EIGHTY-FIVE

The Broken Oak

Hayden was dazed. He vaguely heard Rocky talking about the casualties they had in battle. Hayden wanted to scream at him, to ask him to shut the hell up, but he couldn’t find the voice. Besides, Rocky was speaking to someone else about the incident. Hayden didn’t know who that was and he didn’t want to know. He was in the hospital, sitting on a long steel bench. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been there, but he wasn’t leaving any time soon. There had been no updates about Lolita’s injuries, and she had been in the emergency ward for 48 hours now.

“Why are you still here? We don’t want you here!” A voice penetrated into his dreams.

Hayden slowly raised his head. He was looking into the face of Lolita’s mother, Mrs. Adams. Her face was tear-streaked with sorrows and she was supported by her husband and son, both of whom glared at him like he was filth. Hayden didn’t care. Nothing else mattered other than Lolita. He was replaying the scene over and over in his head, when