HOSPITAL BEDS • Elounor •

15 | Our Room

CHAPTER 15

"Our Room"

I spent the rest of the day alone in my room. Our room. It felt incredibly empty without Eleanor there.

At night finally someone arrived, my dad. He entered the room but stood at the door, as if he was checking my mood before getting closer.

"Hi, dad," I told him but my voice and face showed no emotion at all.

He came to my side and sat in the chair next to my bed, glancing at Eleanor's bed.

"The nurse told me what happened, Lou. Any news about her?" He asked me showing a real interest in her. Or maybe he wanted to know how much it had affected me.

"No," I sighed and ran my hand through my hair, defeated. "No one has told me anything from her since this morning. I'm going mad."

"Maybe it is because everything's fine. You know the saying, bad news travels fast..."

I knew he was trying to cheer me up, but I was really worried and couldn't think of anything else. I was invaded by guilt and needed to do something about it.

"I got it!" I shouted getting anxious.

"What?" my father asked me, standing up next to me like protecting my legs from falling down the bed. His gesture hurt me inside, but my concern about Eleanor was bigger at that moment.

"If I ask, no one is going to tell me anything. But if you ask..." I told him rising one eyebrow and smiling.

"Louis, you're actually mad, son," he answered me, sitting down again.

"Just think about it! The new doctor who took her away doesn't know you. Please, dad, you're my only chance," I begged him.

He stood up again and stared at me for a while, doubting.

"Why do you care so much for her, Louis?"

And only then I realized I had made a terrible mistake. I had not cared about hiding my interest in Eleanor. My mind went through the whole day again, paying attention now to how desperate I must have seemed earlier to all the doctors, nurses and now my own father. I felt embarrassed and automatically looked down at my hands.

"I- I," I could not come up with the words. When it was about Eleanor I realized I was unable to lie.

"It's fine, son. It's evident you like her."

I gulped and felt my cheeks blushing. Slowly, I lifted my head and faced my father just to see he was smiling at me.

"I guess so." I admitted and smiled him back.

"Wow! She must be an extraordinary girl."

"Why do you say so?" Not that I didn't agree with him.

"Louis, you're my son and I know you very well. And I can tell that never before I'd seen you like this, so much interested in something, or somebody, besides football."