The doctor suddenly checked his wristwatch.
"excuse me," he said and briskly hurried off, to wherever doctors vanished to when they said such things, Flint was sure.
He turned and dragged his feet along the cold hard hospital floor, his dejection obvious on his shoulders.
"Ah...how in the world was he to tell Shonda he wondered again"
The moment he walked into the room, Shonda turned to face him, questions in her eyes.
Flint walked to her and held her, knowing she would need the extra comfort once he dropped his about to bomb. "The doctor said Fayth would be fine, she will wake up in a few hours" Shonda let out a breath.
"What about Paul" She asked searching Flint's eyes. The man became instantly tongue tied.
He returned her stare for some seconds without saying a word then he started slowly and unsurely.
"I spoke with the doctor in charge of his case hun and..." Flint paused again, lacking words. "and?" Shonda repeated.
Flint could no longer postpone the inevitable. "He had a few injuries hun..... head and spine injuries... the doctor says it would be a miracle to have him back in one piece with us... I'm so sorry baby... I..." Shonda instantly disentangled herself from his embrace. For the longest time, she just stood and stared at him as though her soul had gone on a journey of its own to another space or perhaps another time. Then the tears began to fall anew. She sobbed bitterly.
Flint let her be as her warning rang clear in his head. The one she had issued the moment she heard of the children's disappearance. He stood to one corner of the room and let her tears fall, letting his own guilt and regret wash over him as well.
For hours Shonda cried. It wasn't like her son was dead, but to her, he was half dead.
Even if he were to wake up, he was going to be a vegetable. The thought alone hurt her to her bones.
Flint suddenly heard the familiar ringing of his phone. It wasn't a call, it was a message.
His eyes grew wide. They still sent him money.... after everything they'd done to mess up his life and attempt to ruin him... gotten to his family, and they still eventually sent him money.
Another message popped in. 'SOMETHING FOR THE BILLS...SIR' it was Miguel. The bastard no doubt was taunting him.... having his fun. He could hear the cunt's voice clearly in his head as though the cunt stood in front of him to say the words. The money was of course definitely from his bosses, the cunt just definitely wanted to play.
Flint went back to the message and stared long and hard at his phone. It was definitely blood money. Money from the blood of his own children.
He definitely couldn't send it back. What was he to do then? he wondered. He definitely wasn't handing it over to charity.... hell no his family had gone through too much already to be handing it over to charity. He raised his eyes and looked at Shonda. Her tears had quieted down to sobs.
Showing her the money was out of the question. Not right now, definitely not with their kids lying in different beds, unconscious, with one in a critical state... He was no fool. Hell, he might not even tell her at all. He quit his deliberation suddenly. He was battling with his own inner conscience and the primal human instinct to hoard the root of all evil. He shoved his phone back into his pocket.
He walked slowly towards Shonda and made to hold her. "get out" she ordered, her voice sounding detached from her body. It was dry and croaked. Even Shonda could not recognize her own voice. She just wanted to be alone and even if anyone were to be present, she definitely didn't want this husband of hers with her. This entire trouble was thanks to him.
Flint stood there after she'd spoken, he didn't budge. "get out" she repeated, this time, her voice rising an octave higher. Flint flinched and decided it was better not to drive her mad. He retreated from the room, leaving her to herself. As he shut the door, he made straight for the coffee machine.
His nerves were in need of some calming. As he sat downing his cup, the events of this morning were playing out on the TV screen, the evening news, as usual, was filled with speculations. He saw his face and realized how dry and unreal he had looked in front of the cameras. The courage to endure the stupidity, he didn't know where he got it from.
Well, having two kids in captivity did do wonders to motivate a man into agreeing with some certain degree of manipulation.
Flint watched the entire event again from the viewer's perspective which he was currently, he knew most citizens weren't going to buy the bullshit. Well, he knew he wouldn't, and it wasn't just because he'd been the person who gave the speech. A smart person would know. Then again, how many people really were smart in this damn country he wondered.
He stayed and watched the news for lack of anything else to do. The reporter's voice, filtered through the speakers as she gave her correspondence of the day's events but Flint didn't hear her. He was lost in his own thoughts.
It was odd and weird how so much a person's life could change in the space of a few hours..... within the twinkle of an eye. If only he could turn back the hands of time and if only he had just dropped the damn thing.... now it was good ol' regret that he had to go on.
The doctor in charge of Paul's case still hadn't provided feedback, so he was basically a sitting duck. A restless mind-boggled sitting duck.
Worried as he was about his son, there was nothing he could do. The deed had already been done, his mess up utterly evident. To him, no point beating himself up over it especially since he'd literally bawled his eyes out since the beginning of the entire ordeal so for the next two hours, he just sipped coffee and watched tv, occasionally going to check up on Shonda and Fayth on one of such checkups, he'd found Shonda asleep. The poor woman had cried herself to exhaustion.
No matter how strong a woman was, her children were a thing she never joked with, they were capable of bringing out the best and her worst parts of herself, along with all her soft sides. In that space of time, Flint's phone had buzzed uncontrollably with calls. The bloody cunt of a commissioner along with his minion of a police chief were at the top of the call list. Others were just co-workers, Miguel and the specific brand of mafioso idiots that had decided to torment his life.
No doubt the money they sent was on their mind. He readily played the ignoring game and ignored every last one of them. They'd obviously messed him up enough, how much more do they want to destroy?
He quietly went to the overnight bag his wife had packed a few things and just as he'd suspected, he found a change of clothes. She was mad at him alright, but she still remembered his needs.
His heart warmed at the thought. He quickly but quietly grabbed a sweatshirt and walked out of the room.
He wanted to get out of his embarrassment of a force uniform. It had earned him quite a few stares as he'd sat in the cafeteria, the news broadcast did not help him fare any better as more eyes turned to gobble him up when his face flashed on the Tv screen. People always felt uncomfortable with policemen and after his years of service on the force, Flint still found it difficult to understand why.
He changed his clothes and splashed water on his face. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. He looked like shit. His eyes looked sunken in, his face was pale beyond what he could recognize. If he were to walk in on himself while he was on duty, he'd have given himself a suspicious glare, and assumed he'd been on drugs. Flint suddenly understood how innocent people felt when picked up for questioning just because they looked a certain way, especially with drug-related offenses. He finished his little self-cleaning procedure and went to sit in the hallway, where he could easily spot the doctor.
The doctor walked past Flint a few minutes past midnight. Flint hurried to his side to inquire about his son. "How is Paul doctor," he said when he caught up to him.
The doctor paused and looked him squarely in the eye "Mr. Flint we did all we could but...." Flint could feel his heart catch in his throat and he went into full panic mode.