CHAPTER 5: WARD 16

'How's dad doing?' the nurse behind the counter asked.

'Great.' I answered as I walked along the hall. The air was filled with the smell of antiseptic. I walked into Ward 16 and shut the door. First thing my eyes spotted was my mum in a white hospital dress. I was overwhelmed with sadness. The last time I saw her in a white dress before her accident was the day she baked pastries she learned to make from a video online. She was really good at baking. There was little smoke from the oven. The last set of brownies got burnt. The mild fumes mixed with the aroma of warm vanilla and chocolate flavored pastries smelled delicious. My dad and I ate almost everything. A lot's changed since two months ago. Mum was lying unconscious on a hospital bed. Or was it subconscious? I wasn't sure.

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Mike felt a rush of emotions as he set his eyes on his on his pale looking mother. She laid face up with her head resting on the pillow. To him, she looked stuck on those white sheets.

'How are you mum?' He inquired as he sat beside her. He placed his index finger on her left eyebrow and then brushed her black hair slowly with his rough palm.

'I'm fine too,' he said inattentively as he stared at the woman's beautiful face. He looked a lot like her.

'How was school today?' she asked squinting her eyes and smiling faintly.

'Mum! You're awake!' he exclaimed, overwhelmed with joy.

'I'll call the nurses,' he stood to leave but she stopped him.

'No, let's go for a walk. I want to stretch my legs a bit,' she said, weakly holding his arm.

'Sure! Whatever you want,' he said with warmth and tenderness in his voice.

He held her as she managed to get out of the bed, placing both legs on the cold tiles slowly.

'Let's put these on,' he said as he stooped to place a pair of yellow slippers under her feet.

They were about to walk pass the door when the setting changed. It seemed very familiar. It was the night of the 'incident'. It was raining heavily and both his parents had ran out in the rain, into a supermarket, leaving him in the car. He had earphones in both his ears, he was listening to a radio playlist. It was an occasional routine on Friday evenings. It had been over ten minutes since his parents had gone into the store and he was getting really sleepy. He was about to change to a more comfortable position, when he noticed people running out of the supermarket. He took the earphones off and then began to hear the yelps from children and women, the slamming of doors, crashing sounds alongside the unpattern beats of the rain. His senses were awoken by the cold air and the icy rain as they hit his skin. Watching closely, he impatiently waited for his parents to walk or run out of the supermarket but they didn't. He wiped the water off his face and exhaled warm air through his mouth.

'Hey, did you see…' he was asking a lady that hurried pass him, but got ignored.

'Sorry, did you happen to see a man in a red shirt? Or…'

'No! Get somewhere safe kid!' The middle-aged man yelled before slamming the trunk of his car.

'What's going on?' Mike asked with his clothes almost completely soaked, wiping off the drops of water from his hair that threatened to invade his eyes.

'There are armed psychopaths in there!'

Mike ran as fast as his legs could go to the supermarket. The thought of his parents getting hurt by an armed freak gave him more chills than the cold rain.

'Why aren't they out yet?' He thought aloud as he ran breathlessly.

The scattered packs of consumables and shelves on the floor further increased his anxiety. As he searched for his parents, he noticed an unusual crowd at the left, not far from the other exit door.

'Someone call 911!' he heard his dad shout from within the crowd. He made his way to the crowd, squeezing in till he got to the middle, only to find his mum lying in his dad's arms unconscious. The floor looked like there was a fire, but this wasn't the explosives section and it was just that particular spot. It looked like a big circle of dark ashes.

'What happened to her dad?' He asked feeling a lump in his throat.

'I have no idea.' His dad said helplessly kneeling on the floor. The man was about to break into tears. His wife had asked him to get a few groceries, while she went to get other supplies. He wasn't sure what she'd like so he loudly asked her which colors of ceramics she wanted but didn't get a reply. He carried two samples to show her but was interrupted by the sound of falling cans and furniture.

'Are you okay Evelyn?' He asked. He sped to where he thought she would be when he still didn't get a reply.

'Evelyn!'

By the time he got there, he met his wife on the floor with her purse beside her. Seeing that his wife wasn't burned, he assumed the burned floor was a previous accident.

'Mum? Can you hear me?' Mike tried talking her out of her unconscious state but it was to no avail. He reached for his phone in his pocket but his hands came out empty. He tapped his front and back pockets only to realize he had left his phone in the car. He decided to ask his dad for his.

'Dad, your phone please,' he said trying to keep it together. He held out his hand but got no response.

'Dad!' He continued to yell to get his father's attention. Somehow the man on the floor didn't seem to hear him. However, he persistently wailed.