CH 2. Goodbye

Opening his eyes Dalton could see an unfamiliar ceiling, unfamiliar smells and sounds, confused for a second till he finally realized what was going on. getting up out of the bed he was laying down in slowly standing up taking a minute to process what happened. looking around the room one last time seeing and hearing the different machine's taking the saline drip out of his arm feeling the pinch from his skin, walking out of the hospital room he found a nurse.

Dalton - "where's my dad"

When the nurse looks up from her paper work to see who was talking to her she gets a shock and looks at Dalton with a little bit of pity quickly hiding it from him although he noticed he just didn't care enough to acknowledge it.

Dalton - "can you take me to my dad, or at least tell me where he is"

Nurse - "wait what are you doing out of bed"

Dalton - "that doesn't matter I want to see my dad"

Nurse - "I don't think that's a good idea, let's just back to your room and ill get a doctor"

Dalton - "please im fine I just want to see him"

A doctor see's Dalton and recognizes him as his patient, and starts walking to him as he hears the conversation the nurse was having with the patient he can't help but feel pity for the young man but he has been doing this for a long time so it doesn't show on his face like the nurse, when he reaches the pair he starts talking to Dalton.

Doctor - "come on son, lets go lay down so I can talk to you"

Dalton - "I told you already im fine I just want to see my dad"

Doctor - "that's what we need to talk about, your dad"

Dalton - "what you think I don't know he didn't make it, WHO DO YOU THINK PULLED HIM OUT"

Dalton - "now please for the love of god take me to see him"

at this point people are starting to notice the commotion we were making both hospital staff and patients alike. the doctor realizing what I said finally couldn't keep hold of facial muscles looking at Dalton with pity and sadness thinking it wasn't fair this young kid had to go through this not only did his dad die in the accident he had to drag his body out by himself.

Doctor - "alright ill take you to him just be prepared when you see him"

Dalton - "finally thank you, how long have I been out"

Doctor - "you've been asleep for a little over a day now"

Dalton - "does my mom know what happened"

Doctor - "yeah we called her, she should be here soon maybe a couple more hours"

Dalton - "thank you, I don't think I could've called her"

Doctor - "that's alright"

after walking in silence after their talk for about five more minutes to the morgue they stop in front for a minute. The doctor noticing Daltons hesitation finally says something.

Doctor - "ill go and set him on the table, ill be back in a minute"

Dalton " alright"

As the doctor opened the door to the morgue I could feel the cold air billow out along with the smell, honestly I thought it would smell worse like the smell of a dead body but it only really smelled like any other part of the hospital vaguely chemical like. I was relieved it didn't smell like dead bodies im sure that would have been even more traumatic its bad enough I had to see him die it would've been 10 times worse to smell it.

With Dalton waiting outside the doctor was in the morgue setting up the body as best as he could trying to cover up the worse parts of his corpse mainly his badly crushed legs not wanting to let Dalton see him like that. When the doctor was done he called Dalton inside.

Doctor - "you can come in now"

as I open the door feeling the cold air on skin and the smell of chemicals assaulting my nose I pause for a second before finally pushing it all the way open to see my dad in the middle of the room laying there motionless cuts and bruises on the top half of his body, I can tell his legs aren't in good shape with the way the sheet covering him is laying across the bottom half of his body.

I try not to think about it but its hard not to look I want to lift it up and see all the damage but I can't take that last step knowing if I do I would regret seeing him like that. after settling my eye's on his face all I could do was just stare for a bit till I talked to the doctor.

Dalton - "can you leave me with him for a bit, I want to talk to him"

Doctor - "of course, when you're done you can find me at the desk by your room"

Dalton - "thank you"

as the doctor exits the morgue he pats Dalton on the shoulder leaving him to say goodbye to his father for probably the last time.

Dalton - "hey dad, i've gotta say you've looked worse"

tears well up in his eye's

Dalton - "im sorry dad, im so sorry I couldn't help you I know you would say it wasn't my fault but I can't help but feel it is no matter how irrational it may sound I just can't help it"

Dalton - "but no matter what you can rest now you've worked enough sacrificed enough, you've done enough so just rest me and mom will be fine you don't have to worry"

I didn't even realize the tears dripping down my face as I was talking to my dad, after I pulled up a chair and sat down by him I just talked about whatever didn't matter if it mattered I was just trying to prolong to inevitable of never seeing him again no matter what he may look like now it still felt nice to talk to him maybe for the last time.

at some point I ran out of things to say so I just hung my head down and sat in silence I didn't realize how long I was sitting there till I heard the door of the morgue open and someone running in the frantic steps, as I turned my head around to see who it was I felt a pair of slender arms wrap tight around me I instantly knew who it was by her smell and the way she hugged me, it was my mom.

when I felt her hug me it was like a dam broke and before I knew it I was really crying for the first time since I woke up crying like I was a kid a again I felt horrible like someone ripped apart of my soul out but it also felt cathartic to finally break down like this and just let my emotions flow out without a care in the world.

when we broke the hug I stood to the side to let my mom say goodbye as she was doing that I stopped crying and just let her finish and say what she needed to say, when we were getting ready to leave I told my mom to give me a minute.

Dalton - "goodbye dad, im going to leave with mom now, thank you so much for raising me into the man I am today I promise ill live a good life with mom, I love you and always will"

after I finished up saying goodbye for the last time I started walking to the door when I thought I felt a hand resting on my shoulder as I cried my last tear. I went to go to my mom's side wrapping my arm over her shoulder we start walking to the reception to talk about what to do with the body and when I could leave honestly I didn't want to hear them talk about it so i went and sat down.

as soon as I hit that chair a wave of exhaustion spread over my whole being taking me into it's embrace dragging me deeper in until I couldn't keep my eye's open any longer and finally getting some much needed rest.