Black Rose

Fifty Seven

Seattle, Washington                                                        
After fighting with himself to get out of the car, Raine finally grew the balls to go inside of the building. Hospitals always gave him a bad feel since both of his grandparents passed away on the same day, side by side due to a car accident as well. Usually, he'd do anything possible to avoid coming, but times like now and when Mel gave birth, he had no choice but to be there. Raine approached the front desk, being greeted by a jolly employee.

"Good afternoon sir, how can I help you today?" She asked, blinking excessively.

"I'm here to see my father, Winter Mercier. I don't know which floor he's on."

"Alright, give me just a moment while I search him up for you." She began typing lightly on her keyboard and his information came up quickly. "It says here, Winter Mercier's wife has permitted anybody from seeing him."

Raine rolled his eyes at the puerile stunt his mother pulled. He wasn't shocked in the least, but he didn't think she'd stoop low during the worst possible time for their family. "My mother and I had a disagreement a few days ago and she's upset with me. I just want to see my dad for a few minutes and I'll be on my way. Can you please give me his room number? What do you want, money? I have that."

"Mr.."

"Just call me Raine." He told her.

"Right. Raine, it's breaking hospital rules to go against a patient's commands. I can't disclose any information without the ok from Mrs. Mercier."

"Well, Mrs. Mercier isn't a patient here." Raine snapped, becoming irritated with her. "She has no right to deny me of seeing my dad, who's the actual patient. Do I need to speak with a manager or will you allow me to go up and see my pops?"

Hearing him bring up the manager had the woman on edge because she's had her run ins with him on too many occasions. The next time someone had to speak with her boss and it had something to do with her, she'd be fired immediately. That couldn't happen, so she gave Raine what he wanted.

"He's on the third floor in room 325." She said, giving him a guest pass. "Do you know how to get there?"

"Yeah, thanks." His tone dry, as he snatched the pass from her, clipping it on his pants pocket. The trip to the room was short and filled with a lot of hello's from random people. For this place to be one of the worst places on earth, everyone was extremely friendly and upbeat. Raine reached the third floor, when the elevator doors opened, another vacant receptionist desk was the first thing he seen. Taking a left, he started down the hallway, eyeing the room numbers for the correct room. On the very end was Winter's room with the door closed, but machines could be heard beeping from the outside. Opening the door, Raine walked in quietly to keep the environment peaceful and calm. To his right, Winter laid still in the bed, hooked up to different machines. His face was battered, bruised and swollen to the point he was unrecognizable to Raine. Bandages covered his body, giving him the appearance of a mummy and tubes ran out of his nose and mouth, connecting to the breathing machine next to the bed. Raine heart dropped seeing his dad in this gruesome condition. He was hanging on by a thread—a thread in which could snap at any given moment and they didn't know when to expect it.

Sunlyn felt the presence of another in the room and turned around, scowling at the sight of her son. "What are you doing here? No one has access to this room except me."

"Yeah? Well, I'm here, aren't I?"

She rolled her eyes. "Unfortunately, you are and I guess someone is about to get fired since my demands were overlooked."