I said my byes to my mother again as I slowly let go of her hands, placed a kiss on her cheek, and then waited for my father to do the same. Then, we stepped out of her room. My father practically ran down the hospital hallways whilst I walked behind him unhurriedly. He turned around and looked at me impatiently, and then, as soon as I was close enough to him, he went back to his sprint. Was he being chased or something?I looked behind me to see if anyone was running after us, but everyone seemed to look at us as if we were lunatics. So, definitely, there was no one following us. It was just my father being his usual weird self. “Tori, hurry up!” he practically yelled the second time he turned around and found me still strolling through the hallways. More eyes glared at us. I felt so embarrassed and wanted to hide when my father started telling me to hurry up in front of all those people. “Sir, no running in the hospital.” some random hospital staff called out to my father as he
“So, how are you, Ms. Carter?” the boy asked as we walked to his car. I slowly dragged my feet to the car, wondering if that would be the best chance to make a run for it. He rushed towards his small car and opened the passenger door quickly, and gestured for me to go in. “What if I wanted to be the driver?” I asked bitterly“Uhh…” he stammered “Loosen up, Mr. Bow Tie.” I sighed “It was a joke.” I climbed into the car and buckled my seatbelt while he closed the door gently and rushed off to the other side, and hopped into the driver’s side. He climbed in and nervously started the engine. The car made some weird cough sound before it finally started. “It takes some time to warm up. I am sorry.” he laughed nervously as he looked at me. I just rolled my eyes. I had no idea what my father planned and I how I even ended up in that situation. “It- It’s a little old. You see, it was my father’s car quite for some time until he handed it off to me when he was upgrading to something coo
I reached outside of the restaurant with everyone’s eyes glued on me like I was crazy. “WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT?!” I yelled at them as I continued to run through the parking lot of the restaurant. I was tired of all the stares. I had enough at my failed wedding, more at the hospital, and now there were even more at the restaurant. I was fed up.“CARTER!” someone yelled. I turned around and saw the Bow Tie guy, Stephen, attempting to run after me and catch up with me. I continued to run faster when I noticed him widen his steps, making him get closer to me. “WAIT!” he shouted. I was finally in the main street but no cab wanted to stop for me because to them, I looked like some crazy girl who ran away from her date and did not want to be seen by him. Even in situations that were not my fault, I was the one left to look crazy. So, I continued to jog down the street and realised I got more stares by doing that, so I resulted in just walking speedily. I was able to finally stop a cab
I woke up very early the next morning to the sound of my father having a very loud conversation with whoever it was on the other end of the phone. Then, eventually, I learnt that all the screaming and shouting was him answering a call from someone from the hospital. He spoke so loudly as if he was deaf in one ear or as if he wanted someone outside to hear whatever he was discussing. Then, I heard him marching around the house as if he were part of the army, and then he walked past my bedroom door, and the steps became louder. “TORI!” he called out for me as he banged on my bedroom door. He swung the door wide and came in. He was all sweaty and panting, perhaps from all the yelling and pacing around he did earlier. “GET DRESSED, WE ARE GOING TO THE HOSPITAL. NOW!” he ordered and then marched out of my bedroom, leaving the door wide open. Still feeling exhausted and sleepy, I tiredly rolled out of bed and grabbed my bathing towel and dragged my tired feet to the bathroom. “You can’
The 3 of us all hesitated to walk towards my mother, afraid. It was as if she was going to bite. She just looked different from the person we had been crying at for a while. We could not believe our eyes. “Well, come on over here, I don’t bite.” she smiled.My father, in all his shock and confusion and all possible emotions combined, slowly walked over to my mother with his eyes all puffy and red, ready to burst into a puddle of tears. “Mary…” he wailed as he dived on the hospital bed to hug my mother. She held him back tightly, leaving Roni and me completely confused and in shock. She was lifeless and practically dead the past few days, and then suddenly, she had all this energy. I eventually took a few steps towards her bed, initially hesitant, wondering if she was actually okay or if it was an act. “I hope you have been behaving, Tori,” she said as I hugged her tightly. “You know, your father isn’t as tough as me. He is fragile.”“HEY!” my father exclaimed after hearing my mot
A week had gone by since my mother’s death, and we were all in the house getting ready for the funeral. Russo had been very supportive and was always in the house, helping my father get over the grief. I was in my bedroom, fixing the top buttons of my dress and then slid on my black gloves on my small hands. “You look very beautiful.” a male voice said from my bedroom door. I slowly turned around and saw Russo standing by my door. His hands are in the pockets of his trousers. With him looking very smart and elegant in his all black suit. He unhurriedly walked in further into my bedroom with his hands still in his pocket. He closed the door and continued to walk up to me as I panicked, wondering what he was going to do to me. “Are you nervous?” he asked “Nervous about what?” I questioned back“Nervous about everything. Nervous about today. I mean, your mother was loved by everyone. Everyone will be there.” he replied “Well, I am going there to impress people and care about their
“Tori! Roni! Let’s go!” my father yelled as he banged on our bedroom doors. “And where the hell is Alessandro?!” Alessandro blinked at me as if he was thinking about what he was going to do and what he was going to say when or if he saw my father in the hallway. It was as if he did not expect my father to be looking for him. “I think you should leave,” I whispered, hoping no one else who may have been on the other end of the door would hear us.“No, I can’t,” he replied in a hushed tone“Why not?” I asked back, feeling all panicked and sweaty. It was not as if we had done anything, but we felt guilty. I mean, it did look wrong that my father’s good friend was in my bedroom when the door was closed.“It will look even more weird for me to come out of the room right now when he sounds very angry. Let us first wait for him to cool down or hide away then, we can go out,” he whispered. “TORI!” my father yelled again. I heard Roni’s door being opened and the sound of her shoes clicking
The tension was so awkward in the car. Roni was not helping by giggling and making comments under her breath after my father asked that awkward question. “Alessandro, why was the door closed?” he asked againHe did not even bother asking me because he knew I would find a way to change the story and make my father look like the bad person. “I guess the door just closed.” Russo finally shrugged. My father laughed, and Roni giggled in the backseat as if that was very amusing to her, while I was the only one sweating. I mean, I had not done anything fishy with Russo, but it just felt weird for my father to be pressing, my sister to be giggling, and Russo to be panicking. At least we reached the destination, and the second Russo opened the door, I hopped out. I needed air. Roni and my father walked ahead with everyone else as if we were the royal family or something while I was still at the car with Russo. “Are you okay?” he asked in a low voice.“I think you should go ahead, or I sho