Where Foxes Hunt with Wolves (Folk Lore 2)

Radek was so happy in the cozy bubble he, Yev, and Coal had made that he groaned at the sound of Yev’s landline, but one glance from his lover was enough to make Radek slide off him and pick up the handset. “Hello, this is Radek.”

He was surprised to hear a raspy female voice on the other end of the line. “Radek! So happy I got to you. Your Mother fell and broke her arm. She also hit her head, so they kept her at the hospital for observation.”

“What? When? I mean… which hospital?” he asked, and made note of the address, his head thudding with sudden heat.

Most importantly, it seemed that Mom was fine, but the news hit him like a truckload of bricks, and there was no escaping the fact that he’d fucked up. His mom wasn’t the nicest of people, their spats had often turned ugly, but in her convoluted way, she meant well, and Radek had to at least try to make some kind of amends.

He would have regretted it if the last thing he’d ever said to his mother was that he hated her.

Radek looked to Yev as soon as he finished talking to Mrs. Irena.

“Will you come with me to the hospital?” Because Yev had perfect hearing and undoubtedly got every detail of the conversation.

Yev put Coal down and stood. “I’ll follow you wherever you need to go.”

Chapter 26 – Radek

This wasn’t Mom’s first time in a hospital, but she’d been diagnosed while Dad was still alive, and whenever she needed medical attention since then, it had never been anything serious. Not serious enough to warrant the long trip from Cracow at least. But now that he walked the long corridor, tapping his feet against the laminate floor, his stomach was gradually shrinking with worry.

He’d never been fond of hospitals. Disliked their somber atmosphere, and felt guilty over ignoring all the elderly people walking the hallways in warm bathrobes.

The building was so quiet, and while the medical staff talked to one another as if it were any other day at the office, he sensed a growing tension the farther away he was from the main entrance.

Why, oh, why were hospitals so massive? It almost felt as if he might get lost somewhere in their underground level and never come back.

“Mrs. Irena said it’s just a precaution,” Yev said softly.

Radek realized he must have been giving off bad vibes, but it only made sense. The smell of disinfectant was getting to him and he wondered how many people died within these walls in the past month.

“I just… I instantly thought that maybe if I’d been home, she wouldn’t have fallen.”

Yev looked ahead, at a young man who pushed an elderly patient’s wheelchair while they chatted about their plans for Easter, and discreetly stroked Radek’s back. “It’s a big house, and you can’t be with her all the time.”

The box of chocolates Yev had made him buy downstairs was getting damp where Radek held it, but as they disinfected their hands and entered the appropriate ward, heat shot into Radek’s head, rendering him so useless Yev had to ask for Mom’s location for him.

Room 221.

It was all the way at the end of the hallway, and Radek was glad that Mom would spend the observation period in the newly-renovated wing, which even had some posters put up on the walls to create an illusion of normalcy.

Still, as they approached the entrance, he stalled and only entered once Yev did.

Two beds stood along the wall, one occupied, one empty, both facing a television set that played some kind of family drama show with terrible acting.

Mom glanced their way, revealing a horrific bruise on her cheekbone and brow. It looked as if some wild beast had mangled her flesh.

“Mom… How are you?” he asked, walking up to her with the chocolates as she silently eyed Yev.

From up close, her skin seemed swollen, in shades ranging from magenta to blue, and her left hand was in a fresh cast, but her gaze remained perfectly sober. Radek hadn’t seen her without coiffed hair and elegant makeup for years, and now that her hair was damp from whatever treatment she’d gotten earlier, and her face washed, she seemed unguarded. Frail like a much older woman.

“You came,” she said. There was a hint of anger there, as if she wanted to point out the many things he had not come for, but Radek chose to ignore it for once.

“Of course.” He sat on a stool Yev had gotten from somewhere, and put the chocolates on Mom’s side table, tentatively holding his hand out for hers.

She hesitated for a full second but squeezed his fingers in the end. Her skin was smooth, as if she applied ointment every hour, and the realization how rarely he touched her hit him with insidious subtlety. Guilt was a long needle stuck in his heart, but he decided he’d keep his cool.