Page 26 of The Hallows Queen

Once he pulls away, his hands drop from my body. “You better answer when I call.”

I laugh, taking a step backwards toward the door. “If you’re lucky.”

He doesn’t say anything else, and neither do I. Turning, I open the door and leave to go back to dancing.

* * *

On Sunday morning,I knock on my father’s hospital room door lightly with my knuckle, then push it open an inch. “Can I come in?”

An unfamiliar woman’s voice answers me, “Come on in.”

After spending the last two days decorating my apartment with myveryparticular best friend, I dropped her at the airport this morning as the sun rose over the east, and then came straight to the hospital. I start at Luxington High tomorrow, and two weeks later, the school year begins for the students, so I wanted to make sure I visited my dad before I got too busy, and life started to speed past me.

“Dad?” I call out, stepping into the bright white of his room.

I find a middle-aged, blonde-haired woman standing at his bedside, pressing buttons on a machine with some trays opened beside her. My dad is silently sleeping in his bed, so the only sound to respond back to me is his EKG machine that’s beeping slowly with his heartbeat.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I whisper so I don’t wake him.

“It’s okay, hon,” she says in her normal volume, smiling softly. “He was put under sedation earlier for a procedure. I’m just doing my rounds. Feel free to sit.”

I tuck my bag behind me as I sit down on the recliner at the corner of the room, the one closest to his bed. “A procedure? Is he okay?”

“It’ll be a few hours before we get the results,” she answers, not looking up from whatever task she’s trying to complete at his right.

My stomach burns with anxiety. “Do you know where my mom is?”

The nurse looks over at me then, her mouth curving into a bigger smile. “You must be Penelope, then. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Your dad just goes on and on about you.”

A smile tugs up the corners of my lips, but I don’t know what to say back. I just keep looking at my dad and all the wires coming out of him.

The first few visits were fine; he was up and happy and the dad I remember, but this… it’s jarring. It’s reality exposed in front of me, and I feel like running away, keeping those memories inside of me instead of ones like this. Ones where he’s sedated and plugged up with tubes and wires and he can’t smile back at me.

“Your mom should be back soon. She just went to grab some coffee, honey.” Reading the worry in my features, she adds, “He’s okay, nothing to panic about.”

I nod mindlessly, my back rod-straight and my knees bouncing up and down.

I watch as the nurse finishes her tasks, and after she’s cleaned up her area and pushed the rolling table back against the wall, she pats me on the shoulder and tells me it’s okay again before she leaves.

The second I’m alone, though, my eyes fill with tears. I don’t know why they do – I mean, Iknow, but I promised myself I would never cry in here, that I would never bring this negative and toxic energy into my father’s healing space. But I can’t help it. I’m fucking terrified. I’m scared absolutely shitless that he’s been sedated and that I can’t hear his voice right now.

“Pen?” My mother’s voice pulls my gaze from staring at my father. She must have come in while I was stuck in my own mind. I push the tears from my cheeks in a last-ditch effort to hide the fact I’m hurting, and then I stand up to hug her.

Her rose and vanilla scent makes me feel better, safer. Like if she’s in here with me, nothing bad can happen.

She squeezes me tight. “I know I didn’t see you crying, did I?”

I sniffle. “No.”

She laughs, pulling back to hold me at arm’s length so she can look me over with her light, hazel eyes. “Has anyone told you how beautiful you are today?”

“Only some random guy at the gas station,” I mutter, grinning with my lips pressed tightly together.

My mom shakes her head, laughing. “Well, he wasn’t lying. You’re the most beautiful girl in the world.”

“What’s going on with dad? The nurse said something about a procedure,” I ask, going back to my seat at the recliner.

She takes a sip from the coffee cup she left on the table by the door, then she sits down in the chair next to me and sighs. “They did a liver biopsy. They think the cancer is spreading, because he isn’t reacting to the treatment.”

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