Meru Down

Though Zale demanded permission to see Meru, the hospital vehemently denied him. Without being kin or wed, he was not in a position to argue. The only details he was given was that her condition was severe and potentially irreversible. "Without a blessing of equivalent strength, I'm not sure how much the doctors can do. They will continue to work, though. If you want to stay updated, you can give the front desk your information, and they will make sure to keep you informed," he was told.

His eyes stung and were red when he looked at himself in the hospital's bathroom mirror. He used paper towels to dry his face of sink water and took a deep breath that strained his chest with fullness. He'd cried loud and quiet without shame. If anyone thought less of him for it, he didn't care. He spent what little energy he had left on his sorrow and regret.

He stared again into his own eyes, seeing an infinite reflection of himself in the mirror in his eyes in the mirror. Endless, as he expected the swirling tangle of emotions in the pit of his very soul to be. However, what he saw was not a man worn ragged by atrophy and anxiety. He saw, instead, a man with the strength of determination.

Seething anger and proud resistance swathed together with fear to fuel him. Gripping the edges of the sink with white knuckles, he leaned closer into the mirror until his face was the only thing he could see.

He pictured what Priscila had said, the screaming body of Meru writhing in pain. "It's do-or-die. I either act now, or I become my father," he said, wincing at the truth.

Flashes of his father ran through his mind as he thought of the two choices.

A man with drunken fury and drug-induced lunacy, only broken up by short spurts of lucid personality. A cold chill ran Zale's spine. The cold nights spent lock outside, his father too far gone to rouse and open the door, were some of the worst. Zale could still smell the booze and hear his father's slurring as he yelled at nothing.

Zale's anger boiled hotter as he imagined his father yelling, instead, at the universe, or maybe god, for allowing such injustices in the world.

Zale straightened his back as he stood, his broad shoulders slightly more imposing with returning muscle. His eyes were dark, but he felt stronger, even if only by a little. He pulled out his phone.

In the lobby, Ben and Leslie were half asleep in the undersized chairs. Ben was first to stir when Zale grabbed his own bag. "How are you feeling?" Ben offered, shifting to sit straighter.

Zale paused for a moment, considering the quest seriously. "Angry, but ready," he announced.

Ben, rubbing exhaustion from his face, retorted, "For what?"

"I have things to do. I don't know how long I'll be gone."

He shouldered his bag and added, "If Meru's ever awake long enough, tell her to check her phone. I left her a message."

Ben spoke, but his words turned to a muffled nothing in Zale's mind.