Check Mate♟

Chapter Twenty-One

There was a knock on the door.

Dr. Tates raised his eyebrows as if for permission to open it and Mother nodded. He walked over to the door and opened it, to reveal a worried looking man. It was Father.

Father hurried over and took a seat immediately next to me. He gently placed his hand over mine. The areas around his eyes were puffy and red, as if he'd been crying.

"My sweetheart, I'm so sorry.", he whispered.

"What?", I stupidly responded.

"It's only been a day here, and you ended up in the Hospital. It's all my fault.", he bowed his head.

I was scared all of a sudden, did he know?

"I shouldn't have left you alone, you were probably too shocked from being introduced to everything so quickly.", he fussed. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He didn't know.

"It's... alright.", I assured him quietly. A drop of something fell on my hand. I realized he was crying.

"I'm so sorry. I'm a terrible Father.", he scolded himself. I bit my lip. Mother was looking at her hands.

"It wasn't your fault.", I finally said. He looked up and sniffled.

"What happened then?", he asked. Oh great, the moment we've all been waiting for. Mother and Father, and even the Doctor, looked at me for an answer.

What was I supposed to say? Hey, dad, just so you know, your son (a.k.a my step-brother) kinda sorta tried to rape me.

"I guess I was a little new to everything after all.", I answered with a bland smile. He offered a wobbly smile in return before bursting into tears again.

Dad, seriously, I'm okay. But, I don't think my arm is anymore, it looks like a prune from being drenched by your shame-filled teardrops.

"Honey, you should tell him... about your diagnosis I mean.", mother spoke up softly.

Dad raised his head and raised an eyebrow at me. I cleared my throat.

"Rich- I mean, Dad? I kind of have a heart problem."

He blinked once. Twice.

"It's the reason I came in here today. Not being introduced to everything so quickly.", I reassured him.

"I'm so ashamed of myself.", he mumbled before getting up. I opened my mouth to protest but his quiet smile shut me up.

"Feel better baby girl. I understand if you want to go home after you get out of the hospital. It was nice to see what a beautiful and confident girl you have become. I won't bother you two anymore, but please call every now and then."

He gave my hand a gentle squeeze and shuffled over to the door. He glanced back with sad eyes.

"No matter what, I am still your father. I love you.", and with that, he was gone.

~

I got released from the hospital today. 

No more painful IV's and blood work, no more limited food choices (chocolate cake, here I come), and I can finally walk by myself without a fucking annoying piece of metal known as a monitor. Bad news is that I have to take these medications to keep me from losing it during stressful occasions. I don't even know what they are since it's a proven fact that doctors have terrible handwriting, but nevertheless, I must take them.

Mother stayed with me the couple days that I've been in the hospital. She would help me with all my wires and tubes whenever I wanted to go somewhere around the building and stuff, but she was also out of my room a lot. I think I know exactly where she went, or more specifically, who she went to see.

(wink, wink) 

Also, Ryland had to go back home after the first two days of staying with me. He made a big deal out of promising to call me and check up on me and that he was sorry he had to go. I told him it was perfectly fine because the reason why he had to go was because a university in California noticed his academic excellence and wanted to speak with him about admitting and holding a spot for his enrollment.

No matter how cocky and arrogant the boy is, I can't speak a word against his smarts.

Now, Trevor? Well, I haven't heard from him at all. Not saying if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but I was a little curious about his relationship with Ryland, so I brought it up in a late night chat with Ryland.

This is pretty much how it went down:

Me: So, what's up with you and Trevor?

Ry: Uhh, he's just a little on the unstable side, and we have a rocky past.

Me: Unstable huh? You know, he took my first kiss.

Ry: ... (deadly voice) I will kill that little bastard if it's the last thing I do.

Me: It's cool, now that I know he's not all that normal in the head. What about your past?

Ry: (sighs) Him and I met a couple years back in this national duo-gendered soccer camp. He seemed cool at first you know?

Me: Oh yeah, I totally know.

Ry: One day, I met this girl also in the camp that was like incredible in soccer. And she was so hot too!

Me: (coughs irritably)

Ry: Uh sorry, so anyways, I told him and he kind of started twitching. He also started acting really weird after that day. I asked him what was up and he told me that he also liked the same girl, but it wasn't a problem because he was totally going to win her over and how he wanted me to back the hell off because it was his first love or whatever. I just nodded because I wasn't concerned and I knew I had this one in the bag. A couple days after the girl and I started talking, she made the first move and kissed me in the cafeteria. Of course he had to come walking in and when he saw the two of us, he went ballistic. I'm talking about throwing trays of food, kicking the trash can over, assaulting people, all that good stuff. By the time the teacher came, the lunchroom looked like it had gone through hell and back. Before he got carried away, he told me that the next time we met, he would steal the one thing that mattered most to me, just like I did to him.

Me: So, um, am I that one thing?

Ry: (chuckles) Yes, yes you are, and so much more.

Me: No wonder he went so far as to molesting me! Be prepared for this: we're actually step-siblings.

Ry: (the sound of his phone dropping) Oh my god, sorry, but did he know?

Me: We both found out at the same time. But that didn't stop him.

Ry: He's a lunatic, that's confirmed. What are you going to do about it?

Me: I honestly have no clue. I'll have to decide by the next unfortunate time I run into him.

Ry: Be careful. I also wanted to say that I'm really glad.

Me: Hm?

Ry: I'm glad that I could pull through this one too, because Brooke,you do not understand how much you mean to me.

Me: Really? I mean, this is just so cliche. With me being the typical bad-ass nerd, and you being the popular jock. This is what happens in movies.

Ry: Cliche or not, this is real. I feel it, and I know you feel it too.

Me: What about Angel?

Ry: (scoffs) I'm not afraid of her.

Me: I don't know about this. About us.

Ry: Trust me, I'll never break you like he did.

______________________________________

Thanks for bearing with me guys. Tennis and school and field trips and transfer tasks have got me all over the place. I wrote this off the bat, hope you liked it.

I'll try to think through it more next chapter (which will hopefully be very soon).

I'm thinking of ending the book on chapter 25 or 30.

Help me out guys! What should happen next that could lead to a fabulous ending?

Love, Mama Koala <3