Work Text:
(Robert’s POV)
“Linda. Linda! LINDA!!!” I screamed, but no answer came. Sirens blew around me. Bright blue and red lights blinded anyone who dared go near the crime scene. Linda Flynn was unconscious, but still breathing. Breathing very lightly, but still breathing nonetheless.
“Sir, please we need to check her vitals.” one of the paramedics said.
“NO! She's my wife. Please leave me alone with her, she can’t leave me. She’s still so young. She has a life ahead of her. With Candace, with Phineas, with ME!” I cried.
“Sir, we need you to step away from her. We’ll load her up into the ambulance, you just need to let us put her on the stretcher.”
With hesitation, I finally let the paramedics get close to my unconscious and unresponsive wife, Linda.
“Looks like she suffered multiple broken ribs, a broken pelvis and clavicle. She is miraculous to be alive, given the circumstances,” stated one of the paramedics, “Come on, put her on the stretcher. Mr. Flynn, you wanna ride in the back with us?”
“Obviously,” I replied
Thirty minutes. Thirty long, goddamn grueling minutes passed by as we passed downtown Danville. I get out of the ambulance, letting the paramedics finally do their job. I look up at the sky. Yep, the crisp, cool autumn air. I remembered how I met her. That park over yonder across the street. That same park where we danced together for the first time, kissed for the first time, and that fountain where I proposed to her. Best decision of my life I tell ya. I finally walked through the hospital doors. There,the hard part’s over at least, I thought to myself.
“Ah, Mr. Flynn, I was wondering when you’d get here. You really are slow to the party.” joked Clyde Flynn, Linda’s father. He always was a bit of a goofball. No wonder where Linda got it from. She always was such a sweetheart. I just scoff at his remark. “You know Bob, you take stuff too literally sometimes, like my granddaughter Candace.”
“I see what you mean. But, this time, given the circumstances, I wouldn’t want to discredit Linda. She has your bubbly personality Clyde.”
“Excuse me, Mr. Flynn. Are you here?” a nurse asked.
“That’s me.”
“We want you to see this. This is the report we got from paramedics. She has sustained multiple near-fatal injuries, which resulted in internal bleeding and penetration of a lung by a rib. There is a slim chance she will make it now. We have her hooked up to a respirator for oxygen supply, but we don’t know how much longer she has left.”
“What, I don’t believe it. She was breathing fine before we got here. You mean sh-she’ll leave me.” I began pacing the waiting room, in denial that this is really happening. Little did I notice, the nurse and Linda’s parents were still right there.
“You done putting dents in floorboards Mr. Flynn?” the nurse asked. “Anyway, Dr. Watts says she may recover, but only time will tell. So if you want to see her, I recommend you do it now, even though we’re closing to visitors in about a half-hour.”
“What room is she in?”
“Room 334” the nurse replied
“Clyde, Betty, ya comin’?” I asked
“Nil, someone’s gonna have to watch the kids if yer gone for another twelve hours. Plus, it's way past my bedtime and I need some shut-eye.” Clyde responded. Although there was no need, as Vivian was watching them. Once you get Clyde focused on something, you can’t stop him.
“Alright… then?.”
“Let’s see here, Room 331, 332, 333. Eureka! Room 334.” I exclaim, much to the nurse’s annoyance. I enter the room to find Linda laying precariously peaceful in a hospital bed, with Dr. Watts looking over her.
“Ah, you must be Mr. Robert Flynn, I presume?” Dr. Watts said
“Uh, yeah. Isn’t it obvious.” I said, growing frustrated at seeing her like that.
“Well, I’m gonna leave you to do your business. Nicole!” Dr. Watts stated as she left the room. I looked at her somber slumber, feeling all melancholic inside. On the outside, I seem fine, but on the inside, it’s hell. I come home to find Candace trying to steal brownies from the cabinets, and now I learn that my wife may be gone soon.
“Y’know, if it were under different circumstances, I would’ve loved to see your peaceful slumber, but it's hell out here. You c… c-c… can… can’t leave me Linda. B-by leaving m-me, you’re a-abandoning your family. Linda, please if you can hear me, I beg of you. Stay with me! Stay with us! I love so, so much dear.” I plead with water forming in the crests of the eyelids.
“Robert” she whispered as she woke.
“Yes, dear?” I replied with tears starting to fall.
“P-please, take c-care of Candace a-and Phin while I’m g-gone, okay honey?” her raspy voice groaned.
“Please don’t be selfish Linda.”
“N-now look who’s b-being selfish, Robert.”
“Please, don’t leave me.” he begged, with more tears flowing
“I-I already know w-where I’m g-going, Robert. It’s o-only a matter of time. Y-you’ll see m-me a-again soon dear”
“I love you Linda”
“I-I know. I-I l-lo-ove y-you too d-dear.” she finally said, whispering her final words, muttering her final breath.
“Good-bye, Linda,” I whispered, kissing the top of her forehead.
I exit the room with the tears finally in freefall. Those last words, I love you too, dear, will always remain in my heart. I look up from where I’m going, seeing her first boyfriend, Heinz Doofenshmirtz running into me.
“Watch where you're going, you doonkelberry!” he shouted
“Oh, hey Heinz.” I replied, him looking up.
“Robert, what are you doing here? Last time I saw you here was Phineas’s birth two years ago. Something happened?” he questioned. Without thinking, I just give Heinz a hug, knowing that the love of my life is gone to some dumbass with a beer. “R-Robert? You know I don’t do hugs, right? Robert. Robert!”
“Oh, j-just saying good-bye to my wife.”
“Linda? What happened?”
“Some fucknut on the highway.”
“Oh.” was all he could muster.
“Heinz, I gotta go check up on the kids and break the news. Not that I want to.” I say as I envision Candace just locking herself in her room.
“Well, it was weird running into you, but I gotta check-up on Charlene. ‘See ya around, I guess.”
“Yeah, see ya”
Those fifteen minutes were some of the worst of my life. Now having to deal with the loss of the love of my life, but now I gotta deal with raising two kids by myself.
I opened the front door to Vivian, Linda’s best friend, who just came running at me giving a hug and her condolences.
“I heard what happened Roberto, why did he do it?” she said, teary-eyed.
“I know Vivian, but I gotta check-up on the kids.”
“No need to explain to Candace, Roberto. She already knows. Isa! Come on.” she shouted between breaths. “Oh, she must be sleeping. Isa!” I walk into the house, finding Candace’s door shut with sobs permeating through the door. Walking into the living room, there’s my three-year old Phineas fast asleep on the couch, with Isabella almost nestled into him, and Perry cuddled up next to them
“Isabella, wake up. Your mom’s saying it's time to go.” I say gently, just enough for her to stir from her nap.
“Alwedy”
“Yea, your mother’s waiting at the door for you.” I hear another “Isa!” from her. She gets up, slowly walking over to her mother toward the front door, with Phineas trying to follow her after getting up. “Phin, come on, let’s get you upstairs in your own bed.”
“Ok daddy” he replied, sounding a little melancholic. “Where’s mommy, she tucks me in, usually not you.” That was all it took. I just give Phineas a death hug, gripping for dear life, as I bawl over her.
“S-She’s not here.”
“Not here? But where”
“Gone.”
“Gone?”, and there, he started to tear up, with Candace coming out, also joining the death hug. Perry notices and wrapped himself around our legs.
Her funeral, a day that I’ll never forget and loathe at the same time. Candace still rarely comes out of her room, only coming out for meals and when Stacy comes over. She only came because it was her mother’s funeral. My eulogy, the worst experience of my life. It had to happen on our anniversary. Why must the universe be so cruel? That, I cannot explain.
We’ve had condolences given by almost everyone. From Heinz and Charlene, to Jack and Jane Johnson. Vivian just continued to sob through the funeral. She seemed most heartbroken, outside of family of course. Isabella was just eerily quiet, where they would normally joke around. And Phineas, knowing his optimism now faded, breaks my heart to see him like that, is just sitting there, absolutely silent, not even noticing his slow breathing.
After the funeral, we dropped Vivian, Simon, and Isabella off at their house. Candace just runs out the car door and slams the front door to the house, leaving just me and Phineas.
Once inside, I decided to finally start making dinner for the first time in a few months. “Hey Phin, what do you want?”
“I’m not hungwy.” he responded
“O..k..” I reply as I look through the bare cabinets. A peculiar beverage. Never had it. I open up the bottle and pour a glass. Next thing that I knew, I discovered the monumental depth charge in my life.