Leave The Past In The Past

So here I was, surrounded by the dead and the dying; surrounded by illness; surrounded by the strong smell of disinfectant and bleach. I was stood in a room that was too white, and too clean to belong anywhere else other than here.

I felt my bodyweight shift so I was leaning against the doorway, because I feared I wouldn’t be able to hold myself up. My body shut down for a second, and all I could do was watch.

There he was, stood next to my dying fathers bed. Everything and nothing had changed about him; his hair was darker, but he was still the same. He was paler, but he was still the same. Wearing what appeared to be an Armani suit, but he was still the same.

My eyes travelled around his familiar face; his overconfident smirk, his amazing deep blue eyes, and his crooked nose… that was now perfectly straight? The things cosmetic surgery can do.

And then he turned to me, and I swear my heart stopped for a second. I couldn’t remember anything; how I got here, or why I was here. All I knew was that I needed him. I needed him more than anything.

-*-

Earlier

I was booked into the cheapest, crappiest motel I could find; someone had actually been murdered here, and yet I was still struggling to pay for it. Why? Because although my father had reserved a place for me here, he hadn’t paid for it.

I should have known my father wouldn’t pay for the motel. He’d barely given me enough money to pay for the taxi! Lucky I brought my credit card or I’d be on the next plane home.

I stared at myself in the mirror and frowned; I looked pretty worn out. I suppose I should sleep… only I couldn’t. So much was going through my mind, like my journey from the airport to my motel. So much had happened in those 10 minutes, more than I could ever have imagined.

My eyes closed as I played the journey through my head.

I was sat in a cab, the musty stench of stale breath and too many cigarettes filled my nostrils and made my nose wrinkle up. But there was no point not taking this cab, I’d been waiting for five minutes who knew how long it would be until the next one showed up.

My eyes closed as I sat down, sinking deep into the soft cushions of the cab seats, and said my goodbyes to the airport. I know it’s sad, but I think being in the airport is the safest I’ve felt since I left Carlton. It’s weird, because the big cold harsh metal of the airport isn’t usually something that comforts people. And yet for some reason it did me.

I glanced out of the windows as we sped along, and an involuntary smile fell upon my lips; this was the start of the rest of my life. But as quickly as the smile came, it disappeared.

There, on a giant billboard was his face. Carlton. And in big bold writing; ‘Renn Records.’ He owned a record label!

Oh dear god. There was another billboard behind it, with his face on it. The only difference was his pose, and the writing; this time it said ‘Renn Family Motion pictures’. He owned a film production company.

The next billboard do I hear you say? ‘Renn Radio’. The next was ‘Renn Banking’. And then there was the book publishers ‘Renn Books’. What original names.

And I think it was about then that I passed out.

I cringed as I thought about what had happened; I’d actually fainted. The taxi driver had stopped the taxi and slapped me. That brought me round. And then he drove me to my motel. And here I was, wondering what the future could possibly hold.

Would I ever get to meet him again? No of course I wouldn’t, he probably wouldn’t even be in New York! How wrong I was.