Simone and Lani are both on their feet instantly. Simone is the first to speak. “That’s us. Is she okay?” The desperation in her voice makes me sick.
“Are you family?”
I see Simone stiffen a little, offended. “Yes,” she tells him flatly. “The rest of her family is…dead. And her foster parents are back in North Carolina. We’re all she’s got.”
My heart actually drops hearing those words. Hating that they were said, that they were real.Her family is dead?
The doctor’s head drops a little, and then he just nods. “She’s stable for now,” he tells them. “We’ve reversed some of the effects of the OD and placed her on oxygen. We’re monitoring her breathing and heart closely. Labsdidshow some stress. We don’t really know how long she was down. She experienced what we call hypoxia, where her breathing never stopped completely, but oxygen was still insufficiently getting to the brain. The long-term effects of that happening are still hard to determine quite yet. She’s sedated for now and will likely be unresponsive for a while. Right now, it’s going to be hour by hour as we watch her progress. You got her here just in time, though. Any longer and we wouldn’t have been able to do what we’ve done for her. She was lucky to have you there.”
Simone looks over her shoulder at me with this broken but appreciative expression. I just nod, not really wanting to accept credit for it. She turns back to the doctor. “She’ll wake up, though, right?”
“It’s too soon to say, but I think she has good odds,” he tells her gently. “There’s nothing for us to do right now but wait. You all should get some rest while you can and try not to stress too much. We’re doing everything possible to give her the best outcome here.”
Lani nods. There’s tears sliding down her face, and she doesn’t even bother to wipe them. Just stares straight ahead, listening to the doctor. He asks them if they have any questions for him before he turns and heads back past the restricted area. Sandro walks up and slips an arm around both of them, and they both fold in toward him, crying.
A nurse eventually comes out and leads them back two at a time to see her. After Simone and Lani come back out, Sandro goes to get up. Lani asks if he wants her to go back with him, but he turns to me instead, motioning for me to go with him. I hesitate. Really wanting to avoid seeing her like that, honestly, the more I sat and thought about it. And also feeling like I don’t have the right to her in that state, either. Would she even want some stranger in her room? I try to tell him that it’s okay, that I don’t have to…but he insists. So eventually I stop arguing, feeling pulled to go.
Simone stops me on my way back, hugging me. I freeze, not knowing what to do at first, arms up like a stunned idiot. I slowly wrap my arms around her, feeling her cries on my chest.
“Thank you,” she whispers. “Thank you for saving her.”
It’s all too much to take in in this moment. I hate a savior complex. Don’t like it. Don’t want it. Don’t need it.
“I…I was just at the right place at the right time,” I tell her. The same thing I keep telling myself and everyone else. It was just a coincidence…chance.
“You should be thanking God,” I tell her, “not me.”
She just looks up at me and nods before letting go.
Machines blink all across the room. There’s color in her cheeks that wasn’t there out on the sidewalk. I hate how peaceful she looks. Scares me still.
I need you to fight, okay. I get it. You didn’t want to. But you’ve got to now.
I walk over closer to her, where Sandro is already standing with his hand on her hair in this caring, brotherly way.
“Think she’ll make it through this?” He asks…and I…I don’t really know what to say.
I clear my throat. “Yeah…yeah, I think so…but I think the real question is what comes after she does.”
He looks back at me, confused. “What do you mean?”
I hate the pained expression I know is written all over my face, but I can’t help it. I’m trying to hold it all in. I am. “She’s hurting…likereallyhurting. I knew it the first time I ever saw her.”
“At the party?”
I shake my head. “Nah. I’d seen her around campus before that. Once was just a quick walk by; she caught my eye for some reason…and then another time she came into the library before midterms and ended up passing out on top of her books. I walked over to her and checked on her, and it was very obvious she was high or coming down from a high, but I could see the pain she was in, like on the inside, you know?”
“How did you know?”
I shrug, not wanting it to be some whole thing. “I don’t know…I guess…I’ve just been there.”
Sandro nods in understanding and doesn’t say anything else for a moment. “She’s lucky…that you were there. Thank you, man.”
He shifts next to me and puts a hand on my shoulder. I can’t speak, so I just nod. I can’t stop the overwhelming feeling that hits me. The floor shifts as I look down, so I put my palm on the foot of the bed to steady the tilt. It feels like I can’t get a full breath in, and the walls start to feel too close, like the oxygen in the air is running out.
“I’m—” I start, then swallow. “I’m going to head to the store. Can I get y’all anything? I…I might head back to campus. I know it’ll be a long night and all. I can pick y’all back up if you need, though. I’ll make sure I’m available.” I start walking towards the door, needing some space.
Sandro looks concerned, but doesn’t push. “Um, yeah…I think we’re good, but I can get yournumber and let you know when and if anything changes?”
