Welcome to the Darkness

Chapter 2

The next morning came and went in such a blur, the doctor whose name I'd never cared to learn, came in, took some blood, left. And this new nurse who was so nervous the tray rattled when she came in with my breakfast, she was afraid of fucking up on the first month of her residency.

It was mid-afternoon, they kept me a little longer than the morning to be sure my food intake was good and that I understood that not eating is not an option. Also, maybe to be sure the concussion was something I wouldn't have to worry about. Outside looked hot, the air rippled slightly above the metal streetlights that swam in the hot summer air.

It was now, when I was just about to watch some Bones on the old TV set, that the commotion started. Julie was the nervous nurse's name, she'd come in wondering if I wanted visitors or not. I wanted to ask why, but I already knew. My parents had surely heard and wanted to see me.

The ache in the back of my head, from the stitches, had just gone away but I was still in no mood to handle my parents. I asked for her to send them away and that's when the issues started up. From the end of the hall a huge commotion started, it surely woke up the guy in the room next to me.

"Ma'am, you're not allowed over here. He said he didn't want visitors!" I heard Julie shout, her voice quaked with irritation and tiredness, she too hadn't slept since she was assigned to make sure I didn't fall asleep until I was out of the woods for my concussion.

"Bull! That is my son and I will see him!" Seethed a regal sounding woman, a woman who sounded as if she were entitled to everything because of the sum in her wallet right then and there. Today she wore a pair of stilettos, they always made her footsteps sound more dainty no matter how hard she slammed her feet into the ground.

Behind her were the heavy steps of a man dying of lack of exercise as he ran to catch up with her. A faint "Honey!" sounded behind the pair's footsteps as my mother rounded the corner into my room. Her face was red with anger, her frame was small like his, but more feminine and with a rounded chest and hips that were fit snuggly into a blue blouse and black dress pants, and of course, her favourite pair of periwinkle stilettos. Sunglasses rested atop her head, hair drawn up into a messy bun.

Behind her trotted in a thick burly man in a bleach stained t-shirt from years of bachelor living and a pair of washed out denim jeans. A thick beard layered his face and he would appear menacing if it weren't for the soft brown eyes that he donned like a doe's.

The woman in the stilettos smoothed out her outfit and took a deep breath, her complexion evening out and she put on a smile, stalking like a cat over to my bedside. She reached out a freshly manicured hand and cupped my cheek. "Oh my poor baby, what have I told you about vacations? You have to keep your strength up for lots of fun!"

Once the man had regained his own composure he went up behind my mother and laid a hand around her delicate waist, his brow furrowed in worry. "Son, why didn't you have the hospital call us when you woke up?"

I looked away, out past them to the doorway where Julie stood stammering and when she caught my eye, she ran off. "Mother, I said I didn't want any visitors." This succeeded in only ticking my mother off a bit more. She puffed out her chest in anger and crossed her arms over her bosom. "You're my son, they'll have to drag me out of here. What happened, my baby boy? You haven't been calling us to check in!" She bellowed, she was never one for quietness.

My father eyed me wearily and upon inspection, simply said; "You look fine to me, why are they keeping you here?" This earned a glare from my mother and at last, Julie returned with security.

While my mother had entered the building, there had been several noise complaints from other people in the hospital. I reached up and rubbed my temple, the headache I'd just managed to get rid of had returned once more. My mother bickered with the security guards while Julie sheepishly tried to cut in that I wasn't in any condition to have visitors. I needed rest, for sure, but for not peace and quiet would do. Julie's words, of course, were drowned out by my mother's as she fought with the security guard to let her stay.