Flight 78B

Repay Me

Cassidy's POV:

“LAC Medical Center please! Hurry. It’s an emergency.” I begged the taxi driver. I looked in my window as he sped away, a disappointed Harry left standing on the sidewalk. I looked down at my bags, three full suitcases crushed against each other uncomfortably in the backseat where I sat. I dialed my mom’s number and she picked up on the first ring. “Hi Sweetie!” She sounded abnormally happy and I suddenly was annoyed by her tone. “Hi Mom.” She asked if I was on my way and I said yes before she calmly hung up the phone. I took the time that I had to text Alexia and inform her of my landing, to which she quickly replied. I was about to type my reply when my thoughts were interrupted. “So, what brings you to LA?” The taxi driver had a very harsh voice, indicating that he was probably a smoker. “Oh, I uh, live here.” He nodded his head a little. “Cool. Born and raised I’m assuming?” I saw him peer at me using his rearview mirror. “Yup.” I pretended that I was getting a call so that I could stop the awkward conversation. I made up sentences and replies randomly as I talked into my phone and he turned up the music a little to drown out my talking. We pulled up to the hospital and he helped me out with my bags. “Thanks so much for the ride. How much?” He grabbed something from inside his car and scribbled something on paper and handed it to me. “It was sixty but I’ll give it to you for thirty. You can always repay me if you want though, darlin’.” I looked down at the paper and his number was written on the paper. I handed him a fifty and told him to keep the change, trying to limit my time with him. He got back in the car with a quick  wink and I rolled my bags into the hospital lobby. There was a very sweet looking blonde woman behind the desk. “Hi, um, I’m here to see Robert Rhodes?” She started typing frantically on her computer and directed me to the room number that my father was in. I gave her a quick thanks and made my way up to the fifth floor. 

I immediately saw my little sister Alihannah as soon as I exited the elevator. She was with her caretaker Mary and Aliahannah was hapilly playing with the small toys in the lobby of the fifth floor. I ran over to her and picked her up by her tiny waist and spun her around. She held onto me tight and screamed my name over and over with immense happiness in her voice. “Hi Ali!” I held her tight on my waist as I walked over to Mary and gave her a one-handed hug. “We’ve missed you!” Alihannah exclaimed as Mary nodded in agreement. She started telling me about everything that she did this summer including riding her first pony, learning to count to 100 in French, and finally getting the bravery to ride the teacup ride at DisneyLand. Listening to her list her amazing accomplishments made me feel extremely proud but I also felt extremely guilty for the fact that I was there to witness any of them. I had neglected my family and missed watching my four year old sister grow up because I was being stupid and getting fucked up. “Cassidy?” I turned around to see my mother walking towards me, hand over her mouth and tears brimming her eyes. “I missed you so much! Well, we missed you so much! Your father and I..” I interrupted her, “Can I see him? What happened?” She started walking away towards a room and I set Alihannah down to go back to playing. “I’ll see you soon, okay? I’m gonna go see Daddy.” She nodded and took off to go back to Mary and the toys. I followed behind my mom, her heels clicking against the tile floor. She led us into a decent-sized room, which revealed my dad hooked up to many machines and sleeping peacefully in his bed. The minute I saw him, my heart completely shattered. He was always so lively and extremely happy. To see him so helpless was horrible. I felt a familiar burn in my nose, signaling that I was going to start crying soon. “So, what happened?” I questioned to my mom. She looked extremely tired and she sat down on the small chair next to my dad’s bed. “He collapsed last night. I mean, his heart has not been doing so well ever since he got back from his trip. They think he got something while traveling.” My father was a well-known doctor who traveled all around with world with Alihannah to help many different people. He took care of very well-known people, to homeless people living in tents. At first, he took Alihannah on his trips because my mom was never home to take care of her. At the time, she was working on a huge case about a horrific murder. He started taking Alihannah with him when she was two and they would come back to California four times a year randomly, and then for holidays. “Does Alihannah have anything?” I wondered. I couldn’t dare to see my dad like this, let alone Alihannah have something deep in her system. “No, they already did all their tests on her. She’s completely fine.” I exhaled, feeling completely relived. “He should be out in a couple days, no need to worry. The only thing you need to worry about is getting ready for college.” I sighed and put my arms in my sweater, finding a piece of paper inside. It was Harry’s boarding pass. I just realized that I was still wearing his sweater. I looked at my phone to check if he tried calling me or texting me, but there was nothing. I shrugged it off and put the hood up, engulfing his musky-mint scent. I didn’t even want to think about college right now with the condition that my dad was in. I sunk down into the couch, pulling my hood up more, and fell asleep.