20 Years Later
"I want to see him right now!" I holler at the two nurses pushing me back. "What's your problem? I need to see him!" The old nurse with the pinched nose takes another deep breath.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Sillan", she says in a harsh whisper. "But as I've told you a thousand times already, Mr. Clane cannot have any visitors at the moment. He's in a critical condition and the doctors are trying their best to do what they can for him. I do suppose that you'd want him to wake up from that coma as soon as possible, correct?" I look at her as if she's stupid, and well, she is if the thought of me not caring about Alex even crosses her mind. I give her a disgusted look.
"Well then," she says, knowing well enough the answer to her own question. "You will let the doctors do what they can do, and you can rest reassured that we will inform you the moment Mr. Clane is allowed visitors." She raises her eyebrows and I don't say anything. There is nothing left for me to say and so I just keep giving her a furious and disgusted look. She deserves it.
"At least tell me what happened." My voice is shaking and I do nothing to stop it from doing so.
"A hit-and-run, Mr. Sillan," the nurse explains. "From what we know, Mr. Clane was hit by a car as he was crossing the street." A lump forms in my throat. It's all my fault. Alex had been on his way over to my house when he was hit by the damned car. If I hadn't invited him... If I hadn't heard that he had come over from Toronto... Why did I have to invite him? I should have been the one to see him. He'd just come here two days ago. Of course he was tired! What on Earth was I thinking?
My phone starts ringing and it takes me a few seconds to come back to reality. I look down at the caller ID. It's Lexie. I leave the nurses and try to get my voice to return.
"Tristan?" I hear Lexie's soft voice. "Is everything alright?" That single question itself brings tears to my eyes. Nothing had ever been alright in my life. Absolutely nothing. But I'd never imagined that life even had the capacity to leave me in a crappier situation than I'd ever been in before.
"I'll tell you when I'm home," I say in a low voice. "I'll tell you then." I end the call and sit down on the ground, pinching myself to make sure that this wasn't one of my many nightmares. I pinch so hard until I feel hot blood travel down my hands. Finally, I close my eyes in a desperate attempt to confuse reality with the world inside my head but give up once I find out that in both worlds, a part of me is missing.
* * *
"Tristan, please," Lexie begs. "I know it's hard on you. Believe me, I do, but you have to think about Jules too. He's your son. Of course he'll be affected if he sees his father like this." She motions at me with pity. I turn my head to the side and look into the mirror. She's right; I look absolutely horrible. My stringy brown hair looks oily and is pointed in all directions. My cheeks are hollow and my face has gone completely pale, not to mention the dark bags under my eyes.
"I didn't ask for any of this," I mutter under my breath. "'I didn't ask to be born into this world. I didn't ask for Alex to be hit by a car. I didn't ask to be a father..." I stop the moment the words come out of my mouth. I see the pain on Lexie's face as her brown eyes start to shine and fill with tears.
"Tristan," she takes a deep breath. "We'll do whatever we can for Alex. We can even go see his parents. We can do anything you want for him and in return, I just want you to be there for your son." She turns around and hesitates by the bedroom door. Fidgeting with the doorknob, she turns her head to the side, debating whether she should tell me something or not.
"Don't be like your own father," she says quietly. "Be the father you wish you had."

YOU ARE READING
Broken Light
Teen FictionWritten by R. Mahinpei Tristan Sillan has been living a life of lies for as long as he can remember. He's been hiding. Hiding from his family. Hiding from the world. Hiding from himself. But it doesn't take long for him to question the world he's b...