Henry had been in the waiting room of the ER for about twenty minutes before Mr. Goodman ran into the ward.
Henry looked up, not sure whether he should be worried about what Mr. Goodman would say to him or not.
"Mr. Goodman... I-"
"Henry," he said, blinking. "Why are you here?"
"It's my fault." Henry dropped his head into his hands and quickly wiped the moisture from his eyes that had appeared there. "I was... to late. I came to take her home... but I was late, and then this happened."
"Oh my God," Dan said, and he dropped into a chair next to Henry, his hands shaking. Henry didn't know what else to say. He didn't want to cry in front of Nat's dad- that would be embarrassing. But he seemed dangerously close, and he didn't want to talk about Nat anymore. The two sat in silence until a nurse came into the waiting room.
"Daniel Goodman?" she asked, and Nat's dad stood up. She spoke quietly and intensely, but Henry could hear most of what she said.
"...lots of drugs in her system, she's getting her stomach pumped. She also has a concussion, several broken ribs, her left wrist is fractured, and some internal bleeding. She has severe bruising on her face, arms, and neck. We're doing what we can, and she's stable. She'll be kept sedated for a few days, but when she wakes up be prepared. She'll have mental scarring and emotional problems from an incident like this. Oftentimes when a stranger attacks a person, it can lead to paranoia and distrust..."
Henry stopped listening.
It was a few hours later when Dan woke from his stupor. Thus far he'd been preoccupied, worrying about losing Natalie as well as losing Diana... no. He wouldn't lose either of them. He couldn't. But even thinking about losing Natalie was terrifying. The thought clutched at his heart. He'd been taking her for granted, he'd been a horrible father. And then this happened, like punishment. But why did Natalie have to be punished for his neglect? Why couldn't he be punished?
But nevertheless, at around six in the morning, Dan shook his head and came back to reality. He turned to Henry, who was staring at a patch of stained wallpaper with a hypnotized look in his eyes.
"Hey," Dan said to the kid. "Call your mom."
"Huh?" Henry said, looking at Nat's dad.
"Your mom's gonna be up soon, and she's going to worry about you. I'm guessing she didn't know you were out."
"No, she didn't," Henry confessed, and then got up to call his mom. Mr. Goodman was right- he didn't want to scare his mom.
"Henry?" his mom answered, sounding worried already. Too late- he'd already scared her.
"Hey, mom. I'm at the hospital right now," he told her, and then quickly explained it wasn't he who was hurt.
"Natalie?" she exclaimed. "Is she ok?"
"No," Henry said bitterly. "She... she was..." He gathered up his strength so he could say it. "She was raped. And beaten. But she's... going to live."
He cringed right after he said it. Then he continued. "So I'm here at the hospital. She'll be sedated for awhile, but I wanna stay. At least until they figure out something permanent... can you call the school and tell them I won't be there today?"
"Of course," his mom said kindly. "I feel horrible. Where did it happen?"
"I don't really want to talk about it right now, mom," Henry said.
"Oh, sorry," she said. "I can stop by at my lunch break, ok? I love you, honey. This will work out."
"Thanks... I hope so. Love you too."
When he returned, he and Mr. Goodman sat in silence again. Henry could sense that he wanted to ask about what Nat had been doing out, but he wasn't ready it. And Henry wasn't ready to tell. He wouldn't be ready to talk about what happened until he was one hundred percent sure that Nat was going to be ok.
This was all his fault... if only he'd come when she asked him to, none of this would have happened...
Hours later, Henry's mom called him on his cell phone. She was in the lobby of the hospital, and had brought something for him to eat. Henry wasn't hungry at all, but he went down anyway, telling his mom some more details about the prognosis. The broken bones, internal bleeding...
"She's still sedated, and they say she's going to be alright," Henry said. "I'm gonna stay awhile longer, though... but they said she won't wake up for a few days. I should be home this afternoon," he told his mom. He wasn't allowed to stay with Natalie anyway, just wait in the waiting room. Visiting hours were kind of a moot point anyway.
When he came back into the waiting room, Mr. Goodman's face was white.
"They caught somebody," he whispered, his voice hoarse. "The people at the club... witnesses and the police... they think they got the guy. But they'll need Natalie to identify him."
"Will she even remember?" Henry asked, wondering if this entire incident would be lost in the back of her mind, due to all the drugs.
"I have no idea," Dan said.
"So you want her to get close enough to see him?" Henry said angrily. "What do you think that will do to her if she does remember? Nothing good! It's going to horrify her, and she's gonna be messed up for life! Why would anyone think it was a good idea to do this?"
"Henry, I don't think she'll have to be there with him... it'll be a picture or something-"
"You don't even care!" Henry exclaimed. "Do you even love her?"
Then all the sudden the blood ran out of him.
Oh my God, he thought. Did I really just say that?
"Oh God, Mr. Goodman- I- holy shit I'm such an idiot. I'm sorry- I'm freaking out here about her and I'm tired and I'm sorry-" he didn't want this guy to like, hate him. Yeah, he thought Nat's dad treated her with less than what she deserved, but he did not deserve to hear this. He loved her, Henry knew that.
Dan glared at Henry, and got up.
"I think you should go home now," he said bitterly.
Henry bit his lip. I have as much right to stay here as anyone else, he wanted to say, but stopped himself. Nat wasn't gonna wake up today and he needed sleep. She was going to be ok. He'd be back tomorrow, and maybe not say something idiotic to her dad.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, he thought to himself as he left the hospital. The world must hate him.
Thoughts?