Free Drowning in the East River by Kimberly Pierce Page B

disappointment in him was evident in her face as she looked him up and down. "When are you coming back?" She pulled her hand off the doorknob, placing it on her hips. "What do you intend on doing?”
     
    "I don't know," He crossed his arms in front of him, chewing on his thumbnail in hopes of centering himself. He looked back towards Anna. "I need to figure some things out. I'll send you money for him- just- Please take good care of him.”
     
    "Are you at least going to say goodbye?" Anna asked, the defeat in her voice rang out clearly. She glanced away from him, and over to the crib. During the conversation, Katherine had moved over, and was cradling Thomas in her arms. His crying had quieted to pained whimpering. Katherine looked on with distant eyes, her emotions impossible to read. Anna turned once again to face David, her arms crossed in front of her.
     
    Anna barely finished her sentence before David was out the door, shutting it heavily behind him. He stopped in the hallway, bracing all his weight against the fading wallpaper, his muscles feeling drained of all strength.
     
    His legs slowly slid out from under him, and he dropped to a sitting position. He wrapped his arms around his legs, burying his face in his knees, as tears overwhelmed his exhausted eyes.
     
    The urge to walk back into the room and pick up his son overwhelmed the synapses of his body.
     
    David's legs felt shaky as he wiped his eyes and pushed himself back up to his feet. He took the stairs two at a time, the floorboards creaking loudly with each step. The heavy door slammed as he stepped outside onto the cobblestoned street.
     
    David wrapped his fingers around the cool chain of his pocket watch and pulled it out of his breast pocket. It was just a little after six, but around him, the city was sleepy. The block was quiet, most of the apartments and brownstones were dark and closed up for the evening. The nearest signs of life came from the chugging of traffic up and down Second Avenue.
     
    Lighting a cigarette, David sat down on the sidewalk. He exhaled the lungful of smoke slowly; his shoulders slumped in exhaustion. He was able to bring his adrenaline under control as the calming effect of the cigarette gradually flooded his synapses.
     
    David leaned back on his hands and stared up at the washed out sky far above him. He blinked his eyes, trying to rub some life back into them. He muscles ached from lack of sleep.
     
    The streets of New York City were a daunting place, especially with nowhere to go. David needed to find somewhere he didn't feel like a stranger. He needed an escape from the constant judging of everything he was doing wrong.
     
    David looked around at the bumpy plaster ceiling as his eyes snapped open. Every inch of his body burned, nausea pulsated through his groggy system as he sucked in a few stinging breaths. He squeezed his eyes closed, searching his memory for the last thing he remembered.
     
    As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he glanced down at his arms. He was in a white hospital gown. Giant yellow blisters covered his arms. He sucked in an involuntary breath, as a shot of pain blindsided him.
     
    David braced his head against the pillow tucked underneath his head as he strained to look around the room. He was in a crowded hospital ward somewhere. It was pitch black outside the tiny windows lining the side of the room, shrouding any telltale clues in darkness. Dozens of occupied beds were jammed indiscriminately into the already tight room. David strained his neck to look over his head, crying out as another wave of pain wracked through his torso.
     
    His throat felt like it was on fire. In the deafening silence of the room, he could hear his own wheezing and raspy panting in his head as he stared at the ceiling and tried to center himself.
    No one around him stirred, despite the volume of his wheezing.
     
    He tried to lift his hands, but his wrists were secured to the bed with rough leather