Chapter 125

The bombing soon stopped, but the people remained frozen from where they’ve been. It lasted a lot shorter than before, almost as if Vellof’s air strike was only supposed to be a warning. A show of power over them. 

Still, the sounds of children crying echoed throughout the silent, quivering crowd. The basement was still as dark and stuffy as before. Then, followed shortly by the despairing sounds of children, were the despondent sighs of the adults around them. 

Among the adults in the shelter was Leyla. She had reached the shelter in time, and now she was huddling in on herself, nervously twiddling with her fingers. Her whole body was aching, having scraped her knee quite a few times as she ran for the shelter. She barely felt them as she was running, but with the sounds stopping, and with herself safe and sound, the pain was finally catching up to her.

At least the tightened coil around her stomach was finally loosening up. 

The entire run from her apartment to here was entirely a blur. All she remembered was bumping into some of the panicking crowd here and there as they all scrambled for shelter, and tried to get out of the streets!

At one point her glasses got thrown off, further delaying her from finding shelter as she tried to locate them quickly enough before resuming her run just in time for an explosion to go off not too far from behind her!

Luckily she had shoes on when she left, but unfortunately lost one of them as she ran to safety. Her socks were soaked, and she’d scraped her feet a couple times from the unsuspecting rubbles here and there, but at least she was still alive. 

She didn’t know how long she had been staying here.

“We must hurry and leave! They’re coming back!” shouted some of the younger men who volunteered to be on the lookout. A slight rumble emerged from the gathered crowd in the chapel’s basement. 

Leyla felt a faint sense of relief about the announcement, and was one of the few who rose to their feet. Eventually, she found herself approaching the basement stairs, where she could see a faint light radiating from.

She hadn’t seen a glimpse of Uncle Bill at all, even as she walked over the huddled crowd. She needed to find him quickly. It was the only thought running through her head as soon as the bombing sounds stopped, and the fear seeping into her bones left her. 

“Are you alright?” a light touch gently jolted her out of her thoughts, and Leyla turned around hastily and saw a stranger looking over at her with great concern.

Leyla could only meekly smile and nod in confirmation, before awkwardly making her leave and following the few people who went up to survey the surface after the bombing. 

The faint smell of rubble and explosives still lingered strongly in the air. And even more structures were reduced to ruins as they emerged. It lasted quicker than before, sure, but the damage was far greater as well, especially in the surrounding areas, compared to the ones in the square.

Her glasses started fogging up, and Leyla scrambled to wipe the moisture away with trembling hands before shakily putting them back on. There were pinpricks in her eyes as she kept blinking back the tears.

She faintly realized that one of her glasses had cracked amongst the commotion. She felt a small solace with that. At least she couldn’t see the destruction as clearly as before. 

But where was Uncle Bill? Was he okay?

He’d been off to work near the ports and informed her that there was also shelter there nearby in case an emergency would strike. Should she meet him there instead?

Or perhaps he was already headed home? The houses across the street had been bombed, but last she knew, their building apartment had been missed. It would be far easier for her, and her feet to just wait for him there. 

She stood still for a moment, before hesitantly walking back down the direction of their apartment. She walked unevenly back, still the thought of seeing Uncle Bill the only thing driving her to move. 

She wanted to hurry up and see him!

“Leyla!”

She paused, her heart leaping in her chest as she heard a familiar voice! She quickly turned around, and found relief in finally seeing a familiar face! 

It was Uncle Allen.

A sinking dread settled in her stomach as she saw he was alone. She’d been certain he’d gone with Uncle Bill to the ports today, why was he alone?

Upon seeing her worry, Uncle Allen tried to get her to calm down for a little, and they exchanged brief hugs.

“Uncle, have you seen Uncle Bill? Did he go home first?” She asked him, “You two must have emerged from the shelter in the ports then, what a relief.” She sighed as he steadied her, letting her grasp his arms tightly.

Leyla looked in the direction she knew their apartment was.

“That means I must go home quickly now, he might be very worried about me then! It was great to see you alive and safe.” She hurriedly bid adieu, but he only grasped her hands firmly, and gently once more. 

Leyla looked back at him, and saw a somber expression on Uncle Allen’s face.

“My dear, I need you to be prepared for what I’m about to tell you, but listen to me, alright?” He started to say gently, but Leyla heard the crack in his voice, and she could feel the bone-chilling dread seep back into her bones.

“Your Uncle Bill, he’s currently in the hospital.”

It was like a rug had been swept under her feet, and Leyla absentmindedly dropped to her knees upon hearing the news! Luckily, Uncle Allen managed to brace her, slightly stopping her from dropping into the rubbled ground beneath them. 

Leyla burst into wails, her hands gripping onto Uncle Allen like a lifeline as he tried to calm her down.

“There’s still time, Leyla, hush now,” he tried to tell her, “We can still hurry up and see him, shh.”

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

There was a buzzing in his ears as his eyes blinked in and out of consciousness. 

Where was he? Why was everything a blur?

It felt like he was being submerged in water. Yet it was odd, he could still feel himself breathing…

The next thing he registered was the numbing pain around his body. He can’t even move his fingers. What happened to him? Why was everything so…

Faint?

He could faintly hear a sound beyond the buzzing, slowly getting closer…

“-cle!”

Was someone calling? Who were they yelling for?”

“Un— ill!”

Why did they sound so familiar?

“UNCLE BILL!”

His eyesight shifted back into focus, and he saw a head of golden hair, and a familiar and pleasant face hovering above him. 

Were her glasses cracked? He should probably find her some new ones as soon as he can. He gave her a beaming smile…

How odd. He couldn’t move his body as well as he could right now. He wanted to get up and hug her. Why was Leyla crying? Did something bad happen to her again?

He tried moving his hand to wipe her tears away like he usually would, but his arms felt heavy, and painful. Perhaps he should try speaking to her to ease her worries instead?

He tried opening his mouth, and speaking his reassurances to her…

But no matter how hard he tried, he could only wheeze incoherent sounds out. His voice wasn’t coming out as it usually did. Leyla’s eyes darted from him and to the nurse in the room.

Why was a nurse in their house?

Was he still in their house?

Was Leyla sick?

He tried speaking once again to ask Leyla what had happened, but the pain around his throat kept worsening. 

And then the memories came flooding back like a tidal wave!

Bill had been in the warehouse by the ports, doing his tasks when an explosion suddenly erupted on top of them! He’d been carrying a box of ammunition, getting them ready along with the others to load them into Lovita’s warships!

When the evacuation order was issued, every one of the workers began panicking and rushing all around him! Bill tried to get away from the stampeding crowd as best as he could, but eventually got swept into the middle of the crowd rushing out of the warehouse!

Just as he finally got outside, another resounding explosion blew up nearby, and a domino of explosions was heard as a bomb dropped into one of the ammunition boxes!

Bill had gone back in time, and saw Arvis’ greenhouse exploding in front of him. 

This was all his fault. So he thought in those moments.

If he hadn’t been so petulant about new technology and actually bothered to learn about it, he wouldn’t have driven Leyla into the arms of such a vile man…

They wouldn’t have had to escape from Arvis, and get trapped in a war!

And then he blacked out as something hit him. After that, all he remembered was the sudden pain erupting everywhere in his body. 

Was he being drugged with painkillers? It sure felt like it. Everything was so sluggish, but his eyes returned to see Leyla’s tear-filled ones.

‘Don’t cry,’ he wanted to tell her, ‘You shouldn’t cry for anything else, but happiness.’

She looked at him some more, before she began to sob uncontrollably once more, and Bill’s heart ached to see how much he was hurting her. He could faintly feel her grip on his hand, and wondered how tightly she was holding onto him.

‘This is just a bad dream,’ he thought to himself, ‘Once I wake up, everything will be fine, and Leyla will be happy and safe.’  So he wished wistfully, as he blinked owlishly at Leyla. 

Another person was coming up to Leyla, and Bill watched silently as they exchanged words, and Leyla’s eyes hardened as they moved to remove her from his side.

Bill wanted to frown and chide the person himself. 

Was he a doctor?

‘Damn you doc,’ Bill huffed out angrily upon seeing them try to remove Leyla beside him, ‘Let Leyla stay, she doesn’t have to leave!’ He wanted to argue, but his vocal cords were still too painful.

He could hardly hear what they were talking about, but could faintly hear the sobs and wails by Leyla. He wanted to tell her he’d be okay, and to look after herself…

But he couldn’t do anything.

Even until now, he was still so useless to her.

‘Hush now Leyla, don’t cry,’ he thought, ‘I’ll be fine, you’ll see. Just sit right there and keep taking care of yourself, okay? Don’t be like ol’ Uncle Bill here. Can’t even bear a little pain.’

“I’m sorry.” The doctor began, as he turned to face Leyla. 

Leyla looked at him sharply and wanted to shout she’ll pay for whatever surgery fee they had! 

She just wanted them to heal her uncle now.

“A surgery won’t help him at all.” He began to explain, “Frankly, we consider it a miracle he’s still conscious, not to mention alive.”

Leyla sniffed, blinking back her tears as she narrowed her eyes to the doctor.

Are they saying what she thought they were saying?!

Immediately, Leyla started shaking her head in disbelief, unwilling to hear more of the doctor’s excuses!

Surely they could still do something! So they brought Uncle Bill to the hospital after all!

After she’d calmed down, and been led quickly to the hospital, she’d been taken aback by how terrible of a state her uncle had been in!

His clothes were soaked with blood, his body wrapped around in makeshift support and bandages, and laid unconsciously on a hospital bed! She’d been given a rundown of what happened, but she didn’t want to believe it had been this bad!

Just as the air raid began, and the people by the ports began to evacuate in an unruly manner, her uncle had been one of the unfortunate few who got caught amongst the flying debris from the explosions around the warehouses.

“No!” Leyla exclaimed, “There must be something you can still do!” She argued persistently, ignoring the gestures of nearby nurses to stay seated. 

“I’m sorry, but this is our limit.” The doctor told her softly, “Perhaps it’s best you say your goodbyes now, we’ve no doubt he was only holding on this long enough to see his daughter.”

Leyla wanted to cry upon hearing that.

This couldn’t be happening! This was all a bad dream! This was a terrible, stress-induced dream!

She’d wake up soon, and see her Uncle alive and well, reminding and checking up on her to take care of herself, and she’d retort back at him to do the same!

“No please, you have to save him!” She begged, now kneeling in front of him, and holding onto his white robes for dear life, “You have to save him, please!”

“Miss, I really am sorry I can’t do more than this.” The doctor said, gently guiding her back to sit beside Uncle Bill, “But it’s best to say everything now, before it’s too late.”

A nurse came up beside her, and gave her a glass of water. 

Leyla was still reeling over the news about her uncle, and faintly felt the water touch her throat. She immediately gave the glass back to the nurse, and went back to gently holding onto her uncle’s hand…

“Uncle, please, stay with me okay?” She whispered, trying to stifle in her sobs, “You stay strong for me okay, and I-I’ll go find a better doctor,” She gulped down, clearing her throat as she hastily, yet gently combed back his blood soaked hair from his forehead. 

“And then when you’re all better, we’ll go back home okay? Don’t worry about the money, I can always find it anywhere.” She whispered to him, “Just s-stay, please….” She sobbed…

“Please don’t leave me!” She whispered, her breath turning shaky as her hands shook from where she was caressing her uncle. 

She could see him blinking back his eyes, but the struggle was there. She could see how hard it was for him to keep looking at her. 

He groaned once again, with incoherent thoughts, and Leyla shushed him softly…

“Shh, uncle, save your strength, you still have a lot of healing to do.” She whispered, kissing his bloodied temple desperately. She tried to ignore the taste of iron on her lips as she wetted them. 

Unable to watch her any longer, the doctor began to pull her aside, and began to stress once more how it was more beneficial for both of them to say goodbye now.

“Miss, even if you were to find a doctor who can guarantee they could still save him, he’d live the rest of his life in pain, and paralyzed. It’s best you can say goodbye now, and that way, he’ll be able to die at least comfortably.”

‘Die…’ Leyla thought, ‘They finally said it, huh?’

Ever since she arrived, she’d been avoiding ever thinking about that word. But now the doctor said it…

And it was all she could think about.

She didn’t want it. But it was the glaring truth in front of her. 

Uncle Bill was about to die, and there was nothing she could do about it. 

The doctor was right. She’ll regret not doing more later, but for now, she wanted her uncle to regret nothing. And so Leyla cried out for a couple more seconds, before schooling her features into a pleasant smile, before taking back her seat beside her uncle.

She hoped she could relay all her love and gratitude forever meeting him. 

“Uncle,” She called out softly, and watched as Uncle Bill’s eyes shakily turned towards her, “Do you remember, when you used to tell me I’d be a great adult one day? You still believe that?” Do you still trust me?”

All of a sudden, Bill could hear her clearly now. And he wanted to chuckle at how ridiculous her questions were. 

She was already the greatest adult he’d ever met, and he’d always believed and trusted her, without a single doubt in his mind. 

Instead of a laugh though, he could only cough out in response, and Leyla gently rubbed soothing circles over his chest. Finally, a nurse came by to lightly dab a cloth around his mouth, wiping away the blood he’d coughed out. 

“Well, if you still believe that, then I can do anything.” Leyla continued, smiling shakily towards him, “After all, Uncle is so smart, and he never lied to me. So I can do anything, s-so long as you still believe in me.” 

Her voice cracked in that last part, and her lips began to wobble. 

But she needed to keep talking. To say everything before her chance was gone. 

And so she told him her thoughts ever since she first came to him, on that day they met when he was planting rose seedlings in the gardens of Arvis.

The happy days they spent together seemed like a lifetime ago. Arvis and her childhood all of a sudden began looking so bright, and innocent, and happy. 

Yes, she had been happy back then, being surrounded by the smell of freshly cut grass, and blooming flowers. Everyday has been a joy to live in…

Because she knew when she’d come home, she had Uncle Bill to fall back on. 

A sob escaped from her lips, and Leyla brought up her blood-stained hand to cover back her sobs.

‘I can’t do this! I don’t want to do this!’ She screamed in her mind, as she tried to stop the tears from flowing. 

What would happen to her now?! She can’t live without Uncle Bill! She can’t! He can’t leave her alone! Yet, there was still so much she wanted to do with him!

Suddenly, movement came, and Leyla watched as Uncle Bill struggled to sit up, before unceremoniously rolling off the bed!

“Uncle!” She exclaimed, but eventually sighed in relief when two male nurses managed to catch him before he fell to the floor. They placed him back securely onto the bed, and Leyla watched as her uncle’s tears slid down his cheeks…

Leyla smiled at him through the tears, gently cupping his cheeks with shaky hands as she tried to keep him still. 

“I am s-s-so blessed… that you became my family.” Leyla sobbed out shakily, “And I never… felt so happy… as I did… everyday… with you…”

Leyla choked back on a sob as she laid her head on his chest, her hand gently grabbing onto his limp one and kissed his knuckles. 

“You were always my real family. And if we were to be born again, I wished to be with you again, from the start.” She whispered shakily, kissing his knuckles deeper as she tried to keep her tied down to her…

“And we’ll keep being family, won’t we?” Leyla asked him softly, “Even when we’re parted momentarily, won’t we?” She asked him, looking at Bill desperately.

Bill’s eyes crinkled like he always did when he smiled at her.

Of course, they would always be family.

Bill’s eyes began to blur once more, his sight on Leyla fading in and out of focus as black spots danced in front of his eyes.

“Then I hope to see you soon, okay?” Leyla continued, getting up to gently touch their foreheads together, “We might be separated in this life for now, but I’ll make sure to keep being reborn to you.” She whispered, and nuzzled against him…

“I love you…” She whimpered, and planted a long, and heart-felt kiss on his forehead, “So much… father.” She sobbed.

Leyla pulled away to look at his eyes.

Bill’s eyes were wide as he looked into her general direction, before his eyes crinkled in happiness once more.

Perhaps it was true about what they say about dying. 

Your life would begin flashing right in front of your eyes, and Bill could only see the happiness he found taking care of Leyla.

Watching Leyla grow.

Teaching her things she needed to know, things she wanted to know.

Seeing her flourish, and take steps towards her dreams.

Seeing her smile, laugh and cry.

Every single thing they did together, whether as mundane as eating their dinner every night, or as exciting as walking down the riverside underneath starry skies…

Seeing her rush towards him, in her childhood, in her teens, and even now as an adult, whenever she’d see him return. It was such unbridled joy that he relished seeing it!

Everything was so much brighter with Leyla. As long as they were together, he knew everything would be alright soon…

But that was the thing, wasn’t it?

Being together would soon be a thing of the past.

He couldn’t leave her sobbing her heart out, without a few words to tide her over as he’d leave her alone for an indefinite amount of time.

‘Please God,’ Bill prayed, ‘Let me say this last thing for her.’

“I…”

Leyla gasped as she hastily wiped her tears, and looked eagerly towards her father. He was speaking!

“I…love…you,” her father’s eyes drifted over to hers, and his lips curled up into a beautiful smile that had Leyla smiling back over to him. “My… daughter.”

Because Bill understood now. 

As much as he might have failed her, he was still her father in every sense of the word. He clothed her, fed her, and sheltered her when no one would. He taught her, and helped her grow. He guided her, and although Leyla had been great enough on her own…

They found happiness in each other. 

Relief spread throughout him as he said those words to her. And so he breathed in deeply, as his eyes fluttered closed.

When he’d wake up, he’d be back to his peak condition, and Bill would waste no time in buying them both a feast to celebrate being a family. After all, he promised Leyla not to worry about dinner.

They’d have a feast for two soon enough.

And maybe he’d splurge some more, and buy them drinks to last a whole night! Or maybe not…

Leyla’s living for two now, alcohol would be detrimental for their health. Maybe an apple juice instead? How about peach juice? 

Do peach juices exist?

And Bill breathed out with a wide smile…

“I love you… my daughter…” He whispered once more, feeling his entire body lighten up, as the pain eventually left his body.

What an amazing feeling it was. 

His daughter, of course she was. 

It was his absolute truth, and nothing would change it at all. It would remain to be true, until forever.