Written for spncasefic mini bang on Tumblr. I'll be uploading one or two chapters at a time so stay tuned. Reviews are accepted with love.
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The Best Things in Life are Free
Chapter One
Hospitals had always unsettled Alice Keene, ever since she was a little girl. It was something about the smell of antiseptic and linoleum; the bland, inoffensive colours of the walls. Lawrence & Memorial Hospital, New London was no different. She would rather be anywhere but here.
A doctor appeared, a tall lady with red hair, and Alice rose from her uncomfortable seat in the waiting room, stomach twisting once again.
"How is he?" she asked, tugging at the loose button on her favourite green cardigan. She really needed to find the time to sew it back on…
When the doctor – Dr Christina Ross according to her nametag – gestured for her to sit again, Alice's heart sank.
"The quite simple fact, Miss Keene, is that we don't know what's wrong with your father."
Although delivered in a kind tone the words still struck her like punches.
"But you're a doctor," she said, feeling stupid even as she said it. "You must know what's wrong with him."
"We can find no explanation for why his body is doing what it is." Dr Ross shook her head, eyes pinched in distress. "There is some explainable damage from his sudden, extreme, alcohol intake, but not enough to countenance this kind of organ failure. His body is literally shutting down bit by bit, for no apparent reason at all. Nothing we're giving him is slowing the process."
"So what can you do?" Alice felt the last thread holding the button in place snap. How poetic, considering her father was her last tie to New London, and a frail one at that.
Dr Ross shrugged, helpless. "Until we know what's wrong there's nothing we can do. We can make him comfortable, but apart from that…" She rested her hand atop Alice's chilled one. "Would you like to see him?"
Every part of her screamed that no, she didn't want to see her father, but she nodded and followed the statuesque woman to her father's room.
He looked so small, so fragile, lying grey-skinned in the hospital bed. So different from the ruddy-cheeked, loud man she had known. A pillar of the community, a key member of the fire brigade for forty years, and here he was, still and shrunken in one of those papery hospital gowns. She wrapped her arms about herself, marking how strange it felt to be the one standing above now. For so many years it had been him looming over her.
"I know it may be a personal question," Dr Ross said, breaking the painful silence, "but is your mother still around?"
Alice answered without turning. "She died when I was three. Car accident."
"I'm sorry."
The doctor may have felt sorry, but Alice was past caring. Mentioning her mother brought back every painful memory of what living with her father without her had been like.
Cold.
Emotionless.
Trying to live up to impossible standards every day of her life.
Well, now she was done.
She turned to go without another look but Dr Ross stopped her.
"I have his personal effects here." She gestured to a plastic bag laid on his bedside table. "I thought I'd better leave it until you came. Just in case you needed something."
A message over the PA informed that Dr Ross was needed on the second floor and so she excused herself, leaving Alice alone with her father.
Wandering over to the bed she picked up the bag, frowning. There was the leather bracelet he never took off, along with his wedding ring, and the silver crucifix that had been her mother's. Alice fished it out and put it on. She'd wanted it for years but her father wouldn't be parted from it, not even for his daughter.
She noted the absence of his watch, the golden timepiece given to him on retirement from the fire service nearly a year before.
On a whim she drew out his wallet, deciding he could at least stand her lunch considering how much the bus ticket here had cost. Much to her chagrin the wallet was all but empty: only a dollar and twenty cents in change.
Underneath the wallet sat a neat cellophane bag, tied with a gold plastic ribbon. Inside were dozens of colourful sweets – orange, green, blue, yellow, red, all glittering like jewels. Strange, her father never indulged in this sort of thing. She pulled the bag out, turning it about, examining it.
All Natural Fruit Candies by Green Valley Confectioners.
With a shrug Alice opened the packet and popped one into her mouth. They were pretty good - fruity. She found her father's house keys and stuffed the rest into her back-pack to deal with later.
"See you tomorrow, Dad," she said, not looking at the man hooked up the machines as she headed for the door.
Just as she reached it, the door opened and a nurse rushed in. She was short, not much taller than a child, everything about her completely forgettable. Except for her eyes. They were a glowing green, almost yellow in places.
Alice couldn't help but stare at them, fascinated.
"I'm sorry," the woman said. "Did I disturb you?"
"No, no. I was just leaving." Alice peered closer, then realised she must seem rude, staring at a stranger's eyes like a crazy person. "Sorry if I sound a little creepy, but…are those contacts?"
The nurse shook her head, a strange smile pulling at her lips. "No, dear, these are mine. Actually, I'm glad I caught you. I just need you to sign this form." She thrust the clipboard out.
Alice dug around in her pocket for a pen, finding a cheap biro she had picked up in the college library. After signing in three different places for things she was less than certain about she handed the form back.
As she moved towards the door there was a sharp pain in her scalp and she flung her hand up to soothe it. Strange…
"Are you alright, dear?" the nurse asked.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine," Alice replied, massaging the area. Without another word she left, her boot heels clicking on the hospital floor.
The nurse smiled again, her face curling and crinkling to hold the leer. Wrapped around her fingers were several long, shining strands of hair, plucked from Alice as she passed. They flared with light before vanishing from her hand. Then, with the hiss of a strong breeze, she too disappeared, leaving only the clipboard to clatter to the floor.