In The Spotlight - Solangelo

Chapter Thirty Two

My finger hovered over my Dad's number. It had been a couple of days since I ran away - I had been living with Will for all that time. Dad had called me at least twenty times in the past three days, and I was beginning to feel incredibly guilty for running away. However, I still couldn't bring myself to call him, to let him know I was safe. In my opinion, he didn't deserve to know. He was a terrible father, and I didn't exactly feel like I was his son anymore. I wasn't planning on calling him at all. Fortunately, my friends had managed to convince me to call him. They were all standing around me, watching and supporting me.

I clicked his name, and brought my phone up to me ear.

"Nico!" a female voice said through the phone. "Nico, thank God! I've been trying to get a hold of you for days!"

I frowned. "Persephone?" Why did she pick up instead of Dad? And why did she say that she had been trying to talk to me, not Dad?

"Listen, Nico, I'm sorry about what happened. Your Dad didn't mean it, ok? He does love you. But..." She trailed off, and there was silence for a moment. "Where are you right now?"

"I-I'm at school," I replied.

"Ok, you need to come to the hospital, right now," she ordered.

"Wh-what? The... The h-hospital?" I stuttered. "Wh-why?"

"It's your Dad," she said hurriedly. "He's, um... You'll see. He wants to speak with you. Come here. I'll meet you outside."

She hung up, and I turned to my friends. They all looked at me with worried expressions.

There was silence for a moment, until Leo spoke up. "So... How did it go?"

I shook my head, as if coming out of a trance. "I need to get to the hospital."

Everyone stared at me, confused, until Will grabbed my arm and began to drag me away. "C'mon, my Dad will give you a lift up there."

Will's Dad was waiting in the car park. I got into the car, and Will told him to drive to the hospital, quickly. He didn't question it, and soon enough we were there. Persephone was waiting outside the door, just like she promised.

As soon as I got out the car, she rushed towards me. "Nico!" She looked stressed, and worried, and... scared. Whatever had happened to Dad couldn't have been good. "Quick, we need to get to your Dad. He... The doctors say that he... W-well... Just, come with me..."

She began to walk back towards the building. I looked at Will. "Can you, um... C-can you come with me? If that's... If that's ok with your Dad." His Dad nodded, and Will smiled. Together, we ran inside, following Persephone. She lead us to a small room at the back of the hospital, but stopped outside the door and turned to us.

"Listen, I should probably... I should probably tell you what happened," she began. "After you... After you ran away, your Dad went out looking for you, and... He went out looking for you and he got attacked. B-by a person on the streets. He, well... He lost a lot of blood in the fight, and well... The doctors aren't sure if he'll make it. He was already quite ill, and now... He might... He might..." A tear fell down her cheek.

I bit my lip. I didn't even know Dad was ill in the first place. And now he's hurt. Because of me. If I hadn't ran away, none of this would've happened. It was my fault he could... die.

Persephone let me into the room, in which Dad was lying on a bed, in a full body cast. Will followed me in, but stayed in the corner as I walked up to the bedside.

"Dad?" I looked him in the eyes, and saw him smile. "D-Dad, I... I... I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. And that I ran away. If, if I had... If I had known I never would've... I shouldn't have ran away." Tears stung my eyes.

"Nico... I love you," Dad said. "And I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so... so harsh on you, I guess. And I do accept you. I love you no matter what. If I... If I had said that in the first place, we probably would even be in this situation." He did a light chuckle, but soon stopped after realising that this wasn't the time. "Who's... Who's that in the corner?"

I turned to Will, who gave my Dad a little wave. "That's, um... That's Will Solace."

"A friend?" he assumed.

"Boyfriend," I corrected.

Dad smiled. "It's nice to see that my son... That my son found love. He seems lovely."

Dad's gaze drifted away. I gently took hold of his hand. "Dad, please don't... Please don't leave me."

He looked back at me. "I'll never leave you, Nico. I... I love..."

My Dad never completed that sentence, but I knew what he was trying to say.

"I... I love you too, Dad."