The only sound I could hear was the clock on the wall ticking. Seconds went by, minutes.
I hated time. I hated that I was responsible for her and that I never felt like I knew what I was doing.
“Pneumonia is treatable, Gabe. She’ll be fine.” Martha closed the folder.
“Can I have a minute?”
“Sure.” She scooted her chair away from the desk and left the office, the door clicking closed behind her.
Just me and the clock.
And more decisions.
Decisions I wasn’t in the right mind to make.
“Don’t!” Mrs. Unifelt screamed. “Don’t let her die!”
I grabbed her arms and tried to pull her away from the hospital bed as the doctor rushed to Kimmy’s side.
“Get her out of here!” He pointed at me. Mrs. Unifelt was strong, and at eighteen I still hadn’t packed on enough muscle to pry her body away from her daughter. She was fierce that way, like a mother cub protecting her young.
“You have to do what you can!” Mrs. Unifelt yelled again. “Please!” Tears streamed down her face and landed on my arms. Her tears were warm as they slid down my skin, but I was cold, shivering, dying right along with Kimmy.
I knew it was for the best. Kimmy wouldn’t want to live that way, trapped inside her own body, a vegetable. We’d never talked about it, but I couldn’t imagine her wanting to live, yet never actually being free. To never run again, never have kids, never be normal again.
“We’ll try,” the doctor finally said. “But you have to leave.”
Hours later, they let us see her.
I wasn’t prepared for her to look so normal.
She looked like my Kimmy, though her face was still bruised, her jaw locked shut.
“Talk to her,” the nurse said. “She can hear your voice.”
“Kimmy?” I whispered. “It’s Parker… I love you, Kimmy.”
Her eyelids moved and then flickered open. She looked horror-stricken, like she’d been to hell and back.
Her blood pressure skyrocketed as the heart monitor beeped.
“No.” she mouthed. “No, no!” Her head moved back and forth.
And then the seizure hit.
The next time she opened her eyes, they were empty.
The girl I loved was gone.
I slowly made my way back into the rec room. Most of the patients were watching a movie.
Not Princess.
She was positioned right next to the window, and it was open.
“Shit!” I ran across the room and pulled the window closed. “What the hell were you thinking?”
Saylor blinked innocently. “She said she missed the outside.”