Losing Her Wings

Chapter 29

Raya could hear Paige crying as she ran downstairs to the living room phone, surprised when she heard their mother shouting at her, blaming her for bringing on Julius’s condition. Surely it was no time to place the blame on someone, especially when Paige already felt so obviously responsible, crying into Danny’s shoulder as they watched helplessly while Silvia helped Julius into their bedroom, handing him a handkerchief, that he simply held to his mouth to catch the small coughs of blood that seemed to be choking him as he struggled for breath. There was a long, intense moment where all Raya could hear was the ringing of the phone and then suddenly, a tired, groggy voice answered and the tears released themselves now that there was someone to be strong for her. “Angelo…” And although her voice was nothing more than a scared whisper, it spoke to Angelo in volumes as he wiped his eyes and tried to wake up, sitting up in bed immediately.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, pushing the covers away from himself as he felt around for the light switch to his bedside lamp, frowning when he couldn’t find it.

“It’s papà…there’s…I…” She cried, unable to hold it in any longer. She wanted so much to be strong for everyone, knowing how difficult it was for them to concentrate and pull themselves together, put it was so hard. She was so scared. “I don’t know…he was arguing with Paige and…”

“Shh…Raya it’s alright.” Angelo soothed softly, knowing instinctively what was wrong as he managed to find his keys on his bedside table and carried the cordless phone over to his bedroom door, lifting his jeans from the chair that sat just inside the door. “I’ll be right there. I’m only a minute away. Everything’s going to be fine, I promise.” He vowed faithfully, soothing a little of her fears with his ability to know exactly what was wrong when she was nothing more than a blithering mess.

“Alright.” With that reassurance that there was going to be someone to look after her father, Raya hung up the phone and let Angelo go. But he knew that whatever reassurance he had given her wouldn’t be enough to stop her from thinking that it was the events of her real fathers illness happening all over again. Because of that, he rushed into his jeans, fumbling about in the dark as he made his way to the front door of his small country villa, cursing out loud when he banged into the corner of the l-shaped sofa on the way. And once he found his way outside, the street lamps giving much more light to his driveway that it was to the inside of the house, Angelo slotted the car keys into his sports car and drove off. He was so worried about Julius and the girls, that he gave no thought to the fact that, because it was two o’clock in the morning and he’d gone to bed around half twelve because of his early afternoon flight at half past one, he was bare foot, shirtless and only dressed in the simple pair of jeans that he’d managed to find lounging about his bedroom. But right now, clothes didn’t matter. What mattered was that Raya and Paige were clueless as to what was wrong with their father and Silvia wasn’t qualified to do any of the medical procedures that needed done when Julius had gone into another of his severe panic attacks. No, what mattered was that he was needed and he was going to be there and do all that he could to make sure that Julius was alright. After all, he hadn’t done that year long training course with Julius’s doctor for nothing.

*****

Devin was having a crap day until he bumped into Ryan late after dinner. It was coming on seven o’clock in the evening and he was heading back out to see Pepper after her tutoring when he was surprised by Ryan running up to him and stopping so abruptly that he had to step back in order to avoid a collision. He looked happy, almost excited and he was wondering what was going on. He was about to ask him what made him so happy when he noticed the faint smell of perfume from him, having to lean forward and take a second sniff before he could place the familiar scent. Skylar, it had to be. She was the only one he knew of who smelled like flowers every second of the day. He wasn’t sure if he approved or not, he knew he had been hitting on her and so far she had resisted, but he knew no more than that. Whether or not she had a thing for him in return was something he couldn’t find out without speaking to her first. “Alright, what do you want?” Devin sighed, well aware that he was about to ask for something that usually turned out to be money orientated but then the kid didn’t have a job, he only worked during spring, summer and winter breaks from campus so that he could focus on his lectures. He couldn’t blame him for asking for the rare bit of cash every now and again when he only ever asked for stuff for uni. And that was nothing bad.