A Night With My Boss

“Consider me your first real friend then, words cannot explain how grateful I am to you for the help you gave me when I was tracking down Skyler….. I couldn’t have done it without you” If not for the detective I would have gone to jail way before Skyler would be brought to justice, he was the one who gave me the money I used to board a cab, he took the risk and hacked into Skyler’s bank account and pinpointed her location even way before I got any leads on her. Thomas was the hand karma used to pull the trigger and ended Skyler’s tyranny that left blood in its trail.

“I was just helping out a friend so it wasn’t that much of a big deal” Thomas said modestly, he’s always being modest. He gave a salute then headed back to his office in the police station, I went back to the others in the waiting room praying for Petra.

Two days after Petra was shot and things eased up a bit for everybody… except me. I went to see her every day after work and her condition was neither deteriorating or getting better, she was just there unconscious, unable to speak or hear me. I still talk to her nonetheless.

“Hey baby, what’s up?” I said as I entered her room, I switched the flowers in her base with the fresh ones I bought and made myself comfortable in a chair close to her bed.

“I got roses this time I know how much you love the colour red so I brought red roses to give that passionate vibrance you like” I said knowing I will get no reply other than the ‘beep beep’ of the machines, the whirling of the fan in motion. I knew she wasn’t going to suddenly wake up and sniff the flowers and say “They are so lovely darling” in her sweet charming manner but I still kept talking anyway.

“Handling the press has been hard without your help, they have been asking questions that I know only you can answer…. Well I can’t waste any more tears crying right?” As much as I tried to control myself I could not stop the tears that were rolling down my cheeks. One of the press reporters asked one question that made me worry.

“What if Petra doesn’t wake up? What would be the future for you and the baby?” The reporter had asked the question innocently but it tore my soul to pieces. I was so devastated I couldn’t say anything afterwards so I skipped the rest of the questioning much to the surprise of the rest of the reporters. I managed to clear my doubts aside with our baby as a hope that she is going to wake up before the child is taken out of the incubator.

“Preston’s leg is getting better though he’ll be using his crutches for a while but he will walk without them sooner than we think” I was interrupted by the arrival of Eva who brought a teddy with the words ‘Welcome home’ written on it.

“Hello Alex, it’s a pleasant surprise to see you here because you just went ghost on us after-“.

“I was busy with work. I’m sorry, How are you doing Eva?”.

“I’m doing good, what about you?” She was obviously surprised at my giddy nature.

“I’ve been busy busy all the time answering the the press unending questions and catching up on the work I’ve missed for the past few days” I replied in a robotic manner because right now all I wanted was some time alone with Petra but apparently I’m not going to get that now that Eva is here but I still talked to her though, we discussed about a wide variety of things and in the end I ended up feeling better because of her company, I wasn’t suffering alone I had people who understood my pain and the kind of loss I feel.

Seconds turned into minutes, Minutes turned into hours, Hours turned into days and days into weeks but Petra still hadn’t woken up yet. At first I was still full of brimming hope that she will wake up soon but now my faith wan thin as the time progressed, The doctor said all is in God’s hands now because there was nothing else they could do to make her wake up, the baby was kept in the incubator until his mother makes a sign of consciousness. It was the third week of her coma and I came for my usual after work visit.

“I’m here again babyyyy” I said trying to cheer myself up by talking in the usual way she likes but I wasn’t feeling any vibe at all from the antics. I didn’t say much after that. I just sat in my usual position on the chair opposite her, staring at nothing, just listening to the machine’s beep and reminiscing of the times I had spent with Petra. I wasn’t aware that the doctor had now entered the room.

“Mr Montero you’re here again” The doctor greeted me as soon as I noticed his presence, I gave him a weak smile which was short lived.

“I’m not going to lose faith doc, not by a long shot”.

“Your faith will not be in vain I pray, your son is being fed now, I came here to ask if you’d like to see him?” The baby is being fed formula until he can get his breast milk from his mother, as I witnessed that wonderful sight I made a strange request.

“Can I take him to see his mother in the other room?” I asked the maternal nurse.

“Yeah sure, but don’t take long” She said handing me my son, I looked at his eyes and I saw Petra in them, I saw hope in my eyes and I was filled with a strange warm feeling. I took him inside Petra’s room and started talking to him playfully.

“That’s your mommy little fella, say hi to mommy” His head tilted to her direction as if he understood what I was saying, he looked at Petra long and hard then he started crying.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“Hey don’t cry, it’s okay mommy is only sleeping she will play with you soon….. You’re my little man and men don’t cry” I said playfully trying to shush him but his crying got louder and I’m sure the nurse would be on her way here to snatch him back. Petra had stirred!!, at first I wasn’t sure if she had moved her hand subconsciously but now she stirred again, awakened by the sound of her son’s cry.

With a smile on her face and tears of joy, the whole Alex Montero’s family was finally in peace and reunited in love and harmony.

THE END