The Longest Night
Hospitals at night always felt like a world apart.
Bright, quiet, and painfully awake.
Mason sat in a chair beside Owen’s bed as nurses moved in and out, as doctors spoke in careful tones, and as forms were signed and the same questions were answered again. Everyone was professional. Everyone was kind. But nothing about that night felt normal.
Owen drifted in and out of sleep, more exhausted from fear than anything else.
Once, close to midnight, he opened his eyes and noticed Mason still sitting there.
“You didn’t leave.”
Mason leaned closer. “I’m not leaving.”
A tear slipped from the corner of Owen’s eye.
“I was scared you wouldn’t believe me.”
Mason pressed his lips together tightly before replying.
“I will always listen to you,” he said. “Even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.”
Later, a detective stopped by the room. Then a child services worker. Then another officer. The process moved quickly once the first reports were filed and the medical team documented what they had discovered.
Around two in the morning, a police officer returned and waited quietly by the doorway until Mason looked up.
“We made contact with your ex-wife and the man staying at the residence,” she said. “There was enough evidence to move forward tonight.”
Mason closed his eyes.
Not exactly from relief.
Relief was too small a word for what he felt.
It was more like taking the first breath after being underwater for too long.
“Thank you,” he said.
The officer nodded once. “You did the right thing calling.”
