tattoos and piercings, bars and thunderous sound of loud music, my body itches to get out of the building immediately. This place does not differ from a haunted house.

I follow the arrows that lead to a large desk in the hallway to ask for assistance. The women in white clothes wearing aloof expressions are like ghosts to me. They look so lifeless, and they seem to never have fun. I'd want to pretend not to see them, but I'm left with no choice but to approach them for they know something I need.

"I need to see my mom," I tell one of them the moment my hands reach the desks. I brush up my bangs wet with my sweat, my heavy breathing louder than the sound of my voice.

"Mom?" the woman, who seems to be in her mid-forties, repeats and lifts one eyebrow up.

"Yes, my mom! I need to see my mom!"

"How will I direct you to your mom if you don't tell me her name?"

Oh. I never actually thought of that. I pause for a while, trying to remember my mother's whole name.  "A-Ashley," I say, now trying to recall her second name, one that starts with the letter K.  "Ashley Kaleigh Poxlier." Now, that's such a shame.

"There isn't any Poxlier confined in the building now," The woman tells me as she searches the computer for a name. "You sure you're in the right hospital?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," I mutter, recalling that my parents are already divorced. "It's Ashley Kaleigh Dawson."

"And you are?"

I fall dazzled and I wear a poker-face. How come she does not know me? "Excuse me?" I yap. "You don't know who I am?"

The woman skims me from head to toe and gives me a sour look. I couldn't fathom why she has been looking at me this way since her eyes first lay on me. She furrows her eyebrows and says exasperatedly, "No."

I don't know if I became irked all of a sudden because she doesn't have a clue on who I am, or because of the way she's been looking at me, or it's just because I am tired from several hours of flight and struggling to fight jetlag.

"How could you not know who I am!?"

She eyes me and returns the irritated face. She let out a loud sigh before she speaks. "Look, I don't want arrogant brats with tattoos, piercings and colorful hair raising their voices to me. You have to be respectful else I'm going to have to call the security."

Before I could answer her, another woman in white gives her a tap on the shoulder. "Rose, she's famous. Kailey Poxlier, lead singer for Flame Alyconia." I mentally thank the woman for doing the introductions for me.

"Famous? I don't see any bodyguards around," I hear her grumble under her breath. She types something on the computer again, and a name appears. "Room 4104, fourth floor, wing B."

"I was offered bodyguards but I declined them because I am not as self-centered as you think I am," I tell her before leaving, not even saying thanks.

Things like this would usually happen outside the music industry, my circle of friends and my fans. It still hurts, it always does. At least I'm doing what I have always loved. How about them? It's clear that the woman a while ago isn't enjoying her life the way she is supposed to be.