The Inceptive Flame⎪✓

❨32❩

♀︎

The constant beeping keeps me awake, it's 2AM and my dad hasn't woken up yet. The machine compels his body to stay alive, but he isn't here. I can't talk to him and have him hear and answer me, but that hasn't stopped me from talking to his skinny figure. It looks like he is asleep, his chest rising with every breath, I know better than that though. He is weakened and it is a possibility that he can't pull himself out of this state. 

Grabbing his hand in mine I twiddle with his fingers, "Then when you wake up and feel better, I will prepare a homemade pizza for us, it's common knowledge how much you love them. We can even play Poker, if you're up for getting your ass kicked by your daughter again, that is."

The heavy silence that follows makes me choke up, struggling to keep the tears at bay. It frustrates me that his eyes are closed, his grey eyes are missed dearly, if only he could wake up now. The nurses urged me to go home, but it's impossible for me to leave him like this. It's unfair to leave him like this. Unfortunately, I have to go to school tomorrow already, since Sunday is upon us, technically. The teachers won't allow me to stay home anymore, so if I want to graduate this is the time for me to get my shit together. 

A little over a month is what I have to survive, what he has to survive. He prayed to witness my graduation, if he dies before that my heart can't handle it. My dad deserves to get his last wishes granted, which means he has to wake up from this, if they turn off the machine he will die. It's keeping him alive, so we can't move him without killing him. 

My phone beeps in my pocket and I answer without looking. "Hi, it's Dakota," The tiredness is clear, this evening has worn me off. 

"Hey, love," A deep voice sends shivers down my spine, as a smile threatens to fall onto my lips, but I don't want to disrespect my dad like that.

"Elijah?" I question. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine," He says, there is a sadness in the way he talks, a loud crash sounds from the phone and I wonder what's going on."Just wanted to hear your voice, I'm sorry if I woke you up."

"You didn't," I say and yet another crash deafens my ear, distracting me from his flirting words. "What is that noise?"

"It's," The pause that follows makes it obvious that he is searching for a lie, "The neighbors, their son, he's partying."

"So are we just going to pretend you didn't try to lie to me then?" Using his own words against him, he laughs lightly and the sound hits me straight in my gut. The smile can't be controlled as my face betrays me. 

"I see what you're doing. Well you're right, it's not the neighbors."

"I don't want to dig," I say, feeling like he would appreciate me more for minding my own business. "Tell me what you're doing then."

"Currently rereading our assignment, the principal will have a fun time reading this surely," The smile in his voice is very apparent. 

"You refused to pick another topic, of course he will find it weird to read about 'chemistry in the act of making love', especially coming from his students," I joke with a smile. Elijah turned it in on the last day, he made sure to write about the nasty parts while I wrote about the production of making babies and the environmental issues. Even I have to admit it ended up being an okay assignment, the topic Elijah chose is absolutely horrific, but we managed, I managed. 

"You can just tell me if it turned you on, love," My mind imagines his sexy smirk and I slap myself mentally for being so easy. 

"It definitely didn't turn me on, Elijah, we barely wrote it together after all."

He laughs and I realize what I just said, "If you want to see me naked all you have to do is ask."

My breath hitches by his words, it isn't fair that he has it so easy while flirting, my attempts at flirting range from winking with both eyes to waving awkwardly in their direction. Other than that, I throw some cringy comments here and there that I will be sorry about for the rest of my life. 

"You are awfully quiet, Dakota," His teasing is not appreciated right now.

"You are plain awful, Elijah."

"Luckily for you, you're an amazing person and I know you don't mean that," He states happily, complimenting me comes so naturally to him, but I don't know how to answer. It throws me off for a few seconds before I finally get myself together. "I love how slow you are at answering me after I compliment you."

"Funny," I joke, smiling. "I'm an awkward person, it takes me a while to consider what I have to answer."

"You're rather quick to snap at others, it seems you're taking your time with me only," The underlying tones make me blush, he knows exactly what he is doing. Another crash booms, this one louder than the others, "I have to go, love. Thank you for answering the phone, sleep tight."

Opening my mouth to wish him a good night's sleep, the beeping informs me that he hung up on me already. The panic in his voice scared me slightly, there is something wrong in his life, something he doesn't want anyone to know about him. A flutter in my chest appears when I think about him wanting to hear my voice, honestly if I could call him up every time my mom came home drunk, that would help me immensely. Not that I could or would though, he can't know and the amount of times she comes home drunk would ruin his sleep completely. 

Grabbing my dad's hand again, I look down at his seemingly sleeping form, "I hope you sleep well, dad. As you've said before, these hospital beds aren't comfortable, but I ordered them to place two mattresses underneath you and you have got three pillows instead of one. Hopefully that can help with the level of comfort."

My words swarm heavily in the air, as I lean my head onto the side of his bed. Falling asleep with his cold hand clutched tightly in my own.