Chapter 108. Bright lights, white tiles, steady beeping of EKG machines, distorted noises, empty hallways, screaming. My feet sprinted through the hallways of the hospital in a frenzy, I pushed through the scanty amount of people loitering and ducked moving carts and shelves. My vision blurred by all the tears welling in them, my heart pounding against my chest threatening to tear through my skin, and my throat sore from the screaming.After I'd heard the news and stood still for a while, the news suddenly came rushing back in and I grabbed my hair and yelled in so much pain as I fell to the floor. Elliot caught me and tried to console me but I couldn't see past the pain.I slammed my palms on the counter as I finally reached the reception. "My dad! I need to see my dad!" I yelled. The lady at the counter didn't seem moved by my outburst and it made no sense to me.Why was everyone else so calm when it hurt so much?Why was life so unfair to me?My hands slowly balled into fists as
Chapter 109.I woke up to the scuttling of feet and the beeping of monitors. I heard Elliot's voice from a distance and I just raised my head as my eyes followed the voice.He stood in a corner of the waiting room with his back to me mumbling something into his phone. "Keep the security of this information as tight as possible, we can't let the media publicize this at any cost," I heard him grumble.I shifted on the chair making my purse tumble to the ground and the contents spilling on the floor. He turned to look at me before winding the call and walking back to me, he crouched and joined me to gather the contents of my purse."Sleep well?" he asked and I shrugged in response. "I visited the cafeteria earlier while you were still asleep, they should be here any minute," he said.My eyes widened at his statement. "Earlier! What time is it?" I said as I sprang to my feet, my eyes quickly scanning the clock on the wall behind him. I made to leave when he held me back and I turned to lo
Chapter 110."Oh for fucks sake! I've just about had enough of this fucking bullshit," I groaned as I walked beside Kathy. She hushed me silently and we continued walking.I pushed through the crowd with my eyes hidden behind thick dark shades and my head ducked under a scarf and stealthily tried to avoid the reporters and cameras as I struggled to make my way into the hospital.That kind of attention was the last thing I needed especially at a time like this, I had made the news once again but this time it was more absurd. The news headline read 'BOYFRIEND DRAMA TURNS DEADLY'. I felt my blood boil at the folly of it all. "I swear if I find the reporter behind this I'm going to toss them off a bridge," I said angrily. "Shh, you'll draw attention to yourself, let's get past the lobby first," Kathy said as she led me past the small crowd of reporters that he'd snuck into the hospital.It annoyed me how persistent and mindless the reporters were. Anyone with a small sense of empathy wo
Chapter 111.The next four days after that day had been the slowest and most trying days of my entire life. As Elliot had promised, the news had died down the next day as some other celebrity scandal took my place, the timing was too convenient and I had a hunch that he had staged the whole thing but I never bothered to ask.The firm gave me a week's leave off work without me even having to ask and I was more than grateful. I spent every day at the hospital hoping with every fleeting second that my father would wake up and we could all go back to how things were.I told him about how my days were going, not sparing any detail no matter how boring it seemed. I reminded him how much I missed him and how I was waiting for him to wake up so I could take him to his favorite restaurant. I refused to give up on him even though he showed no signs of improvement, I still stuck with him because I knew deep down he was fighting. Fighting to get back to us. Elliot was by my side throughout, no
Chapter 112My mind was foggy and my head was splitting from pain. I couldn't see much past the tears that brimmed my eyes and rolled down my cheeks endlessly leaving a salty taste on my lips as it seeped into my mouth. The air around me was tight and the small crowd of people who had gathered to console me was making it worse.My nails dug into my hair as I clenched my teeth in a desperate attempt to bite back the pain that had me in a chokehold. I had never felt this way in my life, I felt like my whole world had finally crumbled and I was about to crumble with it.There were so many voices all around me, each of them a whisper honing words of consolation, but I was far from consoled if anything I was furious.How could they expect me to 'take it easy'? To 'calm down'? To believe there was any truth in the words 'it's going to be fine'? It wasn't alright, nothing about what was happening was 'fine'."Time of death?" My mind flashed back to the doctor's voice who stood over my father
Chapter 113I had it all under control. I had moved on. I had decided to be there for my brother and friends. I had started succeeding in ignoring the pain.So why?I sat on my bed dejected, depressed, and sullen. I felt like my body was an empty shell as there was practically nothing left out of my essence. I had lost weight drastically and my eyes had swollen and reddened from the nights I spent crying in my room.Everyone seemed to be getting tired of my shit, but I couldn't help it. I was in so much pain and guilt and I couldn't ignore the feelings any longer. In the end of it, it really was my fault.All I had to do was visit him frequently, that's all he wanted, to see my face a couple of hours every day, to talk to me, to laugh with me, to eat with me.That's all he wanted and I ignored that, giving him a big empty house instead and neglecting the poor old man to his own thoughts and look where that got him.I was a murderer. My father's blood stained my hands and I could do no
Chapter 114.I swung the door close behind me but Kathy pushed it back open. I turned to her in surprise as I wiped my eyes. I hadn't even noticed her running behind me. She stood there looking at me."Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked. "How long are you going to keep this up, Zora?" she asked, and I sat on the bed and looked away."You're making it sound like I'm doing this deliberately," I said defensively and she walked to me and slumped beside me. "Whether it's intentional or not is not what matters, what matters is that you've let your emotions drain the life out of you and now draining the life of the people you love," she said."But I can't help it, Kathy, do you think I like being like this? Do you think I don't know how tiring this is? I just can't look the other way and act like my hands are clean," I said."Except they are actually clean, you're just riding on some inexistent timeline where you murdered your father, you were going through so much at the time an
Chapter 115."Why can't we just drive straight to wherever this place is?" I groaned as we strolled through a decorated pathway. There were plenty of trees on either side of the pathway and all of them shed light petals that fell to the ground and sprawled all over the pathway."Because… the scenery Zora, this place has a peaceful aura to it, like a healing essence is just emitting from the trees," Kathy said as she turned to look at me. I offered her a smile and hoped the ingenuity of the smile wasn't obvious.She mirrored my smile before turning back to Aaron. "You think this is going to work?" she whispered. "I just hope it does," he replied in a similar tone. Kathy turned to me and I pretended as though I hadn't heard them.We continued to walk through the park and I soon got tired and bored of it all, there were other people around us. Families, couples, kids, friends, and they all had wide smiles plastered on their faces.I began to feel disgusted with all of them. Why were peo