It was cautious, but she slowly exhaled. “That’s right, baby boy. My work.”
She opened her mouth to say something or ask another question, but I needed to know where my friend was! “Noma, where is she? She was so sad?—”
Dismissively, her brown eyes shut before she shook her head. “There is no report of a girl in the water. Stop it.”
I jolted at her silencing me.
The nurse wrapped a reassuring arm around Noma while the doctor reached over me, to place his hand on her shoulder. He kindly said, “He needs more scans?—”
Her eyes opened, and she shrugged them both away. “The first ones gave all the information needed. I have no time for more, and you both know it. Are you going to help me or not?”
Her worry for me, once again, shot to my gut. Something was terribly wrong. I could sense it, even before she spoke sharp words in an urgent tone. That’s why I asked, “Noma? Am I okay?”
In a melting fashion, she hovered over me, pressing kisses all over my face. “Yes, of course.” Then, stern yet gentle fingers gripped my chin. Face to face, she promised, “I know you better than anyone else on this earth. If I say you’re fine, you are. Hear me?” The last question had been spoken to me, yet by the way she mean-mugged the doctor, I easily assumed who it was truly meant for.
He groaned through clenched teeth, “A mention of mystical creatures is not concerning?”
She countered, “He’s. Ten.”
As she stayed hovering over me, there was a long-weighted standoff until the doctor claimed, “My. License.”
Even though she was sneering her response like a lioness, I could sense her admiration and loyalty to him. “Oh, yeah, because if anything goes wrong, coming back here to sue is at the top of my fucking to-do list.”
Another long pause…
Then he pushed away from the bed and headed for the door, mumbling, “So damn stubborn.” The door shut behind him after he left the room.
The tension evaporated, Noma and her nurse friend both sighing.
With relief that was palpable, Noma’s forehead leaned against mine. “I love you so much, baby boy.” Tears, not my own, wet my skin, making me think of water stars.
Knowing who swam in such waters had me refocused and my lungs expanding with a hunger my young mind couldn’t comprehend. Only… feel. “I know you told me to stop it, but can you please at least tell me if she’s okay? That’s all I need right now.”
I didn’t realize I was sweating until Noma pushed damp bangs from my forehead. Her head was tilted, but not with a question. It felt like adoration. “She must be. Like I’ve already told you, no girl was at the site or clubhouse?—”
A ‘site’. What does that mean? I asked myself as I noticed the nurse studying me and walking around the end of the bed to get to my left side again.
In a surrender I could only sense yet not understand, Noma softly continued. “—only a baby boy and…” She whispered the next part as if the words were choking her. “A man.”
A man? At a site?
I squinted as an odd and disturbing sensation started to roll into my soul like an unnatural storm; foreign yet something I recognized down deep. My death gift began to smile, its teeth reflecting off the blade that was about to slice me to smithereens.
Suddenly, echoes of loud booms of gunshots banged in my head, and then I flashed back to Uncle Styx slowing down his bike. My body went stiff. My nerves set on fire. The once serene calm from the water of stars melted away like wax from a candle, with a wick ten times too big.
No! Dad!
Ears ringing and gasping for air, I began reaching for the sky, the sun, all over again. If I could go back in time, maybe I could stop Mr. Death and his vile thievery.
I froze, hands in midair, when I saw my right no longer with a yellow skully. Now the damaged hand was wrapped in a white bandage. Only three full fingers and one thumb left. The blue water… My blood… Her swimming toward me…
“N-Noma,” I stuttered. “I-I think I’m losin’ it.”
Careful not to grab my injured right hand, Noma brought them both back to my stomach, her tone now steady. “You’re not. I need you to slow your breath, okay?” She was now in emergency nurse mode.
Listening to her advice was crucial. I understood, but couldn’t obey it. Staring at the ceiling, I fought to be set free from her hold. I demanded a replica of the moment before Dad— “Pleeeease,” I begged, my body arching off the bed. Panic shot through me with stinging pricks of pain that seemed to plunge into every nerve in my body. I wanted to get back to that damn sky and learn how to fly so I could swoop down and save him. I needed to squeeze him tighter so we’d never leave the seat of his Harley. I needed…
I barely registered the needle prick to my arm. Nonetheless, I sensed the nurse’s guilt. The medicine she just forcefully delivered had her feeling she’d betrayed my grieving process.
