The Vindicated With The Monstrous

Flashback 2

"Fuck the company, my wife is on her fucking deathbed you asshole!"

Five year old Lauren sat in the mostly empty hospital waiting room, the chair looking incredibly big with someone her tiny size sitting on it, her feet hung off it and were lightly swinging as she watched her dad in fear. She didn't like it when he yelled, and there was only two other strangers in the room with them but Lauren could tell that he was center of attention and amusement as he stood in the corner and continued to angrily curse out whoever was on the other side of the phone.

Lauren tried to ignore her dad's yelling by reaching out to the empty chair at her side to get her coloring book. She flipped through the pages trying to find something she wanted to color, but flinched when her dad's yelling only got louder.

"I need more than a day off dammit!" Michael yelled, slamming his fis against the wall to channel his anger, tears started to form in his eyes, "I don't want your sympathy, I'm well aware that everyone in that damn office is heartless anyway. I just want to be treated like a fucking human being!" Michael shook his head as his boss only threatened to fire him for his continued outburst; Michael was a smart man, and though he doesn't have a lot of money yet, he is sure that he will get his way to the top in time, but he's just not there yet. Right now, he's still trying to work his way up, so he's borderline broke as medical bills keep popping up while his own mental state deteriorates due to his wife's worsening condition.

Little Lauren's frightened green eyes watched her father hesitantly, furrowing her brows and tilting her head to the side as she tried to make sense of what was going on. She pushed herself down from her chair, setting her coloring book back on the chair as she nervously walked up to her father, who was now facing the wall, his head leaning into his right arm that was against it. Lauren's tiny hand reached out and tugged on his dress shirt, "Daddy?"

"Hold on a second," Michael said before quickly turning around, putting his phone against his shoulder to muffle the microphone as he bent down so that he was level with his daughter, "Yes, honey?"

"Uh, can you stop yelling please?" Lauren's small, high pitched voice asked as she timidly put her hands together infront of her, lightly swaying her body, "It's scaring me and I think it's also scaring the two women over there too, but I-I know you don't mean to, I just think you should use your inside voice."

Michael couldn't help the smile that brought onto his face, lightly chuckling at his daughter's suggestion, "You're right, Lauren, I apologize for frightening you. I was just a little angry, hopefully when you're older baby you'll be able to control your emotions much better than me." Michael offered Lauren a hopeful smile, he couldn't help but admire the beautiful creation that he actually helped to make. Everyday when Lauren smiled her cute, big smile back at him, like she is just now, and showed off how bright she is, all he could think was that she is just like her mother. Michael fought the tears threatening to pour out of his eyes, because he was looking at the five year old and he knew she was the future. Clara may very well die soon, but Mike hoped that she could live on even after death through their daughter whose best, and even worst, qualities came from Clara.

Lauren's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, she brought up her hand to wipe a single tear that escaped from her father's face, "Why are you crying, daddy?"

"Because I'm a little sad, princess," Mike said with a tight lipped frown on his face, he then realized that he still had his boss waiting on the line and knew he had to get back to him so he went on to suggest, "How about you make me feel better by coloring me a pretty picture from your book?"

Lauren bit her lip, looking a little bit torn before she expressed, "I want to make you feel better, daddy, I do, but I also wanted to know if I can go see mommy now?"