Repentance Dearth

Someone's watching you. Do not cheat. - miss_polarity

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"Tell us what happened, Mister Soller," Anthony demanded. "Say, why does it have to have my daughter lying in a hospital bed?"

Anthony turned away from the elder, trying to maintain his composure. But if anything, it only had made things worse after seeing his daughter unconsciously lying in bed behind the glass window.

Three doctors along with two nurses assisting them had been checking the electrocardiogram beside the bed and drawing out blood from Ella.

"Please." Mr Soller was begged by Melissa, tears swarming out of her. She looked helplessly over her shoulder to her husband, "Tell me, is it because of what I have said last night?"

"Shush, do not blame yourself, honey." Anthony mumbled through their hug. He knows what he has done to Ella might have had a big contribution.

Melissa continued bawling uncontrollably, pulling Anthony closer to her body.

The door to Ella's room flicked open spewing five persons: two doctors in their early-thirties and three—one of which is a doctor—at their late-twenties in white hospital uniforms.

Anthony broke the hug and snaked his arm to Melissa's waist to support her from breaking down.

The doctors were talking about something before two of them left the scene. One of them took a left turn towards the examination room and the other, to check the other rooms of patients.

"Sir and Madame Chance?" The doctor in his twenties was left to give them the current condition of their child.

"We are they. How is she?" Anthony asked in artless concern.

"She is stable. We are suspecting she had a heart attack based on her ECG." He said cautiously before continuing, "Consequently, we will be running rounds of imaging studies to determine what type of heart attack she had. We will also be extracting blood samples from time to time and use other methods as such."

At the break of the news, Anthony's grip loosened; Melissa collapsed to her knees, flooded with tears.

"Heart attack..." she laid on the floor motionless. "Why, she's so young. Honey, she's so young! It should have been me. It should have..." Her words were left hanging as her tears stormed down to her chest.

She blames herself for it. She knows it was her fault.

She was the one who pushed and left Ella no choice but to leave.

She should have been considerate of her day in school.

She should have considered that Ella attended dinner despite what happened between she and her father.

She shouldn't have drank alcohol.

She shouldn't have let her emotions devour her system.

She should have been her mother.

Anthony kneeled on the floor next to his wife. He was manning himself to keep from crying and become a wielded pillar for their family. He might have been frail but he believes he's hard to kill.

He said soothingly and hopeful, "Honey, the doctors will do their best to play their roles, let us do our parts, alright? Ella will be needing strength, we will give her ours, hm?"

"That is.." she turned to him as she blinked another set of tears.

"Mn," he reassured more of himself. "We will give her ours."

Because of what he had said, Melissa seemed to calm in between her sobs. Anthony steered his wife to sit down on one of the hospital waiting chairs in front of Ella's room.

At the left of the doctor's coat was his name embroidered on his clothes. 'Séance Kenwood, MD' above the word 'Cardiology', it read.

Anthony was left with discomfort upon reading his name.

He wanted to ask him if Ella would wake up soon enough for her finals in school but he had thought it was inappropriate of him to take concern of. Her life comes first, he thought.

Anthony comported himself and spoke the doctor's name and wondered, "Son, we can visit her room, can't we?"

The doctor nodded. "Of course, Mr. Chance. Also, I prefer if you to talk to her even in her unconsciousness. It may seem trivial but it will help. She will hear you in her sleep."

"Thank you." Anthony held Séance's arm. He looked over at the patterned floor with little of his unwanted emotions and said, "Please, do everything for our child, son. We do not want to lose her, too." He was becoming emotional at the fear of losing her any moment but he presided his own thoughts.

"Of course, sir. I will be incharge," he smiled sympathetically to Melissa before turning to Anthony again.

"Doctor," the nurse in his right side called Séance and earned his attention. She pointed something in her clipboard. He nodded. Afterward, he looked again to his patient's parents and bid goodbye.

"We better get going. I will deliver the results personally once it's out. Have a good day, Mr. and Mrs. Chance." He and the nurses curtsied before going their way to adjacent room.

Anthony sat beside Melissa, constantly comforting her and urging her to stop blaming herself for something ineluctable.

"Anthony," Melissa cried in despair. "There will be no complications, right? She will be fine, right? She'll r-return to us, right?" Her voice cracked. She was out of breath from continuous crying as she leaned her head to his chest.

"It is alright now, honey. She's stable. I can't guarantee there would be no complications, hon. . . but the doctors still had nothing about the complications. Let's just hope for nothing worse."

Minutes had passed. Ever since Melissa's outburst of remorse had come to a stop, she had been staring blankly at the door in front of her. Although Melissa's tears were long dried after minutes of crying, she continued sniffing alongside her husband. No one talked since and only silence enveloped the halls.

Soller was still standing at a safe distance. Like always, the family driver was being reluctant to say anything either to make things clear or voice his concerns.

A period of turbulence preceded Mister Soller. Otherwise, he started, "It happened so fast, dear." Slowly he said, still trying to find the right words to say.

Hearing the elder speak, Ella's parents were all ears

Soller breathed in a large amount of air to control himself. "Akin to what you ordered me to do, madame, I visited her room to check if she was up to something. It was almost three when I reached her chambers.

I was by the door when she came out of her closet, holding her baggages. At first, I thought she had seen me since she looked at my direction but she might have not noticed my presence considering that she did not bother to turn on the lights. Moments later, after taking a bath, I stopped her in her tracks." He told them.

Melissa broke out of her remorseful thoughts. "And just like that she lost consciousness?" She asked harshly.

"I am sorry, dearie," he said, his voice strained.

"Melissa," Anthony called her while searching Soller's eyes.

It was just too simple, he thought. He have been trusting every word of Soller. There was no reason to doubt him but there was something off, yet he could not point it out.

Regardless, he had let it go. "Let's go. Ella's waiting."

Both of them stepped to her room without saying another word. After closing the door behind him, Anthony walked to the side of Melissa. He, again, snaked his arm to her waist.

"Lisa," he called to her attention. He led her to sit on one of the sofa. His eyes were full of concern between his two girls. His wife had had her own health conditions and he knew stress could trigger it.

Melissa had felt him gingerly watching over her. "I am fine, Tony. Ella, it is she who needs. . . "

"I am sorry, honey. Please look after yourself, too. You're worrying me."

She nodded modestly. "Could we postpone the agreement, Tony? I mean-"

"Yes. Yes of course. I will inform the Davis'." He said, cutting her.

"Thank you," she said after snuggling to him.

Left outside of Ella's room, Soller sympathetically looked at Anthony and Melissa through the glass.

Glancing at Ella's senseless body clothed in hospital gown, he thought grimly, "Blue has never been my color. It had always been to those who are in peace."

Soller thought of waiting for the couple's orders but after receiving a text message from Felicity, the household's majordomo, he dragged himself down the hospital corridor to the mansion.

"Mrs. Mullet, the door. Please!" Cindy shouted from her room after hearing another set of tromping.

When the knocking still hasn't stopped, she jeopardized her last sense of patience on sauntering her way to the front door.

"Damn, Mrs. Mullet!"

Next to opening up the door, she gasped in horror, "Alexandra? What the heck? You told me you couldn't come!" She then stormed her way to AL's direction.

"Relax, Cindy. Change of plans." Alexandra chuckled after earning a smack to her chest.

Alexandra and Cindy had partnered for their research study on one of their major subjects in school.

AL had never been a student who would not aim for number one. She had always wanted to be the first—or at least one of the first batch of students—who could submit their requirements before due. It was one of the things her classmates had fond for her.

Climbing up the stairs, Cindy continuously talked nonsense as to how she was surprised Alexandra showed up.

Upon entering her room, Cindy flopped onto her bed while AL took the chance of walking to her study table. She was securing her backpack from falling when Cindy started talking.

"So. . . any news about your sister?" Cindy fussed while reaching for her laptop on her side table.

"First thing's first, let's finish this up." AL dodged the topic, careful not to cause suspicion.

"You know I could sense something off, right?"

"Cindy, are you there?" AL chided.

Cindy sighed in defeat. "Okay, fine. But after this, you know the drill."

"Yea, right," Alexandra playfully rolled her eyes.

AL fished her laptop out of her backpack. "Where were we, again? Ah, right, the conceptual map. Have you searched for-"

"Mn. How could I forget? You reminded me every minute at school." She scorned at the thought. She was now sitting shiftlessly on her bed.

"You know? You're so bitter." Alexandra pointed out.

"I'll bring in food." She said. She sighed in contemplation.

"I should have just chosen Daphne," she muttered under her breath after holding the knob.

"I heard that, you fool!" Alexandra huffed. "Curse you!" She blustered after swearing.

Cindy smiled in triumph on her way to the kitchen.

"Hey, shouldn't we at least take a break?" Cindy asked Alexandra.

It was already nine in the evening and both of them were still not eating dinner.

"You know we aren't finish yet, right?"

"What the heck, Alex? I'm starving. Mind you, A, I don't want to die from over-studying yet."

"Says who, by the way?" Alexandra said before turning to Cindy who was in her bed. "You did nothing but stare at the ceiling the whole time, for Heaven's sake!"

"Yea, yea," Cindy frowned and went back to her position—to stare, again, at the ceiling. She bolted to her buttocks when she realized something, "But you were the one who kept saying 'I'll do it', 'Leave it there', 'Do something else', blah, blah, blah. What am I doing here, again?" She mocked.

"It's your house, idiot." Alexandra said before getting back to where she left.

"Ahh! Ahh! Ahh~" Cindy shouted while she continued fidgeting in her bed.

"Yah! Shut up!" Alexandra growled in annoyance. "Fine! Get yourself food!" She bellowed in defeat.

Without another say, Cindy thundered down the stairs to eat. "Freedom!"

"Hey, eat your food!" Cindy chided AL after seeing her untouched food. "Respect for the food, please!"

"I shouldn't have partnered with you. You talk so much!" Alexandra bawled after gritting her teeth.

She squelched her from talking again by stuffing herself food. "Happy?" She said while she scoffed her food, indisputably satisfying her audience.

"You're so cute when you're mad. Eat slowly, I hate people puking my food."

After swallowing her food, Alexandra threw her a glare, "You care for food more than what's necessary."

She giggled at her remark. "So, tell me, A, do you have something for me about your sister?"

Alexandra had been insensible for a minute. "Hm, I do. She's in the hospital."

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You, XOXO