shells ; calum au

1.1

|| shells ||

Bella tried to calm her nerves as she walked down the long blank corridors that led to the room number she had permanently etched into her brain. Her palms were sweating excessively and her mind was racing with thoughts describing the worst possible scenarios of her visiting today.

Bella tried to channel all of her attention to her old white vans as they scuffed against the plain tiled floor beneath her.

Her breathing was becoming erratically uneven and it only made her vision blur and her pulse thump loudly against the surface of her chest.

The argument she partook in the night prior had rattled her mind and left her thinking about how she wanted to live her life. She was nothing compared to Calum and his level of compassion, and the realization made her want to be a better daughter for her dad, while he still remembered her.

She made the decision to start today, to face her fear of hospitals, her fear of being forgotten, and to finally visit her father after being too scared to be in a place where her worst nightmares were right in front of her.

So as she walked the halls in the hospital wing that her father practically lived in now, she did her best to muster up all of her strength and not turn and sprint back down the halls, back to the hospital entrance. She was done with being selfish and not visiting her father in his roughest time.

That was her biggest regret at the moment. Bella felt extremely guilty about letting herself believe that her father could be alone and face his heart disease. She couldn't even imagine his pain, as even he knew that soon enough he would forget all that his life amounted to. It was a haunting thought to bask in every day alone in your own hospital bed.

With her hands shaking mercilessly, Bella gathered herself with a single deep breath and pushed open the hospital door to see a face she didn't know she could miss so much since seeing last, too long ago.

+++ +++ +++

Today was Calum's day to man the Play Center at the hospital, and he soon found himself trudging toward the plastic swing doors that you had to push through in order to enter the small enclosure.

Calum waded through a multitude of dolls and action figures that were piled upon the ground carelessly as he made his way to the back wall to clock in. He was glad that today he wasn't the only one watching the kids, and that his co-worker Ashton would be there, too.

To be quite frank, Calum just wasn't feeling it today. He was always up for a chance to help those in need, but the argument with Bella had shaken him up and made him in a mood that surely wasn't very positive. The last thing he wanted to do at the moment was play Princes and Princesses with toddlers and tell stories to preteens who couldn't be less interested in what he had to say. That being said, today really wasn't the ideal day for Calum Hood, aka, the Guy Who Would Help Anyone.

"Hey, Ash." Calum mumbled halfheartedly at the tall energetic boy that sat at a plastic toy table directly across from himself.

"You look like you could use a coffee today, buddy." Ashton said chuckling as he took in Calum's grumpy and tired state.

"Rough night." Calum grumbled as he furiously rubbed his eyes in attempt to stay awake. He had barely slept a wink last night and his sleep deprivation was obviously noticeable.

Ashton took it the wrong way and smirked at Calum, wiggling his brows. "Who was the lucky girl?"

"Fuck off, mate. I didn't get laid." Calum said while shoving Ashton off his seat and onto the ground.