Charles groaned as his latest hallucination persisted, running a hand along his face as his head began to ache. “Oh please,” he sneered bitterly. “He took everything from me; my damn legs, and you,” he spat slightly. “Alone on a beach with children I could not care for, a woman who couldn’t be expected to stay… all I had left was a damn chair and Hank.”
His expression grew tired as he glared ahead at the floor. “Now not even my fucking treatment will give me peace of you,” he grumbled, before taking another long pull from his drink, silently praying that at least that would make the illusion leave.
A hand touched his shoulder and eh nearly jumped out of his skin, the bottle clattering to the floor and spilling as he turned wide eyes on the woman. His heart was thudding in his chest and he looked her over. She… she touched him. No hallucination had ever done such a thing.
With shaky hands, he went to cup her cheeks, blue eyes flickering between hers. “Raven…?” He choked out, his voice cracking and weak as hope and denial and fear all played across his face, fighting for dominance. “Is… is this real….?”
He let out a sharp bark of a laugh and sob at the same time, tears spilling from his eyes as he pressed their foreheads together. “Or have I finally gone completely mad…?”
The latter seemed far more likely.
Raven truly didn’t know what to do right now, she didn’t know how to prove to Charles that she was real, that she wasn’t a figment of his imagination. She knew how he felt, to some extent, your mind playing tricks on you, especially when you missed someone. Thinking you saw them on a street corner, or dreaming about them, hallucinating from a lack of sleep. She hadn’t exactly slept lately.
“Charles -- PLEASE.” Raven begged as she felt her eyes watering, placing her shaking hands against his cheeks, looking deep in to his eyes. She could see the sorrow and pain torturing his soul, just from one small glance. “How can I prove to you I’m here? What can I do? Want me to get Hank? Prove to you that he can see, that I’m here!” She sighed, she couldn’t get angry, this wasn’t his fault.
It was HERS. For leaving, for abandoning him, but she had been young. She wanted to escape and she had been selfish, but she had learnt pain the hard way. She had learnt how important family is. “You haven’t gone mad, I promise. It’s Raven --- I -- I had to come back. I’m sorry.” She whispered, her voice shaking as she looked deep in to his eyes, hoping he would recognise the same young girl he had known all those years ago, to recognise her enough to know she was real.