Bad Day

River finds it hard to forget about McKenzie.  Even though she only spent a few hours with him.  He gave her such a strong impression of strength and someone she could depend on.   Realm has been asking her to call him every hour which also keeps him in her mind.  Lolita had argued with her again this morning.  In the end she had just walked out and ignored her.  She is counting the days now until her father gets the DNA report hoping he’ll see the light and throw them out for good.

When she got to work, she found that her boss Mr. Burns had entered some data wrongly and had to quickly input the data correctly before the morning meeting.  Mr. Burns the head of her department, didn’t get to see the results of the data, after she corrected it.  So, said the wrong thing during the meeting.  River had to stand-up and take over.

After the meeting ended, Mr. Burns tried to blame her.  So, she had told him that it was he, who had entered the data wrongly and if it wasn’t for her correcting his mistake then it would have been, even worse.  Only their big boss had heard and reprimanded Mr. Burns, also gave him a stern warning, that it was not to happen again. 

Which would have been fine if he had stopped there, but he had then gone on to praise River.  She watched as Mr. Burns face had become red with anger and indignation.  After that, he had snapped and given her twice as much work as she’d usually have.

It took her three hard long days to get through it and now she had to analyse all the results and write up her reports accordingly.  It is now Wednesday and all she wants to do is go home and climb into her bed and sleep.  River trudges from the bus stop to her home with heavy footsteps.

When she reaches the end of the driveway, she hears Lolita yelling at one of the house staff.  She bypasses the front door and goes around to the back door.  As she enters, Lolita throws a plate that just misses her head.

“Everyone, leave the kitchen” River orders them.  “I haven’t finished yet!” Lolita cries, “you aren’t the one paying their wages, either! So, why should they have to listen to your temper tantrums, again?” River asks not in the mood for this at all.

Lolita glares at her, “have you forgotten about your mother’s junk in the attic?” she threatens, River walks up close, making her back up against the wall.  River looks down at her “I’m sick and tired of your threats.  Try it and see what I’ll do?” River warns her.  Once she leaves the kitchen, she tells the staff that she will report everything to her father and tells them to leave for the day.

That night Lolita and her mother go out together, all dressed up.  They are probably just going out clubbing again.  Which they do sometimes.  They come back drunk, waking River up.  “That guy looked as though he was really into you mum, you should have gone with him?” Lolita slurs loudly.

“We have to be careful, don’t we.  That young man that was hanging around you was pretty, but you could tell by his clothes he didn’t have money.  I’ll have you marry a rich man, for sure” her mother tells her as they walk up the stairs.

“I want someone that will think of me and only me, his whole life” Lolita wishes making her mother chuckle.  “I’ll see what I can do” her mother says and they go into their own rooms.

River thinks about all the things they’ve done to her and the staff.  She gets up and sends a text to her father ‘I hope your well, but I can’t not say anything now.  The people you’ve brought into our home are nothing but lowlife bullies.  Look in your laptop, file named Do You Really Want To, Know? I had to install hidden cameras.  You’ll know why, once you look through the file.  Bye from your very disappointed daughter’ she reads it through before sending it.  “About time you did something” Realm moans ignoring her she then goes back to sleep for a few more hours.

She gets up and readies herself for work.  There is no sign of Kitty or Lolita which lets her grab a proper breakfast, before heading out for the bus.  She keeps checking her phone to see if her father has got back to her, but so far there is nothing.

She can’t help checking it all through the day.  By the time work has finished she is upset that her father hasn’t gotten back to her.  She can see he’s read it, so doesn’t understand why he hasn’t gotten back to her. 

As she gets ready to leave work, her phone rings and she answers it thinking it might be her father.  “Ms. Rivers, It’s Mr. Baxter your father’s secretary, your father has had a turn and is being taken to hospital” she is told.  “How? Where is he being taken?” she asks feeling dizzy.

“Principal hospital” he answers her.  “I’m on my way” she says before ending the call.  She grabs her bag and runs down the stairs unwilling to wait for the elevator.  She then flags down a taxi and tells him to take her to the hospital.

When she gets there, she asks the front desk where her father is? They look him up, on the computer and then glance at her.  “The A & E doctor attended him.  Just walk to the end of the corridor and go through the double doors at the end.  Ask for Dr Kettler” she is instructed.  She thanks them and rushes down the corridor to the double doors.

She asks a nurse for Dr Kettler and they point to a man standing in front of a computer.  “Dr Kettler? I’m the daughter of Sam Kenzie” she tells him.  He looks up at her and then shakes his head “sorry we did all we could to revive him, but it was too late.  He’d had a massive heart attack, sorry for your loss” he tells her.

River sways on her feet and grabs the desk she is standing next too.  Dr Kettler moves a chair and tells her to sit down.  He then tells a nurse to bring her a soda and chocolate bar.  “Sit here until you feel better.  Your father has been moved down to the morgue.  Once you’ve contacted the funeral home, they’ll arrange for someone to pick him up” he tells her.

“Can I see him?” she asks, he looks a little shocked, but agrees calling a porter to take her down there.   Then she is taken down into the depths of the hospital basement.  Her mind starts wondering, why he didn’t have his heart medication on him.  He had always been as healthy as a horse when her mother was alive.  It was shortly after he’d emailed her about his marriage.  That she heard about his heart problems.

River is led into a white sterile looking room with three metal slabs in the centre of it.  “Please wait here I’ll notify them, that you are here and they’ll bring the bod, er the person you wish to see out” the porter hastily corrects himself.  River nods and he leaves the room.

Her mind is thinking of all sorts of things, why did this happen now? She had thought he would see for himself.  What the woman he married was like.  “He didn’t have a heart attack after reading the DNA report, did he?” she mutters to herself.  Her subconscious instantly says no, to this thought though.  Her father had run his own company for years.  He didn’t get to where he is today by being soft hearted.

Her thoughts come to a halt when a middle-aged man comes into the room wearing a doctor’s white coat.  “Hello my name is Dr Dure, I’m sorry for your loss.  If you’ll follow me to the viewing room, you can see your father” he tells her.  She nods and feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.  She has never seen a dead body before and this is her father.  She takes a deep breath and follows Dr Dure out of the morgue. 

He walks through another door just down the corridor.  River blinks, as this room seems much whiter and brighter than the last one.  There is just one bed in the middle of the room with a white sheet covering the person underneath.  “I’ll leave you for a minute, to say your goodbyes” Dr Dure says, he leaves at River’s nod.

She doesn’t move at first, she has to ready herself.  Once she is a little calmer, she walks up to the bed and pulls down the sheet to uncover her father’s face and neck.  He looks as though he is just sleeping.  She moves a little closer and that is when she notices the bruise under his left eye, she looks closer and see’s scratch marks on his neck.

Before she has really given it much thought, she has taken out her phone and taken pictures of them and then a video as she checks his hands and arms too.  She finds another bruise on his right arm, this one is thin and long.  She hears someone walking towards the room and quickly covers her father back up.

“I promise to find out what happened” she vows as the door is pushed open.  Her tears finally start to fall, at the thought someone might have done something terrible to her father.  “It’s okay, I’m sure they know your thoughts and feelings.  Not everyone can bring themselves to look” a younger man wearing a white coat says.

“Do you have his personal effects?” River sniffs trying to stem the tears, now falling down her face.  “Yes, I just need you to sign for them, please” the young man says.  She nods and turns back around for one last look at her covered father.  She then walks towards the door and follows the young man to a locker’s further down the corridor.  “Mr. Kenzie’s belongs are in here” the young man says.  He opens the locker and gives her a white bag that resembles a trash bag, only this has the hospital logo on it.  “If you can just sign here to say you’ve taken them.  Your father’s suit jacket is also in there, as he wasn’t wearing that.  But it was given to the paramedics that brought him in.  We’ve removed his ring, watch and the pendant he was wearing under his shirt” she is told. 

With shaking hands, she signs the book to say she has picked up her father’s belongings and her driving licence number is also requested.  She takes it out of her bag and copies the number onto the collection form.  “I’ll just scan that please” the man says and she gives it to him to scan.

He gives it back to her “sorry for your loss, here is our card, for you to pass to the funeral home, you’ll use” he tells her giving her a card with the numbers to get in touch with and a patient number.  “Thank you, do I have to go up the way I came?” she asks him. 

He smiles and shakes his head “I’ll let you out the back entrance, it’s much easier and less people will bother you” he offers.  River tries a watery smile and wipes her face with the sleeve of her jacket.  “Sorry, here some tissues” the young man says pulling a few from a packet he had in his pocket.

He leads her around a corner and then up a small flight of stairs before using his work ID to open the door they come too.  “It takes you out onto Main and 6^th Street” he says River thanks him and walks through the door.  She has to walk up a ramp that trucks use, for loading and unloading and then finds herself around the west side of the hospital.

She carries on walking as her mind starts to ponder what the hell she just saw and why she thought it best not to ask questions about the marks she found, on her father?  Having the mind that she has and in the work that she does.  Her mind starts to think about a time line.  She had sent the DNA report to her father.  She hadn’t wanted it delivered to her.  In case she was accused of forging it.  She also sent her father a text that she knew he read.  With that thought she looks through the bag she is holding and finds her father’s phone.

His password has always been her mother’s birthday.  Would he still be using it? She types it in and the phone unlocks.  She looks at his most recent messages.  He did read her text, he also texted someone called Eggs.  He had texted that he had sent him a video file just in case.  Just in case? What? River wonders. 

River needs time and space to think.  Her laptop is in her bedroom.  She looks at the time and jumps into another taxi.  “Realm what do you think happened?” she asks “not sure but something isn’t right.  Best keep our guard up” she answers.  River asks him to stop, when she sees the Main train station.  Pays him and runs into the train station and looks around.  Seeing the lockers, travellers can use.  So, they don’t have to take all their luggage with them.  She stuffs the hospital bag with her father’s things in one and pays for 24 hours rental. 

She then goes back out and walks to the bus stop.  She is not sure why she is being so paranoid.  But something is bothering and she has always listened to her gut and Realm agrees with her.  She then takes the bus back home.  Kitty’s car and Lolita’s are not there, she wonders if they too have gone to the hospital.  She runs to the front door and goes up to her room, she puts her laptop, passport, the little bit of money she has stashed for a rainy day and some clothes into a backpack.  Then she checks outside and puts the backpack just under her window that is obscured with a tree’s branches, growing in the garden below her window.  She hears Lolita’s little sports car, before she sees her turning into their road.   She quickly shuts her window and unlocks her bedroom door.  Runs down to the kitchen and grabs a glass of water and then leans against the counter top.  Kitty’s car follows Lolita’s into the driveway.  River thinks of her father laying in that cold sterile room and tears come to her eyes again. 

The front door is banged open “shh” she hers Kitty say.  “River are you home?” she calls out, River doesn’t say anything.  But it’s not long before the kitchen door is pushed open.  “There you are! Why didn’t you answer me?” Kitty says