Four hours.
Aiden had been in surgery for four hours.
No one would tell me a
nything. Apparently, being the girlfriend meant nothing. The receptionist wouldn’t tell us what was happening, and the police kept showing up and asking me all kinds of questions. I tried to answer them, but it all kept coming back to the same thing.
He took a bullet for me.
Eventually, they left. Redeye and Lance came in shortly afterward and spoke to Lo and Mo, heads bent together and glancing at me where I sat and waited in one of those hard, plastic chairs and stared at Aiden’s red baseball cap as I held it tightly in my hands. I could hear their conversation, but the words weren’t really registering in my head.
“What are they saying?” Redeye asked Lo.
“They’re trying to reach his mother,” Lo said as he glanced over at me. “They won’t talk to any of us.”
“Lance, why don’t you help Chloe out?” Redeye said. “I’m gonna take care of this.”
“I got her.” Lance came over to my chair and reached for my hand. “Jennifer gave me some clothes she thought would fit you. Let’s get you changed.”
“But they haven’t found his Mom yet,” I protested. “They won’t tell me how he is!”
“Leave it to me,” Redeye said with a wink. He walked over to the receptionist and leaned against the counter as Lance coaxed me out of the chair and toward the nearby bathroom.
“Do you need help?” he asked.
I could only stare at him. Did I need help? Yes, I did. I needed someone to tell me what the hell was going on behind the large doors marked “SURGERY.”
“Come on,” Lance said quietly.
He pulled me inside and locked the bathroom door. He closed the toilet lid before sitting me down on it and then filled up the sink with warm water and soap from the dispenser. He took Aiden’s cap from me and placed it on the back of the toilet, then pulled off my blood-stained T-shirt and shorts. He left them on the floor as he used some paper towels to wash the blood from my hand and legs.
I just sat there watching the red-stained towels multiply in the trashcan.
Lance pulled out a clean shirt and a pair of yoga pants from the bag and helped me get them on as he tried his best to stare at the floor.
“I’m just gonna put your clothes back in the bag,” he said. “I’ll make sure they get back to you, okay?”
“Okay,” I replied mechanically.
Once I was cleaned up, Lance handed me the cap and led me back to the waiting room and sat me down next to Lo. Redeye was still at the receptionist’s desk, but there was another hospital official with them now. I couldn’t hear the words, but Redeye was speaking very animatedly.
Another hour passed.
At some point, Redeye came back to the group and sat on the other side of Lo. They talked quietly while I sat and watched the hands of the clock on the wall move incredibly slowly.
“Miss Ellison?” A man in green scrubs with a badge on his shirt walked over to us.
I stood up and took a step forward. Lo did the same.
“Yes?” I croaked.
“You’re here for Aiden Hunter, correct?” he said quietly.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“I’m Doctor Miller,” he said as he shook my hand briefly. “I’m the surgeon who’s been working on Aiden.”
“How is he?” I couldn’t stop the tears, but Lo was right there beside me, holding my hand.