Afterlife || irwin

[ 38 ] 2014

[ 38 ] 2014

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"You told me I could have any favor I wanted. And I thought that maybe I could use it to let Calum go back to the world of the living..."

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After begging Jack to go heal Cindy in the ICU and erasing the memories of her injuries from her doctors, Harley remained in the room with Calum for hours. A coroner came and went, taking notes of his injuries and inspecting him all over. They filled out the paper work with no emotion and didn't even give her a glance, didn't even say anything to her, as they got their stuff done and left the room. Harley wanted to shout at them, beg them to do something to bring him back. But she knew nothing would work. He was gone and she would never see him again. 

She only left his side when Arthur entered the room. His face was pale with worry for his daughter, and with sadness for the boy he had taken in as his nephew. He was so young, only eighteen, with his whole life ahead of him, and it was all taken away in the blink of an eye. He thought about his daughter too, how she was one of the targets in the attack. He promised himself he would make sure Luke Hemmings would pay ten fold for the things that he did. Heaving a sigh, his voice shook slightly as he spoke. "Jack patched Cindy up real well." He informed her and Harley was relieved that at least Cindy was okay. She was an innocent party in all of this. She didn't know about their world or their abilities. Her only fault was getting involved with Billy because it got her involved with Harley as well. Her father continued, "I left your mother with Aaron. He came as soon as he heard the news, and he would like to see you too."

Harley just sat there defeated, head down and shoulder slumped. She knew he was trying, he really was. But Arthur didn't have a father of his own and therefore didn't know how to be a father himself. He was exponentially bad at offering her comfort. He wanted to approach her and comfort her, but at the same time, he wanted to giver her some space. He didn't know how to proceed and he was stuck in between doing one thing or the other. 

At least that was one thing he thought he could learn from Aaron Quinn. He could observe the way he would know just what to do or say to comfort her and he would know how to go about it going forward. Arthur slowly cut the distance between them and plopped down in the cold hospital chair next to hers. He offered her his shoulder to cry on and she immediately took it, throwing her arms around him for comfort and crying into his shirt. She didn't say anything, but she didn't have to. He knew just how she felt because he felt it too. He loved Calum, and it tore him up to see him lifeless in a hospital bed.

They stayed there for another long while until a group of four nurses came into the room. They informed Harley and Arthur that it was time to say their goodbyes because they would be moving the body to the morgue. From there, it would be another set of paper work and a couple of days before they'd see him again. Then finally they would have the funeral services and they'd have him buried at the St. Genevieve's cemetery next to his parents. 

Harley was shocked with the way they called him the body as though he hadn't been a human being. But she said nothing of it. She merely clung to Arthur and cried harder as she watched them transfer him into another bed and wheeled him out of the room. 

The two sat there for another long while until Harleen and Aaron came to find them. Harley had always been attached to Aaron when she was a little girl. Anything she wanted, she only had to ask him and he would get it for her. Arthur was her father, but so was Aaron because he had raised her and she would never forget that. As he entered the room, he rushed to her side and pulled her into his arms tight as she stood up to greet him. Harleen went to Arthur's side and snuggled into his side with tears in her eyes. Arthur watched them with hurt pricking at his chest. Aaron Quinn was so good at being a father, and he just wasn't.