Stay For Me - Megan Smith Page 0,72
and praying the whole time that my friends make it because with the amount of blood they both lost it doesn’t look good.
Cooper
Stop signs and traffic lights all a blur. I’m on autopilot. The hospital is about fifteen minutes away. When I arrive I find the first parking spot I can. Thankfully it’s right in the middle so I quickly lock the doors and run towards the entrance of the emergency room.
The automatic doors slide open and I step into the Emergency Room entrance.
“How may I help you, sir?” The lady behind the desk asks me.
“My friends, Layla Del Luca and Eli Sabatino, were just brought in by ambulance.”
I hear her clicking away on her computer. “Sure, I’ll find out what’s going on for you, sir.”
I trudge over to take a seat. I lean forward with my elbows on my knees, my head down. I sit for a while as the world goes on around me. A few people have walked in; a guy clutching his stomach, a mom and her daughter who has her arm cradled to her chest and an old couple who are winded by the time they’ve reached the desk to check in.
“Cooper.” Jaylinn calls when the doors to the emergency room open.
She runs over to me and throws her arms around my neck and I hug her tightly back.
“What’s going on?” She asks as she sets a bag down beside her.
I pull her back to me just needing the comfort. “I couldn’t sleep, been having a hard time lately as you know. Thought I’d go into work and tie up a few loose ends. I pulled into the parking lot and was walking down the back alley. None of the lights were turning on which I thought was a little weird. When I got a few yards away from the entrance that’s when I noticed two bodies lying on the ground.”
Jaylinn’s eyes tear up as her hands go to her mouth to stifle the anguish. “Eli and Layla?”
I nod. “Yeah, they were beaten up pretty bad. You’re going to need to prepare yourself.”
“Okay.” She whispers.
Jaylinn notices my hands that still have blood on them and stained finger nails that I question ever being clean again. She reaches for the bag beside her and hands it to me.
Together we walk towards the bathroom. I give her a quick kiss on the lips before walking into the bathroom to change and wash up.
A few more people have walked in after I step out of the bathroom. The waiting room is getting packed; everyone here for a different reason.
“Cooper Cahill?”
“Yes, ma’am.” I respond.
The nurse smiles and takes a step in my direction. “Will you both please follow me?”
Jaylinn walks over and holds out her hand to me. I look at it and then glance up to her. She offers me a sad smile. “Come on.”
I look around me. A few people are talking to other people. A mom is feeding her baby and the little old couple who walked in earlier are sitting hand in hand looking out the window.
I blow out a deep breath before grabbing Jaylinn’s hand. I know this is killing her as a sense of deja vu washes over me. We were taking the same steps just over a month ago. The two of us follow the nurse over to a set of double doors where she slides a badge into a reader and the doors open. We walk down a long hallway, through another set of double doors before we come to the elevators. The nurse hits the up button and we wait. The elevators ding twice before opening. We are set inside and I watch the nurse hit the number three as I glance over to the panel with the writing on it. Floor three is the emergency surgery/surgery floor.
My palms start to sweat.
My hands start to shake.
The elevators stops and the door slides open. The nurse steps out first followed by Jaylinn, then myself. We follow her down another hallway and into a small waiting area.
The room is white, plain. A smaller sized round table sits in the middle with five chairs around it. In the corner there is a table that has different pamphlets on it. Grief, Recovery, Physical Therapy.
“Please have a seat and the doctor will be in to see you soon.”
“Thank you.” Jaylinn responds just as the nurse shuts the door.
I blow out a deep breath. Jaylinn reaches for my hand and we sit waiting for the doctor.
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