call me out on my bullshit and the guy nods, letting me on. Closing the doors, we head to the nearby hospital. I sit beside her, cradling her hand in mine.
“Do you have any idea what’s wrong?” I ask, wanting answers.
They don’t reply, busy listening to her heart and lungs and doing other checks that I have no idea what they are. They even get her started on IV fluids since she’s dehydrated.
At the hospital, they whisk her inside and into a curtained off area in the ER.
A nurse comes in, going over questions we’ve already answered.
“Why are you asking all this again? Isn’t it on a chart somewhere? Why aren’t you guys figuring out what’s wrong with her?”
“We’ll get there,” she says in a calm tone. “But I have to do this first. It’s protocol.”
I’m about to tell her to fuck her protocol but Zoey squeezes my hand and says, “It’s fine.”
She explains her pain to the nurse, when it started, how it feels and where it’s located.
“The doctor will be by shortly to check on you and order some tests. Okay, sweetie?”
Zoey jerks her head in a nod.
“Can we at least get a damp cloth?” I practically beg, wanting to do something. If I can press it to her sweat damp forehead it’ll make me feel better. I hate feeling like there’s nothing I can do.
“Of course.”
The nurse seems nice enough, but I hate that there’s a lack of urgency. I mean, I know Zoey isn’t dying, at least she doesn’t appear to be, and this is an ER but when you see someone you know hurting you just want them to do something. Anything.
Zoey squeezes my hand as the nurse breezes past the curtain. “Sit down.” She nods at the chair near her bed.
I do as she asks. “How bad is the pain?”
“Bad enough.”
“What can I do?”
“Just you being here is enough.”
“Zoey,” I beg.
“Fine. Can you rub my stomach? If you apply some pressure, I think it’ll help.”
“I can do that. Show me where.”
She takes my hand, placing it on her lower abdomen. “Right here.”
The nurse comes back in with the damp cloth and I take it, muttering thank you before I apply it to Zoey’s forehead.
“Thanks, Dr. Anderson.” She cracks the tiniest of smiles, but it doesn’t mask how badly she’s hurting. I see it in her eyes.
“I can’t believe you’re joking right now.”
“It helps me cope. If this is food poisoning, tell Teddy I’m murdering him with his damn chicken nuggets.”
“I’ll help you.”
I’m not convinced this is food poisoning like she seems to think it is. I got it a few years ago after a disastrous buffet experience. Never again will I eat at one. I couldn’t stop throwing up. But I was never in pain like she is.
Eventually a doctor comes in, going over the same fucking questions yet again, poking and prodding her, listening to her lungs, until finally he steps back and says he’s ordering blood work and an ultrasound. Just like the nurse figured he would. They give Zoey something to help with the pain and she drifts off to sleep.
Stepping out of her room—well, curtained off corner of the ER—I round the hall and scroll through my phone contacts.
She might get pissed at me for this, but I can’t in good conscience not let her dad know she’s in the ER.
The phone rings a couple of times before his groggy voice answers with a gruff, “What the fuck, Anderson? It’s three in the morning.”
“I know, sir, and I wouldn’t be calling if it wasn’t an emergency.”
“What’s wrong?” He sounds more alert now, worried even, and he doesn’t even know this has to do with his daughter.
“It’s Zoey.”
“What about her?” Panic cuts through his voice and there’s shuffling in the background, no doubt he’s climbing out of bed.
“I got home and found her on the bathroom floor in pain. It wasn’t getting better, so I called for an ambulance. She’s sleeping right now, but they’re going to do some tests and I thought you should know.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
He hangs up, and I realize then that he’s so flustered he didn’t even ask how I know Zoey or how I would’ve found her.
Back in Zoey’s room, I sit down at her side. She’s still sleeping, but I can’t help myself when I take her hand, brushing my thumb gently back and forth over her knuckles.
I don’t like seeing her in pain and knowing I’m helpless