Breaking The Rules

3

As soon as I got in, locked my door and turned on all the lights, my phone vibrated. Without me even having to check to see who it was, I knew it would be my mom and my heart raced as I was neither prepared nor did I want to have the upcoming conversation.

"Hey mom." I reluctantly said as I answered my phone.

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"You know better than to lie to your mother." My father says as he stares at me from across the screen.

"I was a bit distracted and-"

"And you sported a boner-"

"Dad-"

"In front of the woman I practically had to beg to get you this job."

"Mom-"

"Look, son." My dad cuts in and I'm just about ready to groan my frustrations aloud. "We love you but you're not the brightest in the bunch."

"Dad!"

"The truth hurts son but you've got to hear it. If you want us to stay out of your life then you have to show that you can survive on your own."

"How can I survive when you guys won't even give me the opportunity to correct my mistakes?"

"You're our only son. All your dad and I want is what's best for you."

"I know."

My mom sighs and I watch as she exchanged a look with my father. "So... we were thinking of paying you a visit sometime this month."

"No! You don't have to do that, really."

"Its no big deal. We got some time off and-"

"Mom, no."

"Zachary!"

"I'm not tryna be rude but this is me trying to survive a little bit without you guys... Besides, you did promise to give me 6 months breathing space before you came to visit."

"Okay fine. But we still want you to keep in touch with us. We hardly hear from you anymore."

"What do you mean? I speak to you guys every week just like we agreed."

"Okay, okay. We'll let you get back to your life, okay son? Come on now sweetie let the boy go."

It took my mom 5 more minutes to finally let me off the phone and when I could hear the silence again, I sighed loudly as I placed my head on my hand and leaned on the desk.

I had no idea when I fell asleep but the loud ringtone of my alarm had my head flying off the desk. Groaning, I pushed myself to a standing position before lazily heading towards the small room I was forced to call a bathroom.

In less than an hour I was dressed and double checking to make sure my doors and windows were locked. There was no way I would allow another episode of the other night to reoccur.

I hurriedly made the half hour walk to the hospital, haversack strung around my front as I gripped it tightly. The men and women whom I passed gave me either dirty, sexual or wanting to sell me drugs, look.

Blowing past the one security guard and hoards of sick people waiting to be seen, dying or being released, I dropped my bag filled with lunch and other stuff into one of the unoccupied lockers.

"Zach." Dr. Macy calls, a tired look on her face.

"Good morning Dr. Macy. How can I help you?" I replied a little too eagerly.