Deserving | ✔

Chapter 33

Being in a hospital usually sucks the life out of people. And by life, I do not mean the survival, but rather the liveliness; the aura of the person. There's just void, nothing else. You cannot feel the person's presence though they're right in front of your eyes.

That is exactly what I feel like when I look at my dad. With numerous tubes in and out of his body and his limbs attached and hoisted to different parts of his bed, he seems very basic to me. He doesn't seem like my dad, because that aura of him that makes him unique seems to be missing.

"Hello there, Phillip," he says, his voice fading out with every syllable. He looks at me, with those usually energetic blue eyes now as pale as cloud ridden sky and I cannot stop the tears from my eyes.

Trying to blink back those little droplets, I say, "Hi, Dad. How are you feeling?"

He chuckles. "Like shit, Phillip. I feel like shit. What do you expect? My arms and legs are tied to the bed like I'm some sort of prisoner, my head aches like a nuclear power plant blasted inside it, my nose seems to have been broken, my throat feels like a squeaky old factory machine and you know my passionate hatred towards hospitals."

He takes a huge breath. I smirk. "So, you're having the time of your life, huh?" He rolls his eyes.

"What happened, Dad? Who did this to you?" I ask, hitting straight at the elephant inside the room.

He clears his throat. "I can't clearly remember who it was. Tamara had gone to buy some groceries and then someone rang the doorbell. It was a man wearing a beanie till his eyebrows and looked at the ground all the while he talked to me. He said that he was walking a long distance and had a lot of miles to walk more and he wanted to know if he could fill his bottle with water from the house. I agreed and let him in, showing the way to the kitchen. I went to the loo and when I was back, he hit me behind my head and everything is a big blur from there."

I sigh in frustration. "Dad, why would you let a stranger inside our house? Goddamn it!"

"It's okay. I'm alright! Must have been some burglar..." He muses.

Before I could say anything about the file, Tamara enters the room with Dr. Anderson. After checking him thoroughly, the doctor leaves and it's just Tamara, Dad and I.

Dad breaks the silence first. "I'm sorry, Tamara. I must have scared you. I really didn't mean for our first meeting to go like this."

Tamara chuckles. "It's okay. If it helps you, Phillip and I's first meeting wasn't exactly a bed of roses either. Actually, ours wasn't as chaotic as Phillip and I's."

I place a hand over my heart and fake a sorrowful sigh. "And here I thought I was Tamara's favorite brother and March man."

She smirks. "Well, you're my only brother, so there's no point of picking favorites. Plus, out of the two March men, I'd rather pick Richard since he's the better gentleman out of you two."

I fake gasp. "You did not just say that!"

"He did cook for me unlike you... So he is more gentlemanly than you!" She sticks her tongue out.

I stick my tongue back at her. Dad clears his throat.

"If you're done being whiny kids, may I continue talking? Now, Tamara, enough of putting your life in danger being here, okay? Phillip will book you a ticket in the next flight to Florida. Please understand, alright?" He says.

Tamara's smiles drops. "Oh... Okay. I just thought... Forget it! I'm going to go pack." She practically runs out of the room.

I look at Dad. "I know it's not safe for her to be here. But you could've let her down a little easier."