Supernova Souls - Ryan Upchurch

-49-

RYAN

Hospitals freaked me the fuck out.

White fluorescent lights so bright they could blind an innocent man. Eerie silence that could make anyone uneasy. Pale walls and floors, drained of any color and everything so squeaky clean like the walls don't hold traumatizing secrets of the dead- nurses so friendly and sweet, like they haven't heard and seen things no sane person could ever recover from easily. Angry people surrounding me, some coughing and some with deeper rooted sicknesses that are lethal to them. Everything about hospitals disturbed me to my very core.

Judging by the way Delilah acted, she felt the same way about them. She twisted uncomfortably in her seat, her grip on my hand tightening and loosening with each person that got up to go to a newly open room.. she was on edge, and I felt terrible knowing there wasn't a thing I could do to ease her anxiety.

"Ryan?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you.." she stumbled over her words for a moment while she looked down at the white speckled floor. "Do you think he's gonna be okay?"

"Definitely." I rubbed my thumb over the back of her hand. She forced a tense smile and squeezed my hand back before looking away. "It's just gonna take him a while to recover, but he'll bounce back and be as good as new 'fore ya know it, darlin'."

                                         —
"How is he?"

"He's stable and awake, doing good." The nurse answered robotically before guiding Zach and Delilah towards Sam's room. "He should be better in about two weeks, but we'll keep him here overnight to keep an eye on him. Make sure things don't worsen."

The two siblings nodded in time with each other.

"If you'd like to visit—"

"We would." Delilah swiftly cut the blonde nurse off, peeking around her head to see through the little sliver of Sam's room that the cracked door allowed. The nurse leaned in to cover it and jerked her chin towards me. "And what about you?" I didn't even get enough time to respond. "Are you family, too?"

Delilah only spared me a quick glance before turning back towards the annoyed nurse. She had a sour look on her face, and her dark brown eyes burned holes into Dee. She didn't let her get underneath her skin, and instead shot her a big, petty smile. "He's my husband."

Killing them with kindness.

That's my girl.

The nurse's eyes widened. She stared at Delilah, then at me. Her eyes followed me all the way up to Dee, then moved down to my arms when I wrapped them around Delilah's middle from behind. If that woman wanted to be a bitch, I could easily one-up her.
When I wanted to, I could be a petty bastard.

And that's exactly what I did.

Delilah leaned back into me, rested her head against my chest and smiled up at me. I grinned back, and rubbed my thumb over her stomach. She stiffened for a split second before she put her hand on top of mine and intertwined our fingers.

"Fine." I read her name tag. Jessica, a registered nurse. "Go inside." She sure seemed like a Jessica.

Zach went inside first and I took my place beside Delilah and followed after him.
A rush of cold air hit me all at once, all too soon. The room smelled bitter, like someone used a little too much of the cleaning products on the place. And soap. Flowery soap. When you combined the utter lack of things in the room, eye watering bitter scent, beeping of the machines hooked up to Sam, and the sight of a pale, sick-looking Sam laying in bed, barely awake? It was off-putting. Scary. Enough to make me want to bolt out of the room and never return.
I didn't, but the damn building still made me uneasy.

Once we were in his room with the door shut Delilah went over to the side of Sam's bed and took his hand in hers. I stayed by the closed door with my hands in my pockets, unsure of what to do or say. Sam spoke in a weak voice to his kids. I couldn't quite make out what he'd said, but whatever it was must've been at least a little funny. Zach laughed and Delilah smiled weakly, shaking her head.

"..stable, don't you go worryin' bout me. I just slipped, that's all." Sam tapped the bandage on his forehead. It wrapped around his head, covering the gash in the back. "It's just a Little concussion, I'll be good as new in a few days." That Jessica girl came around about an hour after Sam got called back and notified us that he'd gotten stitches in the back of his head to close that nasty cut of his. Now it was stitched up, cleaned and wrapped.

"Two weeks, dad, not two days." Zach corrected. "Right." Sam said. "Just a little uh.. my mind's a little foggy still."

"It will be for a while, sir." Jessica said. When did she sneak back in here? I hadn't even noticed her come in. Surely I would've smelled her overbearing perfume when she walked past me.

Zach and Delilah drifted away from Sam and Jessica, most likely tired of looking at her and smelling her. Then again, my nose burned from the overuse of her perfume all the way across the room. Jessica took Sam's vitals and talked to him while she did so. Zach sat down in a gray chair beside the hospital bed and Dee came over to me. Her feet dragged on the white, speckled floor. She closed her eyes and dropped her head to my chest with an exasperated sigh. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close. These places freaked her out just as much as they did me. Her shoulders were stiff and her body was tense. She could pass as the definition of exhaustion as of right then.

"Hey darlin'."

With a slight turn of her head so her cheek pressed against my chest, she pulled an arm out from beneath mine and wrapped it lazily around my waist. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just- shit. I don't know."

"You okay?"

"..honestly? No. I'm not."

"Well, what's going on?"

"I'm tired, frustrated over this whole fiasco-dad's being stubborn over every little thing and even taking it as a joke-, my stomach and feet hurt and I have a headache brewing and on top of all that."

I've always been shit at comforting people.

I pulled Delilah closer to me and hugged her close to my chest, my cheek against the top of her head. Her soft brown waves tickled my face. She relaxed into my touch and leaned into me, her rapid breathing settling the longer our embrace lasted. I never wanted to let go.

So I didn't.