Life after Death

Life after Death: CH4

Yaaaay, my inspiration for Life after Death is back! Hopefully for good! Well, I don't have much to say other than I hope you like this chapter, although it does have some violence in that people might find distressing.

Nonetheless, here it is! Chapter 4 :D

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Chapter four.

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“Is daddy going to be okay?” You asked Alison.

“Daddy’s going to be just fine,” Alice replied, smiling over at you. At the time, you were so young, you didn’t understand just what the heck was going on. Looking back on it, the idea that you were so oblivious makes me smile, but at the time all I could think about was getting Rainey to the hospital. I was still holding her against my chest throughout the car ride to the General, one arm around her, one hand occupied with holding a wet cloth to my head as Alice drove way past the set speed limit.

“Is Aunty Rainey going to be okay?”

“Yes, they’ll both be fine. We just have to get them to the hospital because they’re poorly at the moment.”

“Is that why Rainey’s sleeping?”

I looked down at Rainey, wishing she had been sleeping. The fact that you said that made me want to cry – I was so scared Rainey would die. “Yeah,” I replied, still watching my baby sister. “Rainey’s really tired at the moment because she’s poorly, so she said she’s going to go to sleep before you and mummy showed up to get us.”

“Ohhhhh,” You said, dragging out the word with understanding. “But daddy, why’s your head bleeding?”

“Daddy fell over,” I murmured and, no offence, Dan, but I wished you’d have shut up at that point. I didn’t mean it in a harsh way, I just needed peace and quiet because as well as my fear for Rainey, my entire body was in excruciating pain. You soon turned and faced the front, and the car fell into silence aside the soft humming of the engine and my sniffling as I tried so hard to swallow my sobs.

Suddenly, the car spun left and skidded to a halt. I went to get out of the car, but Alice beat me to it. She went to lift Rainey out of the car, but I shook my head. I climbed out of the car, still carrying Rainey in my arms. As I stood up, my legs buckled and I fell to my knees, tears in my eyes because of the pain and fear. I saw Alice run into A&E, leaving you with me. You crouched down and watched me with a pensive expression on your face. And then, very sensibly, you said:

“Daddy, you’re too weak to take Aunty Rainey.”

I hung my head, feeling ashamed of myself for letting everybody see my emotions as I kissed Rainey’s forehead.

“Why don’t you let me help you, daddy?”

I looked up at you, and the look in your eyes was so sincere. You stood up and held out your arms in a motion that would suggest you wanted to take her, so I shook my head. Then, you held your hand out to me in an offer.

“Let me help you, daddy.” You said to me. “Everybody needs a little bit of help sometimes, and tonight, you need it.” I laughed once, but without humour.

“Daddy can’t really move right now, Danny,” I replied, tightening my grip on Rainey. I felt ashamed for the scenario to have turned out this way; my seven year old son offering his help to me because I was too weak to literally stand on my own.

Just in that moment, paramedics emerged from the hospital, wheeling two stretchers. Alice was running, and so were they, towards us. Rainey was taken from me, but when she was, I felt like a different person. I screamed at them to give her back to me and I tried to fight against the doctors, but I was too weak, tired and my body was turning cold from the pain. I was helped onto a stretcher, and I was rushed into the hospital and down the corridor, Alice running beside me.