KAEL
The room was very quiet.
I sat down in the chair near the wall. Not close. A careful amount of space between me and the bed, which I was fully aware of and didn't adjust. My father watched me settle and didn't say anything about it.
I looked at the floor. Then the window. Then my hands.
I had come here with no plan and was only now fully understanding what a stupid idea that had been, because now I was sitting in a chair in my dying father's hospital room at some point past midnight and I had absolutely nothing prepared to say.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, he spoke first.
"Are you here to tell me to stay away from her?" he asked.
I looked at him properly then.
He looked worse lying down than he had in the wheelchair in the garden. Thinner. The blanket was pulled up and the IV ran along his arm and the light in the room was low and warm and made everything look gentler than it was. His eyes were still sharp, though. That hadn't changed.
