Page 40 of Meet Me at the Metro

“You’re so damn stubborn,” I sigh, carrying her up the stairway despite her obvious disapproval.

“You’re one to talk!”

I gently set her on her feet as we reach the door toB20, quickly unlocking and pushing it open enough for her to hobble inside. I close it behind us before I lift her back into my arms again and start to tote her toward the back of the flat. If this place has any first aid supplies anywhere, it’d be there.

“This is completely unnecessary,” she groans. “I’m fully capable of walking.”

“You’re so full of shit. You just about tripped yourself coming through the front door. You wouldn’t make it to the end of this hall without busting your arse again. Especially considering how damn inebriated you are right now.”

“Bite me!”

“You keep saying that, and maybe I will.”

Her eyes throw daggers at me as we reach the bathroom.

I kick the door open with my foot and carry her over to the bathtub, placing her along the edge of it. I watch her closely for a long moment to make sure she doesn’t go toppling back into the bloody thing because the last thing this girl needs is to add a concussion to her list of injuries from the night. The sight of those bloodshot, glassy eyes, flushed cheeks, poorly bandaged arm, dripping wet hair, and swollen ankle look pitiful enough.

Shuffling through the cupboard hidden behind the sink mirror, I fetch some hydrogen peroxide, gauze wrap, and antibiotic ointment from the first aid kit.

“Here,” I say, walking the supplies over to her and turning on the tap in the tub. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

Working slowly and carefully, I start to take the apron off from around her arm. Flashes of red blood flood my eyes as I peel the soaked fabric away, and it has me taking a step back. I hear the beat of my heart in my ears like drums, and my breathing becomes ragged.

“Theo,”Nora says, so soft and considerate. She must have recognized my growing panic. “It’s not as bad as it looks.See?” She runs her arm under the bath stream to wash some of the mess away, and she’s right. It’s not nearly as bad as it looked seconds ago, but the water collecting in the tub turns such a bright shade of red that my whole body starts trembling.

Just a little blood. Only a little.

Memories I’ve begged myself to forget about over the past ten years begin to claw at the forefront of my mind. I fight hard to gainsomecontrol over my laborious breathing but to no success.

“I can clean this up, alright? Listen to me. Theo, look at me,” she says, the gentle command anchoring me to reality again. She leans toward me, grazing her fingertips against my hand so damn sweetly.

For a moment, I’m convinced she’s just as worried for me as I am for her.

“Just step out in the hall for a second. I’ve got this.”

“But you’re—”

“I’m fine, really. Wait outside.Please?”

“Fine,” I grit out through clenched teeth, yanking the door closed as I step outside.

Why can’t I seem to screw my fucking head on straight?

I’ve done so well here lately to keep those polluted memories from resurfacing. How can one night have the power to damn all that work straight to hell?

So suddenly, my mind is at the foot of the ledge again, ready to plummet down into the depths of the past I’m terrified of recalling because I don’t want to have to live that day over again in my head…

I walk through the doorway and want to scream.

Dad doesn’t even look like himself. His face is so swollen and bruised that I can hardly make out the man I’ve known and looked up to the most for the entire fifteen years of my life. He doesn’t move an inch against the hospital bed. There’s only the rise and fall of his chest as the ventilator breathes for him. My hearing settles on the sound of the machine until it’s the only thing my ears can seem to make out around me.

Click. Woosh. Click. Woosh. Click. Woosh.

I reach for his swollen and bandaged hand, taking it in mine as I fight back the cry rising inside of me.

“D-Dad, I really need you to pull through this. We all do, okay? We need you to come back home to us.”

I wait for the twitch of his fingers or his sigh, but the Universe decides to give me none of that. He still exists as he did when I first walked in, completely silent and motionless. I wonder if he can even hear me.

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