Moonshine(25)

It was his words that were choking me, not his hug. Since my dad has been gone, the thought of letting anyone in to that position had never crossed my mind. My dad was barely a dad at all to me. Come to think of it, Bill was probably the closest thing to a dad I ever had. To hear him say those words tore me up. I squeezed him back, but I couldn’t respond.

“How is she?” Lizzie asked me while the nurse went to get the doctor.

“I don’t know. They won’t tell me anything. They won’t even let me see her. It doesn’t matter that I was the one to find her or that I held her in my arms. It doesn’t fucking matter that I have been pacing these floors for hours. I’m not family so they won’t tell me anything.” My voice raised louder with every word, but I couldn’t help it. “I’m sorry Mrs. Craven. I’m just upset. I didn’t mean to cuss at you. It’s not your fault. I apologize.”

“It’s okay. I understand. I’m so glad that you were there for her tonight. Without you, our little girl would be dead.” She cried heavily into her hands. Not knowing what to do, I just hugged her. It seemed to be the go-to thing around here.

The doctor interrupted us. “Mr. and Mrs. Craven, I am Doctor Osborne, head of the psychiatric department here. Should we go someplace more private?” He was looking at me so I backed up a bit.

“No sir. He’s family so you may continue,” Lizzie replied.

“Yes ma’am. Shine had a substantial amount of substances in her system. On sight, she was not breathing. They did an intubation, which is where they insert the tube in through the mouth to help her breathe. Once she was breathing, we were able to pump her stomach to eliminate the drugs from her system. She is stable now, but we have yet to know if there was any damage done to the liver or kidneys. We’re waiting on the blood work. With the type of drugs she administered, hemorrhaging can take place. However, she is showing no signs that would concern us. The blood test will let us know if her red blood cell count is abnormal. We have hooked her to an IV of Saline only to help flush out the remainder of the drugs and to keep her hydrated. Her blood pressure is very low, as well as her heart rate. However, there is nothing we can do for that at the moment. We are monitoring her closely. Once we get the blood work back we will know where to go from there. I will suggest that she seek psychiatric evaluation. Without any further complications, the hospital will still have to hold her for at least seventy two hours. That is protocol in these situations. Whether or not she seeks further treatment will be up to you and her.”

“Can we see her?” Bill asked.

“Yes you can. Just keep in mind that her body has been through a lot today and she needs to rest. Try not to upset her.”

“What about the carbon monoxide? Did that do any damage? I mean can’t that hurt your brain or something?” I asked the doctor directly.

Both of her parents nodded letting him know that it was okay to speak to me. “Fortunately for her, she wasn’t exposed to it long enough. It can be extremely dangerous if you consume too much. She obviously had her back up plan just in case the first one didn’t work. If she had been in the car too much longer under her condition she would be dead.”

“I understand.” I nodded and just about bit off my bottom lip to keep from crying again.

“You all may go in and see her now. She’s in room four o nine.”

“Thank you.” The doctor shook hands with Shine’s parents.

Lizzie headed straight down the hall in search for her room. “I’m gonna go home and check on Momma and get some sleep.”

“You’ve waited all this time. Don’t you want to see her?”

“I do, but she won’t want to see me.”

“Sure she will. You saved her life.” He looked at me with concern in his eyes.

“We haven’t really spoken much since the accident with my dad, and she told me she wanted me to leave her alone and give her space. That’s what I’ve been doing. It wouldn’t be right for me to go barging in there.”

“But she said that everything was fine. She told us that the two of you were back on good terms and that she talked to you every day.”

I shook my head no. “She was lying.”

“I am sorry Son. Maybe once she gets better and realizes how much you have been there she will come around.” He patted my shoulder.

“I hope you’re right. When you see her will you tell her I was here, and that I love her.” I didn’t look at him because I was afraid he might freak out.

“I know you love her, but you have to be the one to tell her that, not me. You will get your chance. I’ll tell her that you’ve been here with her all night though.”