Song: 47 hours by Kira Kosarin

Chapter Twenty-four: Welcome to our humble abode

We are doomed. D-O-O-M-E-D!!

I was really frustrated with the way things were going. I hadn't seen my mum since I got here. I don't know how long I've been sitting here, but she's been in surgery for hours.

I'm starting to hate hospitals!

I'm not even affected by the fact that we'll have no money because both my mum and I won't be able to work, I'm just thinking about her surviving this. I literally can't live the rest of my life without my mother.

Dr. Wallace said she was crossing the street into the hospital when a car hit her and drove off, even though the car wasn't supposed to pass. The stupid driver didn't even stop to see if she was okay.

Dr. Wallace is my Mum's friend. We've met him a bunch of times. He said she has some broken bones, but I wasn't paying attention to him. All I knew was that she would be on the bed for weeks.

If she survives.

Of course she will.

"You have to rest Cherry." Zane handed me a bottle of water.

"I'll rest when I can see my mum and she's perfectly fine again." I almost yelled at him.

He stretched out his hand further so I could take the bottle of water, ignoring my snappy comment.

I took the bottle of water. "Thanks."

Reveka, Sam, Zane, Xander, Zahra and I were sitting in the waiting room. I was grateful to them for being here, but I hadn't looked away from the spot on the floor I had been staring at since.

"I wanted you to drink the water, not crush it."

It was then I realized I was squeezing the bottle hard. I released it and placed it beside me. I wasn't in the mood for cool, refreshing liquids.

"I understand how you feel, more than you know in fact, but you need to rest. The doctor wouldn't like to hear of it."

I didn't reply him.

"Speaking of doctors..." He trailed off.

It was then Dr. Wallace approached me. I stood up really fast.

"How is she?"

"She's okay and out of surgery, but she's not awake yet. It wasn't as bad as car accidents usually go since she was running out of the way.  She has a bad gash on one leg. She also broken a few ribs, and she has a broken arm. You can see her tomorrow. You should go home, it's getting dark."

"Home? I can't stay home without my mother."

"That's right. You need a legal guardian since she won't be coming home for a while."

I don't like where this is going.

Neither do I.

"So you'll have to stay in your father's house. He's in the other room. He's going to take you with him."

"He's not my father."

"He is. He's just not your mother's husband."

I crossed my arms. "Same difference. I'm not going."

Dr. Wallace touched my shoulder. "Charvi. Your mother would be fine. You can see her tomorrow after school. I promise I'll let you in and you know me, I wouldn't lie to you."

"Can't I just sleep here?" I whined.

He shook his head. "You know your mother wouldn't like that."

I dropped my hands and sighed. "Fine."

I turned to my friends. Zane was still patiently  waiting behind me. Xander was sitting on the chair and Zahra was sleeping with her head on his shoulder. "Thanks for coming guys. You guys should get going, it's late."

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Xander cross-checked with me as he shook a dazed Zahra, and they both got up. I nodded even though I knew I wasn't going to. They gave me small smiles and came over to hug me before leaving.

I turned to Zane who was still there and gave him a look. He raised up his hands in surrender. "I'm going to leave I promise." I sighed. "Once I'm sure that you're leaving." He finished his sentence that I thought was already complete.

"I'm going to go." I gave him a smile of reassurance.

"You promise?"

I nodded. He engulfed me in a hug. "Call me once you're settled. And if that man does anything, I don't mind being locked behind bars for rearranging his face."

I chuckled at his effort to provide comfort. He released me and with a last wave, left the hospital.

I went to the joint chairs where Reveka was sleeping with her head on Sam's lap. He was stroking her hair and I couldn't even think of how cute this looked because I was so upset. I woke Rev up.

What did Rev and I do to deserve this?

I would like to know that too.

*******************************

"Is that the last of your stuff?"

I had told all my friends to go since I would be fine. I would. At least, now I knew my mum was alive. I just couldn't wait to see her.

When we first found out the news, after dropping all my things in my room, I grabbed my new phone and rushed to the hospital. Somewhere along that line, Zane had taken it from me and given it to Xander and Zahra to add the contacts and apps I used to have. They didn't ask why he was with me, or why I had a new phone, and I didn't bother offering up an explanation. I asked Xander why he was the one to pick up Reveka and not Kai. He told me Kai called to say he wouldn't be able to attend school that day. School seemed so unimportant in my life right now anyways.

I just didn't understand how the doctor expected me to go to school when my mum was lying somewhere unconscious, but I trust Dr. Wallace and he said she'd be awake by tomorrow. Plus, I should just be thankful she's alive. She was hurt pretty bad.

"It's not like we're staying for long. And we can come back anytime we want." Reveka replied.

From what I knew, it takes a gash about a week to heal depending on how deep. It takes a broken arm about seven weeks, and it takes broken ribs about six weeks. So we'd be staying at his house roughly two months. I would count my days to freedom. I shuddered at the thought of living in the same house as Anastasia. Her friends could even visit her, have sleepovers. The mere thought gave me shivers.

Reveka stuffed her box in the trunk. She wasn't talking much about Mum, but I could see by the puffiness in her eyes that she'd been crying. I wish I had been crying, maybe it'd make me feel better.

Tell that to your ribs that are currently crying.

I packed most of my clothes, all my shoes, all my accessories, my wig and glasses too, just in case. I packed enough so I won't have to return, because I didn't know where he lived or how far it was.

I dropped my box into the trunk. At least I tried, but I couldn't lift it without wincing. Dad didn't ask questions when he helped me carry it and drop it. Reveka just stared at me. I felt it'll be selfish if I complained how much I was hurting at a time like this. Especially since I hadn't been resting. I had been sitting up straight for hours. At that time I didn't feel any pain, or maybe I just ignored it, I felt numb, but now it felt like all that was just piling up. I just wanted to lie down and wake up to see this was all a dream.

I just wanted to be angry, but at who? At Jaxon? At that stupid driver?

At Dad?

It's killing me not to know what Mum said he did. I could put two and two together, but I didn't want to. I didn't want to think him capable of doing that.

After all your Mum said, you still believe he isn't capable of that?

Shayna would have told me.

Would you want to talk about it?

No.

Exactly.

I wanted to be angry at him, but being angry is a lot harder than it seems so I just went with not bothering to talk to him. It's not like I was bothering to talk to anyone. It was more pain than gain. Even breathing was hard.

We settled in the car and began on our journey.

"The last time I saw you like this was when Shayna told you that Klaus and Elijah kill each other at the end. You were so upset because although she had just finished the series, you had just started." Then she paused. "Oh wait, you looked angrier then."

That actually made me laugh when I remembered it. Dad had scolded Shayna for it, but she wouldn't stop laughing at my gloomy face.

Reveka let out a breath. "I thought I'd never be able to hear your annoying laugh again."

"Annoying?"

"You laugh like Muttley."

I drew my brows together in confusion. "Who's Muttley?"

"You know," She urged and I shook my head. "Dick Dastardly? That annoying guy?"

"What kind of name is that?"

"The cartoon kind." She gave me a pointed look. "Wacky Racers!"

I laughed. "You still watch that dumb show?"

She crossed her arms. "I don't still watch it, but it's not dumb."

"She used to be so in love with it." I turned to Dad who had just said that. I had actually forgotten he was in the car with us.

"And how would you know?"

"I knew you the first 13 years of your life."

"I'm 15 now so that doesn't matter." She debated.

He sighed. "I'm really sorry guys. I mean it. What can I do to make it up to you?"

"I don't see what you can do. Unless you want to give me back the year I wasted crying over you." She snapped.

"I wish I could." Was all he muttered. And no one said anything for the rest of the ride.

**************************

"Why is it so big?" Reveka mumbled to me.

"My thoughts exactly."

We had gotten to Dad's house that wasn't as far as I thought. We were quite surprised to see it huge. It was really dark already, but we could still see the silhouette. It wasn't as big as Zane or Leyla's house though. It was way bigger than our house. I knew Dad was a businessman, but I never paid attention to which kind.

When he was with us, we weren't struggling to survive, we were adequate, but this wasn't adequate. It was rich.

"I didn't know he was rich."

"Neither did I."

"Seems he was better off without us." She mumbled to herself. She didn't expect me to hear it so I kept quiet. Plus, what would I say to comfort her? Nothing, because I agree with her.

A woman came to get our boxes down from the car and into the house. She didn't say a single word to any of us. I guess it's a rule or something.

We were about to enter when Mrs. Nicholas Brooks stopped at the front door right in front of us.

"Welcome to our humble abode."

At this moment, I just wanted to go to school. Surprisingly. And since I wasn't working currently, I had free time on my hands. Seems like frequent sleepovers over at any of my friends' house is the plan.

"Good evening Mrs." I greeted and walked around her with Reveka following closely behind me.

"Hi honey." I heard Dad say and I turned in time to see him kiss her. I turned forward as fast as I could.

You have to get over the fact that he doesn't love your Mum anymore.

I know he's moved on, but I can't help that it still hurts. Plus, I want to throw up.

The image of Mum sitting at his table and crying flashed through my head, and my heart broke for her.

We walked into their fairly large and quiet foyer. It seems like they're not here. Good. I didn't mind seeing Aaron though. It was Anastasia I would like to keep distance from.

"We had already eaten dinner, do you still want something?" Mrs. Brooks offered.

"I'm fine." Reveka replied.

"Can we get a bottle of water please?"

You plan to survive on water? You've only eaten a sandwich from the hospital cafeteria and Pop Tarts.

"Are you sure?" Dad crosschecked.

I nodded. "I'm not hungry. I'll eat tomorrow."

"I'll go get the bottles." Mrs. Brooks walked off. But it seemed more like she wanted to escape than actually get the bottles.

Dad watched her go, before he turned to us again. He wiped his hands on his khaki pants. "I wasn't sure if you'd prefer to sleep in the same room or different rooms, so I sent Grace to get the two rooms ready."

Before Reveka could say anything- it didn't even look like she planned to talk- I spoke up. "Can we have both?"

"Both?"

"More like the three rooms. Are they close to each other?"

"The two rooms with one bed are beside each other, but the one with two beds are on the other corridor."

"Oh."

I would have liked to have my own space, but be able to reach her without going far.

"We have two rooms with connecting doors. Is that okay?"

They sure do have a lot of rooms.

Maybe they're expecting more children.

Is that a joke?

"It's perfect. Thank you." I hadn't realized I had thanked him until a smile lit up his face. I wanted to take it back because I didn't want to see him happy, as sadistic as that sounds, but it was too late. He had already heard me.

"Here's your water." She handed us two bottles of water.

"Thanks."

Would you stop it?

I can't help being polite. They were being nice. Blame Mum! She's the one that trained us.

"I'll get Grace to get these rooms ready." He started walking out of the foyer.

For some reason, all I wanted was to see Zane right now.

I wonder why.

It's because he always makes me feel better.

Okay.

Why do you sound unconvinced?

I'm you. Ask yourself.

"Let's go." I nudged Reveka for us to follow Dad.

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I hope you guys found it okay and not boring. More interesting coming up though. Please vote, comment and share :D