"Dad! He's in the backseat," I rolled down the window on my side and informed my dad, who was guiding me with his waving hand, to move closer to the door as I parked my car. When I turned the engine off, my dad opened the door of the backseat, and I was surprised when I felt his presence intently staring at me outside my window.
"What….?" I asked as I opened the door cautiously because my dad was standing too close to the door. I was curious why he was by my side and not with the dying man with us. But my dad almost hurriedly, yet carefully opened the door wider for me to step out of it so he could stare at me closely as if checking my condition and analyzing the situation."Honey, are you alright?" he asked as soon as I got out of the vehicle. He checked my pulse. Then, my head as if making sure I was at an average temperature, and he held my hands to check if I was cold, sweating, or anything of my reactions when I was feeling traumatized. "Are you dizzy?""I'm not sure, dad, but I feel silly to feel proud I made it driving home without a tragedy or any casualty despite the fact that I had a bleeding man in my backseat," I chuckled as I answered. "But seeing you now, I don't want to spare him a glance even in the slightest. Sorry, dad…" I looked at him with inexplicable guilt.But my dad just nodded eagerly and guided me to walk into the house up to the front door."I will take care of this fortunate guy, although I am sure had he had any choice, he wouldn't have bothered asking for your help if he knew there was a great chance of sending you both to eternal peace. But I am still proud of you for being so brave to help this man," my dad assured me. And to convince me that he was not mindful that he had to assist the man alone, my dad even made the funniest joke I have ever heard from him. "Are you sure he is a stranger? Would he have happened to be someone you know or fancy, or maybe he is a boyfriend you have never told me of before?" he was chuckling as he teased me with his mischievous mien."Dad?! I will never hide anything of the sort from you," I replied defensively. But my dearest dad just laughed louder. "Whoever is to date me will have to get your permission or t least your approval to give them a try knowing more than their names," I firmly stated."I know! I know! So, what's his name, again?" he asked, holding his grin but losing it to almost snorting in his laughter when I answered "Marco" so fluently; then he watched me get into the house while he was standing behind me. "Drink a glass of cold water to calm your nerves and have a warm bath. I will deal with your man and call you when I am done. Let's not over shock your senses to accept the adjustment you just had today by overseeing blood around you.""Dad, is it okay if I attend the rest of my interviews today?" I asked with apparent hesitations. I felt so guilty about leaving him with a patient to attend to while I still wanted to continue doing the engagements I had in my plans that day."Are you sure you can drive? I am worried about you. But if you insist, you can use my car since it's a bit challenging to get a cab in this area," he answered with a troubled expression."But your car is not an automatic…." I replied with fear."Well, in case you are forgetting, your backseat looks like a woman with menorrhagia just had a ride with you," my dad said with an awkward joke as his face sported concern."Dad! You are a genius!" I exclaimed at my baffled and bewildered dad. He must have been taken aback at how silly I looked as I clapped my hands with clearly expressed enthusiasm. He looked at me with unspoken queries like what the world was I even talking about. I can't blame him. He had seen how I would faint and lose consciousness without bothering to care where I might fall or get hurt whenever I'd see bleeding people ever since I was just a toddler, compared to how I was surprisingly behaving at the moment. To have assisted the man despite his bleeding injury, taken him into my car, and driven him home to get attended to by my dad was something no one would ever believe if they knew my fear and trauma. But then again, here I was,s even making jokes about the matter. And seeing the refreshing reaction of his astonished worried face accompanied by relief and pride, my dad must have thought I was finally cured and that I was no longer scared to see such ugly scenes. It made me feel even more carefree. I felt free deep within me. And I did not let my dad remain puzzled in his thoughts. I verbally shared my mind about the matter. "I guess that thought will suffice to comfort m,e not to be scared!" I laughed and walked away, heading to the kitchen to get that drink of water my dad told me to.My next interview was after lunch. I saw the digital clock on the kitchen counter. It wasn't even eleven in the morning yet."I still have a lot of time to eat lunch at home and get to my interview," I thought aloud. "But I gotta get cleaned and freshened up first."I left the kitchen n headed for my room with an adjacent toilet and bath after gulping two tall glasses of water. I didn't realize I was thirsty like I had been walking in an endless sand desert and finally found an oasis.When I left my room, I checked the kitchen for something light to eat and went out to the driveway with a dark red colored fleece blanket to cover my backseat for the time being.I opened the backseat door of my car with my eyes closed to avoid seeing the interior knowing it was painted in red blood. But a smell of disinfectants greeted my olfactory senses, so I peeked to look at what struck my nostrils."Uh?!"My eyes both widened as I carefully checked my car where Marco was earlier. I looked in the direction where I knew my dad was. But I saw no one."He must be busy now," I thought. "He still bothered cleaning my car despite the urgency to save that man," I sighed. I couldn't help uttering a heartfelt thanks even though he may not hear my little voice from where I was standing to where he was at the moment. "I will be back with better news, dad!" I murmured.I left home and arrived at my destination almost forty minutes early for my interview. I should have been at ease and comfortable as I simply waited by the lobby's lounge with ample time for mental rehearsals on how to answer the questions that would be thrown at me.But the thoughts about my dad and that injured man at home kept flashing through my head. I was just in the next building where I was supposed to have my first interview in the morning; also the same place where I bumped into a badly injured Marc,o who vehemently rejected the idea of him being brought to the hospital.Then a message arrived from my dad."Don't worry about Marco. He is out of danger. It was a through-and-through gunshot wound. Lucky for this guy, the bullet did not hit any fatal point, intern organ, or bone. How was your drive? Leave your windows at least an inch open when you're in the car. I had to use disinfectants to remove the stains."I felt relieved to read my dad's message. I responded as soon as I finished reading."I was ready to just cover the backseat with a red blanket but found out that not even a drop of blood was visible in my car. Thanks, dad! I prepared the table for your lunch. I know you're hungry after a laborious job helping that stranger I brought home. Taking the fact that you could send me a message, I assume you are done. So, you should take a break. Your lunch break, to be exact."Marco’s POVI woke up and panicked. I clearly told the lady not to bring me to the hospital. But the smell of disinfectant brushed off my nostril. I wanted to jump off the bed and leave the place. But my body won’t move to obey my thoughts. I tried to sit up. But even the tip of my fingers won’t even budge. “Are you awake?” I heard a man’s voice approaching my direction. “That’s quite odd. I gave you a good dose of painkillers so your body could heal and recuperate,” the manly voice continued. I wanted to answer and tell him that I am awake. But my eyes won’t open despite my eagerness to find out where I was. And even my voice seemed to have abandoned me. Nothing of my words came out audibly aside from grunts and groans. “Marco, right?” the man asked again. I could feel he was standing right next to the bed I was helplessly lying on. “Don’t be hard on yourself. This is not a hospital if that is what you are worried about. If you want to leave this place, sooner, I strongly suggest
I looked around and saw the tube of drips hanging on the left side of the bed next to my head. Its tube was connected to my left arm. If I have been sleeping for days, this liquid must have been my food for the whole time. Looking at the pack of colorless liquid that drops slower than a second in between the next drops, a thought suddenly flashed in my mind. This thought traveled from my brain down to that specific part of my anatomy. I felt like a marionette with a string being pulled away to make me move. I sprang up, but the pain in my left side made me pause. I couldn’t even lift a finger due to the extreme pain I felt at my sudden move. “Do you need a hand?” I heard a man’s voice speak softly as he walked closer to my bed, opposite where the lady was leaning asleep as she sat on a chair. In my pained face, I stared at the man. He looked like he was in his mid-fifties. He had pepper and salt colored hair. I could tell the man was a gym rat somehow. He has a fierce-looking face,
“Dad!? Marco?!” We both looked at each other as if we were asking each other if the other heard what one had just heard. “She must have realized it wasn’t her bed,” Theodor said soon after we heard a feminine voice calling our names one after the other. “She sounds like someone I have known or someone so close to me as a family or something with the way she would yell out my name,” I thought. “And I can’t disagree with you on that. I am beginning to feel jealous, young man!” “Huh?!” I was stunned. I did not know those words slipped off my lips and made the father hear of them. “I’m… Uhm… My apologies, sir…” I stammered in response. “What are you guys doing here?” the lady asked while rubbing her eyes off, one after the other.“Skye, honey, you should have taken more sleep. You look like a zombie, don’t you agree, Marco?” Theodor spoke with a hint of teasing to his daughter. “Dad, please…? I told you, it’s not like that. Stop it. You’re making me feel embarrassed in front of our
“You’re an injured man. My daughter can subdue you easily if you two get into a physical fight, and if you are trying to say you might take advantage of my daughter, I am telling you, with that injury you have, I doubt you have the ability to enjoy the moment,” Ted chuckled mischievously as he turned his back on me to walk out of the room. I was stunned at the father’s response. “Not that I am going to take advantage of your daughter, but I hope you don’t do this just to anyone,” I sincerely stated, trying to walk behind Ted. The father stopped in his tracks and turned around to face me. There were only halogen bulbs on so it wasn’t too bright, but I saw a bemusing smile sporting his mien. I waited to hear what he was going to say.“I haven’t done such things to my daughter. I haven’t had the chance to tease her about a man I think she is interested in, although she keeps saying I am mistaken. And I haven’t entrusted her to anyone before. But I know you respect her as you do to me
“I am not here to judge you. I see you as a light of hope beaming for me that whatever trauma I had in my childhood, I will get through all of them just like I am not afraid to see you bleeding. It makes me hold my grip on sanity knowing someone needs me or my help so I have to stay conscious and not faint despite the color of red seeping out of your wound. Whatever you do or whatever kind of person you are, I am not concerned at the moment. The victory over this fear that had been in my life ever since I could remember is the only thing that matters to me right now. So forgive me if I am behaving weirdly in your eyes. I know this too shall pass, but as of now, I wanna enjoy it.” I did not know why Skye was being so laid-back in front of me. But I could also feel the pure honesty of her words. Before I could even respond, she was talking again. “You might feel as if I am treating you like a newly found pet. I want to take care of you. I want you to get better as soon as possible. L
Skye'S POV“Hey!” Marco yelped chuckling. I could only hear his voice as my eyes were tightly shut in disrelish of the liquid as it reached my tastebuds and my brain declared it was a feeling of burning in my mouth and throat.“Agggghhh! What an agony,” I groaned and grimaced at the alcohol flavor. “Why did you do that? I did not even get the chance to enjoy the aroma of it,” Marco whined as if he was helpless.“I told you, you’re not allowed to drink. Not even a drop. Remember?” I squinted my eyes as I reprimand him. “I wasn’t going to!” Marco retorted defensively. He looked so cute as he pouted that I could not help smiling again. “I need that drink now, more than ever!” “Fine! Fine!” I exclaimed defeatedly. I poured another shot and handed it to him. “Here is another glass! Now don’t dare try having even a tiny sip of it! Ugh! I don’t even understand what taste this has,” I pulled a face as the aftertaste of the forty percent alcoholic drink’s flavor lingered in my mouth. Marco
“Are you trying to say I am a homosexual?” Marco asked with immense disbelief sporting his mien, but his tone remained gentle. “Or maybe a bi-sexual?” I asked again aiming to clarify.“Nope and no!?” This time he responded with his voice raised. “I can prove it to you but not for now. I am more worried that with you around I might suffer from too slow progress in recovery as you seem to enjoy making me yell every now and then. Whenever it happens, I feel my wound stretched and freshen up again,” Marco complained. “I’m sorry,” I apologized again. “We can talk about something else, you know?” I heard Marco inhale deeply. I think he is frustrated that he could not get rid of me, but I did not want to go up to bed just yet. And to be honest, aside from my dad Ted, Marco has been the only one I am very comfortable being with me around. He won’t be here for a lifetime, so I am going to avail myself of his presence while I can. “What do you wanna talk about?” Marco asked casually. His
I didn’t understand why my dad was so amused watching us. Or maybe me. If he was upset that I drank without him when he had offered me a lot of times to join him as he watched his favorite baseball team play the game every league, why would he look amused? I can even see him holding his laughter. He did not even fail to let his reactions hidden at times. But I had no time to interrogate him for the answers right now.“Bye, for now, dad, we are going to talk when I get back, okay?” I groaned as I walked away after giving him a kiss on his right cheek.“I will be waiting,” dad replied with a breathy laugh. Then he turned to Marco. “Drive safely, young man. I don’t want to see anyone bleeding when you return,” dad added.“Yes, sir!” Marco res