Summon All The Courage You Require(DISCONTINUED)

...Spark Into A Flame...

Okay, so. I did say I was in a time crunch last chapter. That was because I was trying to finish editing the night of my birthday. Bad idea, lemme tell you. That was important because January is more open for me and I want to start publishing on the first of every month. If I don't, definitely the second. And here;

Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!

Happy MLK Day!

Happy GroundHog Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

So I hope this works out. :') And I'm doing another time skip. It's now Christmas Eve in the story, so, enjoy.

R. Hamilton's POV

Black.

Opening my eyes, I was greeted by a blurry white light as a contast.

So much so, it stung.

Was I dead? 

Finally?

My eyes focused, revealing that I was not, in fact, dead. I took in the view of the ceiling above me and realized that I was just in the hospital. Still. How many weeks had it been since I first moved in here? Judging from the price of just one week, protecting my waste of a life was costing my sons a fortune. I attempted to lift myself up, only to fall back down in pain. I winced, annoyed that I had to go through this because some strange man failed to properly kill me off. That is, if that man wasn't some hallucination.

"Rachel?" Slowly, I craned my neck towards the voice. I smiled at the sight of my oldest friend. "You're awake!" she cried and bolted for me. Tears fell down her face as she held me in a warm embrace. "You're alive! Hurt, but alive!" In the corner of the room, I saw Pip Squeak start to stir, from I could only assume was Theo's sudden shouts. 

He yawned and rubbed his eye, soon catching sight of me. And one of the things I loved about my youngest son, was how animated he truly was. All three of sons were in their own way, but Pip couldn't hide his emotions even if his life depended on it. And I was able to see every moment of his joy on full display with his face alone. 

"Mama!" he yelled. I'd told him to refer to me as "Mom" since I'd met many people who ridiculed me for making the same mistake, but I couldn't remind him now. He was too happy. "Lexi! Lexi! Mama es dispierto!" He shook his older brother awake, so much so, I worried about how much sleep the two had gotten. Lexi finally blinked his eyes open. 

"Mom?" Pip dragged his brother over to my bed since he was frozen from shock. I hauled myself up and braced the pain to see them. Once he was in reach, I pulled him into a stiff hug. A few moments into it, he seemed to come back to Earth and hugged me back. I could feel water running down my back as he pressed his face into my neck. Pip and Theo joined in and we sat like that for a few minutes. 

"Lo siento," I said when we pulled apart. "I've done so much to you, and..."

"Mama," Pip took hold of my hand and squeezed it. "Está bien." He paused and forced a smile, "You owe us nada. You've done your very best." I looked down, guilty. The emptiness in his voice was so apparent, the actual words held no true meaning.

"Well," Lexi challenged his words. "You only need to answer one question, Mom." He looked at me, trying to maintain a firm glare. "Why drug poisoning?" Drug poisoning? Definitely wasn't me. So that means he wasn't just a figment of my imagination.