Jackson
As soon as we arrive at the ER, the paramedic hands off the tubes of blood and a nurse rushes off to get them to the lab. Another nurse and an ER doctor run alongside the stretcher as the paramedic rattles off her vitals and what he knows while he moves it into an exam room.
Mick arrives in an ambulance with Lori about ten minutes later. He runs alongside Lori’s stretcher, keeping pace with the paramedic, the doctor, and the nurse.
The doctor stops him before he can get into the room.
Dread and fear are written all over his face. “Her pulse is weak. So weak. At one point, they couldn’t find it.” He looks toward her room, absently swiping at tears on his face I’m not sure he even realizes are there.
I don’t have a chance to ask him anything else before the door bursts open and Marissa comes running in looking frantic.
As soon as she sees us in the hallway and she sees the tears falling down on Mick’s face, she stops in her tracks. Her knees give out, and the wail is ripped from her, shaking me to my core.
Mick moves so fast, I don’t see him move until I notice him at her side. He picks her up, sitting on the floor with her cradled in his lap as he slowly rocks her to calm her down.
“Baby, she’s a fighter,” I hear him whisper to her. “She is going to pull through. She didn’t survive all of this to die this way.”
Marissa doesn’t reply. She just holds on to him like he’s her anchor, her lifeline.
We both sit in that waiting room, waiting for news.
The minutes feel like hours, the hours feel like days. Each time someone comes out of those doors, we all look up hopefully.
The other girls have also been brought in, and their parents are here waiting just like we are. They are going through drug screening and rape kits. It’s a fucking parents’ worst nightmare.
Marissa has calmed down a bit, but she hasn’t moved from Mick’s lap, nor has she lessened her grip on his shirt. Her head is resting in the crook of his neck, like she was made to fit there.
The doors open again and in walks my mother holding Lilah in her arms.
Looking around, she spots us and hurries over to us. When Lilah sees me, she wiggles out of my mother’s arms.
“I couldn’t stay away knowing what’s happening.” She sits next to me and holds my hand.
“The doctor just came out to tell me about Brenda. She just got out of surgery. She lost a lot of blood and her spleen, but she’s going to make it,” I tell her while Lilah sits on my lap facing me, her legs wrapped around my waist, her arms around my neck, her cheek pressed to my chest. She’s holding on tight.
“Jackson,” my mother starts, and I know she doesn’t want to say his name, but she doesn’t know how else to ask about him.
“We couldn’t save him, Mom.”
She nods her head while she cries silently next to me.
In the end, she’s a mother who just lost her child. A child she never thought the worst of and tried to see the good. A child she brought into this world and raised. A child she thought she could save.
I wrap one arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to me while she cries on my shoulder.
“Nana, you sad?” Lilah asks her. The fact she called her Nana surprises us both.
“Only a little sad, my beautiful girl,” she tries to reassure her.
The door opens and the doctor walks out. “Mr. Fletcher, Bella is awake and asking for you.”
I get up, bringing Lilah with me, and follow the doctor into Bella’s room. I’m holding my breath, bracing myself for the worst.
“She has heroin coursing through her body, and I’m not sure how much. She’s on an IV to keep her hydrated as her body works to metabolize it and rid the drug from her system,” the doctor advises. “She’s got two stitches on her temple, but other than that, she’ll be fine.”
He turns and walks out of the room. I sit next to her on the bed, reaching out to hold her hand.
Her eyes flutter open, a bit surprised and confused.
“Jackson?” she whispers, blinking her eyes more in an effort to keep them open.
“I’m here, angel. I’m right here.” I lean down to kiss her on her lips.
“You found me. You saved me just like I knew you would.” She lifts her hand to touch Lilah’s head. “Jackson found Momma. Isn’t he the bravest?” She smiles at us with a tear running from the corner of her eye.
Lilah nods her head and looks up at me. “He da brafest of da whole world.”
We both laugh at Lilah’s “da whole world.” I correct her, but she just shrugs at me.
Bella opens her arms so Lilah can crawl into them and hug her. “Momma, I so scared. Ms. Brenda went bye bye.”