Chapter 06

Freyja had enough food in the Armory but wanted to eat something she hadn’t made herself. Something sweet and nasty. Which was why she had gotten up early to swing by Burger Hat for the Big ‘ol Breakfast before they stopped serving it.

I can’t believe I got those drops on that cat last night. I should’ve done it before I took a shower, though.

Odin was a remarkably sweet cat. Sure, he looked like walking roadkill and smelled just about as bad as the house did, but he had greeted her when she got home from the gym the night before. And, again in the morning today. It was as if the cat was thankful for an owner who wasn’t a total piece of shit. He had even rubbed up against her legs and purred after she put the flea medicine on his back without protest.

She was almost done with the syrup infused pancakes when her phone rang. Gunner was one of the few people who had her number, so she didn’t even bother to check the caller I.D. before answering.

“Gee?”

“Freyja, you up?”

“Yeah, just eating breakfast,” she replied.

“He’s awake.”

She nearly dropped her fork.

“What?”

“He just woke up. Can you make it to the hospital?”

“I’ll be right there.”

Freyja hated wasting food. So, she finished eating as quickly as she could without choking, and then headed to the hospital. She didn’t rush, though. It wasn’t like the Old Man would rush for her or Gunner. No, she took her time driving, being sure to stay safe.

“You got here quick,” Gunner said when she arrived at the room.

“I really didn’t.”

“Maybe it’s just because I’m so tired? Doesn’t matter. He’s awake, Freyja,” Gunner said.

He wasn’t joking. Gunner looked like he’d been dragged behind a truck. She wasn’t sure when he had slept if at all.

“You mentioned that on the phone. What do we do? Did he want to see me or something?”

“That’s the thing. He doesn’t seem to know what’s going on. The doctors aren’t optimistic,” Gunner said.

“Is he catatonic?”

“No, but...y-you just have to see him yourself, I guess,” Gunner said. He paused his hand over the door. “If you want. I won’t make you do this, Freyja.”

She shook her head. “No. No, I need to see him.”

The two siblings went into the hospital room. In the bed sat the Old Man, their father, a shell of who he’d been when she’d seen him last as a child. Hollow and pale, save for his elaborate botanical tattoos that covered his wrinkled body. His lips moved silently, barely enough to move his wild white beard, just little “ma, ma, ma, ma’s” and “tra, tra, tras” as far as Freyja could tell. He only seemed to notice them when Gunner shut the door. Then, he stared at them distantly for a moment, his eyes watery.

Finally, he spoke, his voice soft and broken, “I was a tree.”

That was not what Freyja expected.

“I was a tree,” he said again. Suddenly, he looked down at his knobby gnarled hands. “Couldn’t hurt nobody as a tree. I was a tree and it was good. Only way I did any good in my life. I was a good tree. Had little trees. Bad man but a good tree.”

“What the fuck?”

“I was a good tree. A good tree,” he said with a nod.

Freyja turned to her big brother, confusion on her face. This was their father? This was the Old Man who had put them through hel as children? What was left of him? Did he even remember all the pain he had caused them when she was little?

“He doesn’t seem to respond to people, or know what’s going on. He just mumbles about being a tree, Freyja. The doctors said the MRI’s don’t look good. They don’t k-know how long he has but...”

She couldn’t believe it but Gunner looked like he was about to cry. Was it just because he was so tired? There couldn’t possibly be any reason he should feel bad for the Old Man. Still, her brother needed her, so she reached up and gave him as big a hug as she could.

“It’s okay, Gee. It’s okay,” she all but chanted.

He hugged her back and patted her head, just like when she was little. She didn’t know what they were supposed to do now. The Old Man wasn’t dead, no. But he wasn’t really there, was he? Could she really say the man in the bed was Elmer Armitage? The man who accused her mother of cheating on him? Who didn’t weep after she died? The man who had hit her brother? The one who drank and screamed and never had food in the house when she was a child? The reason she and Gunner got most of their meals from neighbors as kids? The man who didn’t care enough to make sure she had clean clothing or got to school?

“Was nice being a tree,” he mumbled.

She buried her face in her brother’s t-shirt. He was tall enough that she wound up nestled just above his full belly. She could hear his heart beating, strong and fast.

His anxiety.

She squeezed him harder before saying, “I’m thirsty. Can you show me where the vending machines are?”

“Uh, yeah, s-sure,” Gunner said with a nod.

Freyja guided her older brother back out of the hospital room before letting him lead her down the hall to a waiting area where an overpriced pair of vending machines hummed side by side. She wasn’t really that thirsty but bought a bottle of Lemon Time soda anyway. Meanwhile, Gunner collapsed on one of the chairs nearby, hanging his head in his hands.

“You need to get some sleep, Gee,” she said after sipping from the drink. “The people here at the hospital can take care of him.”

“I know that but, still...why d-d-do I feel like I need to do this, Freyja? I...j-just...I don’t know,” he replied through racking sobs and stutters.

She sat down next to him, gently patting his back.

“He was the worst person in the world. Yeah...we’re the only relatives he has...but...I couldn’t j-just leave him alone, you know? What does that mean? After all the sh-shit he put us through as k-kids? Why can’t I j-j-just leave?”

“You did leave. With me. You got me out of that house when I was eight, Gee. You got us both out. You saved us. You saved me.”

“I...j-j-just...can’t...”

“It’s okay,” she said as she hugged her brother. “It’s okay, Gee. You’re okay now. We’re both okay now.”

“Code Blue. Code Blue room 403. Code Blue,” the hospital intercom said robotically. “Code Blue room 403. Code Blue.”

“Holy shit, that’s his room,” Freyja breathed.

She got to her feet and looked down the hallway just as several nurses rushed to the Old Man’s room. Gunner followed suit, careful not to knock her over. They both froze, just staring. A blue emergency light flashed on the wall near them. Time seemed to slow. One of the nurses rushed to them, asking them to stay where they were. The hospital staff was doing everything they could to save their father, she explained, but they needed to stay put. An alarm sounded, but all noise blended together.

The grim looks on faces as people left the hospital room some time later told Freyja and Gunner everything they needed to know. Freyja was barely able to keep her brother from hitting the floor at full force. She managed to slow him as he collapsed in tears. She couldn’t cry. If anyone asked it was because she was in shock, but she knew, deep down, it was because she was happy.

Overjoyed.

Ecstatic.

He’s finally dead.

“It’s okay, Gee. It’s gonna be okay,” she said as she hugged her brother again. “We’re gonna be okay.”