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The Adventures of Red Tiger and Sparrow

Chapter 3: Alive

*beep.....beep.....beep.....* Are the first sounds I hear, as I slowly come back to life, my eyes closed, I tried to move but everything hurt, my joints, my paws and especially my legs. The last thing I remember was....damn it what was it? All of what happened in that burning building was a washy haze of heat, coughing and pain, lots and lots of pain. I slowly awaken, Im laying on what feels like a bed, the warm sheets, the neutral scent and that feeling you get when you go get a checkup and you don't really want too at all. My eyes open slowly, the lights where dimmed, how long was I out? Was I even alive? Did I die and am I just in heaven?

My theories come crashing down to the realization that I'm alive when I lift my arm a bit to feel around, my eyes for some reason...Not seeing so well...Its blurry... It was then that I felt a slight tugging at the center of the joint in my arm. I look down to see an IV in my arm and a grey heart monitor on my pointer finger. I try to take a breath through my nose but all that comes in is a plugging feeling. I feel my nose and there is a small tube in each nostril, damn...how fucked up did I get in that fire? The second time I try to breathe is when I quickly feel the need to cough, I coughed loudly and in a strained manor, hell I felt like I was still in the fire.

But all the sudden, my coughing seemed to trigger another noise, the sound of...a man? My vision comes back slowly as I see who's there, and... To my shock...And surprise... There was a tall, lean tiger in a black tailored suit with the red bow tie I gave him for Christmas last year. He was leaned back in what looked like a makeshift sleeping position on a padded chair only a foot from the side of my bed, slowly waking up from the noise I made from my coughing. He rubs his eyes and wakes up, blinking before looking my way, his eyes widen, he practically leaps up out of the chair and wraps me up in a tight hug, I felt his body shivering a bit as I instinctually wrapped my arms around his lean frame at almost the same time he did, his deep voice rumbles in his throat "Connor...Thank god....Oh thank god....." my father said.

I was still sort of in a half conscience state at this point, but it felt real, it smelled like him, looked like him, sounded like him. All the pain from my injuries seems to melt away as my father softly separates from the hug. His face a few inches from mine as he stares me in the eyes, his paws trapping my shoulders still as I stare back "are you ok son?" I wanted to keep hugging him, so I did, reaching out to him as he lets himself come closer to me, all the sudden my vision gets blurry again, I feel tears trickling down my face... I thought I was going to die in that fire... That realization made me break down. My chin resting on his shoulder as I hug him tightly. I nod slowly and give my response in a pained and scared voice resembling a lost cub "y-yea....I-I think I'm ok dad...I-I...I'm-" the tears and emotion bottled up in my throat burst out of me, I'm unable to speak, I just breakdown and cry on my fathers shoulder, just happy to be alive.

After a solid five minutes of hugging and sobbing my father pats my back and stands up, I was attached to him tightly, he gently places a warm paw on mine "don't worry Connor I'm here for you... I'm not going anywhere..." he said, standing up as he pats my head softly. I wipe the tears off my face with my sheets as I try to compose myself, watching him sit down in his chair, looking at me with a warm smile that seemed to evaporate all the tears dripping from my eyes. I take a deep breath and try to smile back. His fur patterns so similar to mine, only his black stripes more grey now with his age. I look around my surroundings, the hospital room looking very luxurious, the large window in the room overlooking the busy streets that I bet when it's daytime, would supply a lot of natural sunlight to the room, it had long white drapes dangling from the sides, the walls had generic, yet calming abstract art, this place looked way too pricy for us to afford "w-where are we? w-what happened to me?" a quick jolt of lightning went through my mind, the little girl! "W-what happened to the little girl!? is she ok?!". My father nods and sighs, putting his left paw close to his muzzle and resting his chin on it "yes, the little girl lived...she's fine...but you...what the hell where you thinking?...your little act...it..." *he wipes his eyes of a few stray tears, trying to remain composed as a few light knocks on the tall brown door where hears, my father takes a deep breath, gets up with a sigh and walks over to the door, letting the doctor, a shorter grey wolf in red scrubs and a half smile on his muzzle through the door.

I panic, the heart monitor's frequency increasing as I wanted to just throw the sheets off the bed and see what was under them, wether or not my legs where ok, but all I could see was the white blanket covering them, I give a worried look as the doctor washes his paws quickly and grabs the chart at the end of my bed, going through it by nodding a flipping the pages through a few times, looking a little confused and not sure of what to do "now...Mr.Sieto...I'm just going to give you the news straight up, because I believe you deserve to know...." I'm panicking, I wiggle my toes to feel if there still there, they are....So..Why does the doctor look like he's telling me I have cancer or something? "Well Connor...the firefighters said they found you under a pile of rubble, several hundred pounds in weight....the fall from that hight should have killed you....But...By the graces of God it seems it didn't... you got a few burns on your legs, you have two cracked ribs and your left paw was dislocated.... But the fact still stands that you should be dead" those words run through my brain like wildfire, dead. I hold up my left paw, it was wrapped in a few bandages, I flex it a few times and it felt fine...did I really dislocate it?

The doctor places the chart at the end of the bed where he found it, nodding to himself, seemingly to make mental notes "on top of all that you inhaled enough carbon dioxide to kill an adult two times over......I don't know what unworldly forces are at work here with you Connor but you should feel blessed to be alive" those words stung my ears as they went through into my brain, I should feel happy to be alive....I should and...I am..."sir? w-what happened to the little girl? was she ok?" I said, for some reason the safety of that unknown little girl played more importance than that of my own health. The doctor nods and gives a half smile "oh she's fine, she's downstairs in pediatrics resting up, only a couple of scrapes and cuts" the doctor's expression seems to brighten a bit as he looks back and fourth between myself and my father who still looks rather unhappy, he walks over to the side of my bed, opposite of where my father was and shook my good paw carefully "despite you doing something incredibly stupid like running head first into a burning building, I must commend you on your bravery, if it wasn't for you, that little girl would have died, her parents have already left you something" the wolf points to a small pot of colorful flowers, arranged in a beautiful manor with many shades of reds, yellows and oranges, it resembled the sun. "T-they left those for me?" I said, the doctor nods slowly and my father sighs, sitting back down in his chair and seeming to calm down a bit "they sure did, they want to come up and thank you themselves before you leave, so don't forget" I nod and smile back. I was a hero? I saved that little girl and everybody got out ok, for the most part, that family still lost their home, all their things, the little girl lost her room, her toys and memories that probably had a lot of significance. My father and the doctor talk outside in the hallway for a few minutes, discussing, from what I could pick up, medical insurance and what needed to be done over the next few weeks for me to heal properly.

After the conversation that lasted about fifteen minutes, my father comes walking back into the room, closing the door behind him as his grim look comes plastered back onto his face, he sighs and begins his usual habit of when things start to go wrong by pacing back and fourth across the room, his paws behind his back as he was silent, thinking hard about what he was going to say before saying it, he stops, turns and looks at me "Connor, look, what you did today was...among other things, incredibly stupid" I try to cut in because I feel like I knew where this conversation was heading but he cuts me back off "let me finish, I almost lost you today, do you realize what that means to me? As your father?" he paused, waiting for an answer, so I give him one "right, cause you're always around to enjoy my company aren't you?" I said with a bit of a lash to my voice, my fathers ears fold down slightly and his tail flinches at the comment "no Connor, it's not like that, you don't understan-" I cut him off, I know where this is going and I don't like it, my fur bristles and my claws extend as anger starts to boil in my stomach "no dad! You don't understand! You're never around! You go to work so early and are never around to see me! We haven't even had dinner together once in the past three weeks!" I was raising my voice at him, he gives me a challenging look and points a finger at me, growling a bit as his fur bristled and his tail lashed "Connor! We are not going to have this discussion right now! you know why I'm busy! My boss puts me through the wringer every day!" he growls at me, I growl back, holding back the urge to cough "no dad! Face it! Ever sense Mom moved out you've been obsessed in your work so you can escape an empty house! And in the process you never have any time for me! I spend more time with Tim's family than I do with you!!" the room was silent, my father stared at me for a second before staring down at the floor, seeming to lose all his anger he had, maybe I was a little rough on him but I never get to see him and that feeling of loneliness is a fair excuse to hit him back with. His ears fold back against his head, tail stops moving and he takes a deep sigh "Connor.... Do you really feel that way about me?...." he said in a low, pained voice that resembled a time when I was young and my grandmother, his mother, passed away, he came home to tell the family the news and my mother was the first one to get up and hug him tightly, then me and then my sister. I stop and look at him for a moment as the words I said slowly sink into my skull, how harsh I actually was being towards him, I sigh and cross my arms, looking down "sometimes...yea....I do...I feel like...like you don't care about me...that the only way to get you to pay attention to me is when I jump into a burning building and save somebody..." using the current situation to my advantage as my father looked grim and, sad even.

I started to feel bad as my temper cooled off a bit and my conscience started talking to me again, telling me to apologize and make up with him, I push that voice aside and watch him try to think of something to respond with. He takes a deep breath and nods slowly, walking over to a small end table in the corner of the room where his suit jacket and carry-on bag was located, papers and files seeming to burst out the bag itself, Mom always hated how unorganized he could be sometimes, like father like son I guess. He slides on his nicely pressed black coat and zips up his bag, slinging it over his shoulder and looking at me with a blank expression "I'm gonna head back to the house and change, the doctors want you to stay here for the night so you can rest....want me to bring you back anything? anything you wanted for dinner or some clothes for tomorrow?" He sounded sincerely hurt about what I said and I feel hurt that he's hurt, he may not be the dad I used to know but he's still my dad...struggling with being a single one with a demanding job as well... "no, its ok....I don't need anything..but..." his ears perk a bit as he straightens up his posture, waiting for what I have to say "c-can you...Maybe come back and.... Just hang out with me?" I said in a lower toned voice, almost as if I was asking for forgiveness, he nods and gives me a half smile "sure...sure thing son...I'll grab us some dinner on the way back, how's that sound?" I nod and match his half smile as he seems to look a little better already, I'm hoping that today is a new beginning for my father and I, a way for us to sort of start over and maybe make amends "yea, that sounds great...and dad..." he looks at me with an attentive face "thanks...for coming here...for...dealing with me all this time..." my dad sighs and nods, walking over towards me and hugging me tightly, the shoulder of his soft suit jacket pressed against my cheek as I half hug back in surprise "its not you Connor...its me...Im sorry you had to deal with me all this time.....and I will always be here for you...you're my son and I love you..." he separated and gave me a quick solute with his paw, walking towards the door and opening it before turning back to me "now get some rest and save your appetite, thats an order" he said, smiling as I smile back and wave, he leaves, closing the door, leaving me to digest what had happened in this conversation, I lay on my back, the pillow supporting my head as I stare up at the ceiling, listening to the heart monitor with its subtile beeps and the background sound of the cityscape below, thinking about what had come out of the burst of pent up emotions...trying to decide if we had maybe purged some much needed things or if this was just the tip of the ice burg so to speak, I didn't really feel like thinking about those things at this point, my father was here, caring for me and I was alive, well and a hero, I almost didn't think about how I survived but maybe it was because I didn't want to imagine what had happened if my injury had been worse, all I know when my eyes close is how happy I am, to be alive.