Halo And Horns

Chapter 07: Clarissa

He had woken up later in the day at the hospital, feeling sore all over and his eyes stinging. His head felt like an anvil had been dropped onto it and overall, he felt drained, now nothing but an empty shell of who he once had been, laying and staring blankly up at the ceiling. He felt a tang of nostalgia which he didn't want to feel. The day he'd met Susan and Henry. Right now, it felt as if that was just a few days ago. How he had despised them, how he'd assumed they were simply after his inheritance but how wrong he was. Tears welled up in his eyes and before he could stop himself, they'd started flowing gingerly down the sides of his face as he laid there, unmoving.

He had spent a couple of days in the hospital before he was discharged. The doctors told him that he was rather 'lucky' to have, not just survived but, also receive minor injuries. He didn't feel lucky at all though. He felt as if he'd rather be wherever his parents were than here, alone.

During the couple of days in the hospital, he was visited by friends of Henry's and Susan's and unlike the last time that he laid hospitalized, they were all genuinely sad and mourning and had come to him, for him. Will was the one who had spent almost all his time in the hospital with him. He didn't mention what had happened, perhaps for Nick's own sake, Nick thought and he was grateful for it.

After being discharged, Nick locked himself in his home all alone. He didn't watch TV or do anything of the sort, he had just stayed shut in, lights turned off, doors shut, doing nothing but sit on the couch, hugging his knees. He cooked simple meals that Susan had taught him to cook but he barely ate and he brought groceries from the nearby store where Henry had normally taken him to. The salesman himself looked at him with sympathy and sadness in his eyes but Nick ignored it, like he ignored everyone else.

Will had tried visiting him while he was shut in. He walked up to his door and rang the doorbell countless times and each time he was answered by absolutely nothing. He had tried knocking on the door and yelling Nick's name to the point that passersby eyed him suspiciously. He ignored them, of course. As soon as he got home, each time, he had called Nick's number but there was never an answer. Will had figured that Nick was just sitting there, looking at the phone ring.

Summer break went by like that and Will had tried getting in touch with Nick every day before and after school. He had gotten no replies. He wanted to give up now. Leave who wanted to be left alone, alone. Until one night while he sat in his room, doing his homework, racking his brain around the mathematical equations which he barely understood, his dad knocked on his door gently like he always did and opened it then stuck his head in through the crack, like he always did.

"Homework, dad." Will said without looking.

"I know. But, have you heard from Nick?" his dad asked.

"No dad. He's grieving. I think its best that he be left alone until he is ready to face the world again."

To this, Will's dad walked into the room and sat down on his bed. "Will. My son, tell me then, when will that be?"

"I don't know." Will said still not looking at his old man and just staring down at his notebook, biting the bottom of his pen.

"I understand why you would think that he should be left alone," His dad started. "But in times like this, you cannot leave someone alone like that, no matter how much they try to protest. Some people will say that they're okay and some will shut themselves in. Let me tell you something; that is not them coping with it. That is not them healing themselves. In that home, all alone Nick is destroying himself. No one should have to face such loss all alone. And for him, it's his second time that he's lost everyone. The first time; he had two wonderful parents to keep him on his feet but who does he have now? No one, Will. No one, unless you decide to be there."