Time is Slipping Away

Chapter 6

"And there is nothing at all you can do?"

He remains still as he listens to his father's words, the same monotonous tone present; the shock and sadness hidden beneath it. He watches as the white-cloaked man sighs, shaking his head dejectedly.

"I'm afraid not sir, even the most advanced treatment would have little effect. It is too far along...I'm sorry"

Those words imbed a great weight on his heart; he feels it crush under the strain.

"Are you saying...h-he's going to d-die?"

He hears his mother's voice crack; his heart breaks from hearing the pain she expresses.

"I'm sorry"

He wants to cry, he wants to scream in fact; yet his body remains still. His trembling hands remain tucked inside of his trouser pockets; he keeps a flat expression. He wouldn't break down, not now.

"I'll give you and your family some space, allow the news to sink in"

He watches the man briskly leave the room, clipboard in hand as he makes his way down the ward; to ruin another person's life.

His father paces the room, making no attempt at eye contact. His harsh footsteps echo off the walls; he wants his restive actions to subside.

"James?"

His mother makes an attempt to bridge the gap with his father. It works, he remains still as she speaks.

"We're taking Sebastian home with us, he can return to school after the weekend"

"We've already discussed this, he can't be missing school. This year is important, it's his senior year Eleanor"

"We need to sort this out, there has..."

"There's nothing to sort out!"

He winces at his father's words, he had caused this strain on his family. It pains him to see his parents arguing; he wants everything to stop.

"Tomorrow we will go..."

"Tomorrow I have an important meeting with the head of a firm and then with a client, I told you this last week!"

"Don't you think this is more important James! He's our son!"

He wishes he can see the truth in his mother's words, work always came first, that's how it goes in a family like his. His father would never miss a meeting; that wouldn't change now.

"I have too much going on at the moment, I don't need this"

That was his father, he tried to bury everything under the mat, to act like he didn't care; he was a coward. He often wondered whether he would ever find a place in his life, coming from a background where money overruled everything meant he had just learned to find comfort elsewhere; it was one of the results of being emotionally neglected.

"He doesn't need this either! He's 17, his life's just begun, we had his future set up for him"

He liked how his parents tried to schlep him along the path, there was no decisions to be made by himself, no thought about what would have been his future. It had all been planned out. That was why he was their son, he was just there to inherit the family home, to inherit all of the money, to keep the prestigious Smythe name efficacious.

It was hard being the perfect child, he had to deal with the envy from society. Not that he cared what those lower-class commoners thought; his parents had always taught him that status was important – along with presentation, respect, authority, integrity and honour. He wasn't a snob, he was just brought up to be better than everyone else.