Half life

Help Me Out

“Alright, Doc. I will do just that.” Dad said happily as he led me out of the hospital towards his white range rover salon car parked in between shady trees at the exit of the hospital. Doc. Henry was perhaps giving him some friendly advices as to how to hasten my healing process. “Damn it feels good to be free again.” I muttered under my breath. I don’t think I really enjoyed my stay in the hospital apart from my short walk with Dad three days ago. The nurses too to some extent made staying in the hospital a bit better for me.

“Eww!” I half yelled in displeasure, attracting Dad’s attention.

“What is it dear?” Dad inquired with concern written all over his face.

I’m just excited we are going back home at last.” I replied grinning wearily. That was not the reason, I just remembered the old grumpy and cruel nurse that gave me my last medication. Damn that woman is an old witch. She wouldn’t even take it gently with me. Perhaps she was an ex-service woman and must have switched to healthcare services after retirement.

“Whatever I don’t give a damn” I muttered dismissively.

“Get in.” Dad said, opening the backseat door with much agility. I gently shoved myself inside like a slave at the mercy of his master and fastened my seatbelt swiftly while he shut the door and walked over to the driver side.

Dad got in and began to nibble at the numerous buttons on the dashboard while I waited impatiently for the engine to spring to life. After much hesitation he ignited the car key and soon enough we were out of the hospital gate. Turning abruptly to the left we headed for the major road.

“I will have to go to the office after dropping you off.” Came Dad’s voice few seconds later piercing through the long dead silence in the car like a penknife cutting through an iced cake. As he must have anticipated, I didn’t reply but shrugged my shoulders.

“But not to worry, I’ll be back soon” He added sharply and then focused on the road while I stared into the rear mirror.

“Not too bad anyway, besides who cares even if I look gross.” I muttered after exhaling deeply and caressing my pale face and then drifted shortly into another round of thoughts. Of course my young mind was swiveling with a lot of questions and about how I was going to cope without mum in that cold and lonely hell of a home. But most importantly why she had to leave and couldn’t at least come see me during my stay at the hospital. Perhaps Dad was right about her from the very start. I didn’t mean anything to her in the first place. If I did, she would have at least come see me. No what if she has no faintest idea about your where about these past days the other mind countered. And what if dad did tell her about my accident? Dad most have told her I’m sure about that. I peered into the rear mirror again and tucked my silky messy hair behind my ears and focused on the drive this time paying full attention to the incoming vehicles, mostly fleets of Bentleys and G wagons moving swiftly towards our direction. Dad kept on throttling aggressively in silence but slowed down on sighting a partial gridlock that was beginning to pull 200 meters ahead. As we approached the traffic I peered closely at my sides only to see 2 kids of my age grinning wildly as they munched their cheese balls with delight while a woman donned in a yellow T-shirt and a dark-blue demin jean to match sat quietly at the left inside a car beside ours.

“A pair of little spoilt brats” I cursed underneath my breath and looked away.

“Huh, did you say something?” Dad said giving me a cursory look.

“No, yes. Sorry I meant to say no.” I muttered uneasily.

“Okay then” he replied softly then turned towards the dashboard and began to nibble at the buttons.

“What the hell is wrong with you Amanda?. Why the muss? Not like he’s gonna eat you up if you had told him the truth anyway.” I thought quietly to myself and let out a light chuckle.

Shortly soft country music filled the air and outwitted the dead silence reigning for ages in the car. I was quite happy even though I had no idea about the genre of music playing softly at the background but did prefer it to the hell of silence I’ve been immense in since the drive started. By the time we got home it was already noon with the sun lighting up the sky mildly and the little garden beside the car park blooming radiantly in the euphoria of calmness.

While dad drove out I stood quietly at the car park and began to observe the garden.

It was quite shocking the see the plants survive even in mum’s absence. The garden use to be mum’s before she left. It was her who tended and watered it every morning and late at evenings. She had told me years before that the garden had existed long before I was born and Dad had assisted her to make the garden. The garden comprised mainly of two sections; the first section had vegetables like lettuce, spinach and tomatoes. The other section contained wild flowers like hibiscus, sunflower, flamboyant and queen of the night. The garden was bounded by hibiscus flowers on both sides to form an octahedral.

The garden was always tendered and treasured so much by mum.

'I guess she took a part of it with herself maybe that's why it had this shrill stillness'

I thought to myself as I plucked out a tiny stalk of hibiscus.