Lynn sighed as she listened to her two coworkers bicker back and forth before deciding she should clock out early. They were known to go for fifteen minute rounds of high pitched arguing before finally giving the routine a rest and Lynn didn't have fifteen minutes to do. She had to get back home to her baby. Single mothers need fucking awards, she thought numbly, it was hardly any fun and as rewarding as her little guys face was when he playfully grinned in genuine joy to see her home, sometimes she just couldn't melt out of the cold exterior of her work.
Being a nurse for the Covenant victims too injured to stay in the army was difficult. The soldiers, battered within hours of their life, were honorably discharged and sent back to Lynn and her crew, only to be put on hospice and have their families informed about the upcoming funeral costs they wouldn't be able to afford.
It hurt to know the pain in their eyes, the sobs in their voices when they tried to speak clearly. It was difficult, and Lynn prayed every night, with her little man at her side that she wouldn't find her husband on her table as she gave him the best she could offer to help him die in peace. There weren't any lives saved really, just extended. But she and her crew did the best they could and sometimes that wasn't enough to play God. Sometimes...sometimes it was just the end of the line and all you could say was goodbye. That cold fire ignited when you realized, that despite all you had done, you had been fooled- by yourself no less- to think you could make miracles happen. Caleen and T.L were the head doctors and when they fucked up, everyone knew. That's when the arguments started. Lynn wasn't waiting for it to end.
They could cut her pay if they wanted to. Her baby was waiting.
Her David.
She stood from her desk, wrapped her coat over her scrubs and logged off her computer; cleaning her mind of the data she had just inputted. Of the deaths she had just cataloged. She closed her eyes once and then spoke over her shouting bosses.
"I'm leaving early today. David is at home alone and I would like to see him off to school in the morning." She checked her watch and frowned at the blinking 12: 57 A.M. She exhaled, realizing she hadn't been loud enough to overshadow Caleen's shrill accusations and T.L's commanding insults. A dead soldier lay between them on the operating table. T.L paused long enough to notice her facial expression and waved his hand in approval of her request, not caring at the moment what that request was. She happily explained nothing and left the building.
Once she had arrived on the doorstep she summoned a smile, a real smile and pulled out her keys to unlock the door. She didn't though. She waited for a familiar fury of footsteps to meet the jingling keys and a series of twists to throw the door open in excitement. But David didn't meet her at the door. She waited no longer and unlocked it herself, pushing it open and throwing her stuff to the side to glare around the empty house. It was huge thanks to her occupation and her husband's status as a soldier, so honestly she shouldn't have been worried.
Even she sometimes got lost in the damn house. But David was here all day after school and he knew every room like the body he owned.
"David!" She shut the door after a chilled breeze reminded her it was open and twisted her head around. A whimper found her ear and she followed it up the stairs and into David's room. She scanned, found nothing and groaned, "Dave...What's the matter baby?"
"Mom?" Came the disembodied reply.
She turned towards the heating vent and smiled. He was in the basement. The vents made for good games of telephone sometimes. She flew back down the stairs and then down another set behind the hallway, finding her sons slouched form on the stairs. His hands covered his eyes and he was obviously distressed.
"What's wrong baby?"
"Lynn...Mom. I am so sorry I-I tried to...to-you know- wash my own sheets but..."
Wash sheets? Ah, he had an accident. She sighed and he reacted with further fear. His hands gesturing wildly.
"I'm sorry! I didn't drink anything before I went to sleep and I went to the bathroom first too, but still-"
"David, it's alright. Accidents happen-"
"They're not supposed to happen this often, mom! And it's not just the stupid bed! I tried to wash them and the damn-"
"David!" She snarled.
"The dumb thing overflowed and now the washer won't work either!"
Good Lord...
"It looks like our whole family had a bad case of poor luck, huh..." She descended the stairs and draped her coat over his pj clad form before inspecting the washer. Her eyes lit with horror when she saw the machine had basically been flipped to its side. "How in the hell-Da-You..." She cleared her throat and her rage, "It's alright baby. How about we get you into bed. Did you wash yourself up?"
He shrugged sheepishly, "Not really. I wanted to get the sheets clean before you got off and I didn't know you'd be home...early."
So that's why he didn't greet me. I forgot.
"So you've been soaking in your own piss this whole time? David that is absolutely unna-"
"Well, no, see I fought the washer-"
"You fought the washer."
"Listen! It was jumping around everywhere and so I grabbed it but it was stronger and it- like- lunged at me and then it...it flipped over." He muttered.
"What's that have to do with you washing your ass David?"
"Well the washer was overflowing really bad, so I got wash water all over myself."
She looked away from those narrowed gray-hazel eyes and took in the fact that the hem of his pajama pants were dripping.
"Upstairs, David. Upstairs for a bath...I'll deal with this tomorrow." She stepped over him and he immediately followed after her, dark hair mildly curled in its dampness. He stopped by her side and took her hand.
"Do you forgive me?"
"As long as you promise to never ever try anything like that when I'm not home again. You're only eight."
"...I'm sorry."
He leaned into her hand and sighed, "How was work?"
"Work, sweetie, was work. Nothing more and nothing less. I seen a lot of people die today, just like yesterday. Just like tomorrow."
"You'll save someone one day." He said flatly.
"Really?" She sat down by the banister, outside the bathroom door, "And what wise man told you that?"
"Dad."
She shot him a look, "When did you talk to him?"
"He was in the nightmare I had. He was hurt and he was looking for you. But, I told him not to because people who come to you usually die and he said that."
"What?"
"I know, I didn't get it either. He said that you'll save someone someday. He said we couldn't possibly be so cursed. I said, 'yeah you're right' and then I walked with him to your hospital place and T.L and that loud lady operated and he just died. It was the worst dream ever."
"Of all time, it sounds like. That's horrible. Was I in it?"
He turned over to her and frowned in scrutiny, racking his memory. "No. But T.L's daughter was in it. That girl that I played with last week."
"C.T. I still don't know that girls real name. She goes by her initials like her dad. What happened to you? In the dream?"
"I went to find you, and then I woke up and..." His eyes glazed over with the faraway look his father perfected the last time he'd sent Lynn a picture. Clearly the answer was a heavy one.
"Proceeded to fuck up my washer and the sheets I just bought you?" She offered.
"Yeah." He laughed. She pressed her hand on top of his messy spikes/curls and jostled his head, soliciting soft giggles for her antic.
"I like your afro."
"Thanks. I like your crew cut."
She ran a hand over her neatly styled short hair, "Its not a crew cut."
"Its not an afro," He mocked her.
"Touche'."
She let his hair go and he leaned into her side.
"You know, mom." He went inside and began running his own water, something Lynn hadn't even known he knew how to do, and stripped his clothes off.
"Yeah?"
"I thought today was going to be the worst day ever, but you just made it way better."
