Only Human

Family Reunion

CHAPTER FOUR

They stormed in, in a manner that had my mind flashing back to moments in the past when they ran to my aid. An older version of me, her up-styled hair streaked with grey brushed past me. My body twisted to avoid her shoulder and I watched her linger in the space between the two beds. Her shoulders shook. She was thinner than when I'd last seen her. A sense of déjà vu washed over me as I stood there, her form was replaced with my own. Had I looked like that earlier? Frail and trembling?

"Alyssa."

A hand descended on my shoulder and my body jerked, muscles jumping beneath my skin. Tilting my head, my eyes swivelled upward. They took in his crisp suit, white shirt with a bold red tie. Unlike her, his face was a bland mask of indifference. Pale blue eyes wandered over my figure with a distant calculation.

Clearing my throat, I straightened my shoulders. My chin, unconsciously, lifted as I met his eyes. "Father?"

His jaw twitched at the word and he retracted his hand, fixing the cuffs of his shirt. "What happened?"

"I...I don't know, they just became like this. They were fine before morning." Turning from his accusing gaze, I frowned at the back of my mother.

She was leaning over the still figure of Ryan. Her hands, with wrinkles I'd never seen lining them before, reached out and caressed his cheek. She touched him so tentatively, as if unsure of if he were real or not. Her fingers danced along his skin before she stepped away and turned to gaze at Damon.

"This couldn't have developed from nothing," my father voiced, striding around me to snatch at Damon's file. Both of them had been discarded on the table by the window. With a movement that screamed years of experience, he began examining the pages.

"It did."

"Fever, dehydration, platelet count low, blood sugar low," He recited, dropping the file before scanning Ryan's. Without looking at me, he added, "These are signs of neglect."

"N-Neglect?" I repeated. Mother straightened from her stooped position and glanced between us. "Did you just accuse me of neglecting my sons?"

"The facts are there." The clicking of the file snapping shut echoed his words.

"And you're one to talk of neglect," I spat, my fists clenching at my sides. "You abandoned your pregnant seventeen-year-old daughter!"

"Lys," Mother gasped, stepping toward me with her hand outstretched.

"Don't you dare play that card on me," Father hissed, slamming the files onto the desk as he stepped towards me. "You were sure as hell acting like an adult when you went whoring around the place."

"Gerard!"

The space between us was suddenly closed. Our gazes clashing for a moment before, with a resounding smack, my hand whipped across his cheek. Redness bloomed on his pale skin as he gawked at the ground.

"Get out," I whispered, my voice ceasing to cooperate. Mother stilled where she was, her eyes flickering between the both of us. "I never once came to you for help. Not for five years. Only now, because I am terrified that my sons will die and I needed my parents. People who should have been by me all along and you dare say this shit to me!"

He raised a hand, his wedding band gleaming as he scrubbed his cheek. He was silent as I continued to rage on, my voice increasing to a scream. "I needed you! Doctor! Father! Oh, so mighty healer! Because there is no one else I would trust to save my sons! Despite all the shit you've done to me! There is no on-."