“What the hell?! Are you serious, Jamie?” Her father's tone changed drastically.
“Yes, Dad. I'll see you at the hospital. You and Mom should head up there now.”
“Of course. Is she going to be—”
“I honestly don't know. I'll see you there, and I won't leave her until they make me.” Jamie dropped the call and reached out
to squeeze Christine's hand. “I'm here, Christine. Stay with me, okay? Nothing’s going to happen to you. We'll get you taken care of. I'm not leaving your side.”
Memory after memory of playing together as little kids rolled over Jamie, and it was all she could do to keep the hot ball of regret lodged in her throat and not spilling all over the tiny metal box they raced through the city in.
She closed her eyes and breathed through her nose as the EMS radioed in that he needed a doctor to meet them at the entrance to the hospital. Her blood pressure was dropping, and they were going to lose her soon without the proper equipment to get her stomach pumped, and possibly an electric shock to bring her heart back on-line.
Jamie glanced up as the ambulance came to a screeching halt.
“Move!” The EMS looked at her as the other pulled the door open.
“She's flat-lining. Let's go, Jack”!” The other yelled as Jamie scrambled out of the ambulance and turned to empty her stomach on the ground behind her.
It seemed only a few weeks before that she was with Alex as he was bleeding profusely from the gunshot wound Stephen caused. They had more drama than a soap opera.
Was this her life? Really?
The ambulance attendants raced past her, pushing Christine’s gurney as fast as they could to the Emergency entrance. Jamie pulled back from her self-pitying thoughts and jogged toward the ER, only to be stopped by an orderly. “You need to give us some information on her, if you're here with the woman going into the ER on the gurney.”
“I am. It’s my sister. Our parents are on the way now.” Jamie ran her fingers through her hair and shook her head.
“Okay, but we still need some info on her. Come over here and help us fill out the information that you can.”
“Okay, yeah, sure.” She followed the woman back to a row of desks and dropped down, but kept her eyes on the door. Her parents and Alex would be showing up any minute, or so she hoped.
The image of seeing Christine on the floor sent her heart racing. She couldn't seem to shake the idea of her sister dying over her depression. If only she had stayed on the phone with her earlier, or offered her a little of comfort instead of cutting her off. After so many years of putting up with her being wishy-washy in her attitude toward being a family that cared about each other, Jamie was tired, raw. It seemed as if she'd chosen the worst time in the world to give up. Thanks to her, Christine was now in the ER, fighting for her life.
“Fill out what you can, dear.” The woman slid a packet of stuff toward her.
“Okay.” Jamie glanced up to see her mom and dad rush into the door to the ER. “Mom. Dad.”
“Jamie.” Her dad moved toward her, grabbing her mother's arm and pulling her that way, too.
“Where is she?” her mom called out loudly. “Where’s my baby? The staff here better not let her die! She’s not dying because of some pills. There’s obvious a mistake going on here. My baby’s not depressed. Where the hell are the doctors?”
Tears lined her mother's face, but, try as hard as she could, Jamie couldn't force any empathy for the woman. She was so full of shit that it was stifling. Where there was no doubt that she loved Christine, her antics were over-exaggerated and completely focused on gaining attention.
“She's in the ER getting her stomach pumped, Mom.” Jamie turned to her dad, who pulled her into his arms and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
“How are you? You must be terrified, having to see all of that.” He squeezed her tightly.
“Why would Jamie be terrified? It's Christine who's fighting for her life.” Her mother huffed loudly and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Mom, give it a rest. It's both of us. I found her face first on the kitchen floor. Excuse Dad for wanting to make sure in the trauma of having to come face to face with all of that shit that I'm okay.” She barked at her mom, not willing to back down. There was too much at stake for her mother to steal the show, as she did no matter who was around, or what it might do to anyone. She shouldn’t be doing it in public, but at this point she didn’t really care.
“Are you going to let her talk to me like that?” her mother barked at her father.
“She's a grown woman. If she feels the need to express herself to you, then, yeah, I am.” He pulled back and looked down at Jamie. “Give me the details. Tell me what you know.”
“Someone needs to fill out paperwork.” Jamie moved back. “I don't know half of the things on the forms.”
“Well, why don't I just do it? You two are ganging up on me anyway.” Her mother grabbed the papers and dropped down in the seat Jamie was sitting in moments ago. A loud sob left her as Jamie's dad put an arm around her shoulder and walked toward the lobby.