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“Suri,” I hear again, but it seems so far away. I pause waiting to see if I hear it again. Nothing. I must’ve been imagining it. Trying to get my body to float back toward the light, I hear it again.
“Suri.” This time it’s closer. I whisper, “Brendan?”
When no one responds, I try again. “Brendan.”
“Suri, baby, where are you?” I hear him again. I don’t know how to tell him where I am. I just seem to be floating in a vast nothingness, so I just start yelling for him. “Brendan!”
The blackness surrounding me seems to be fading away into what looks like the sky. I hear him yelling for me again, “Suri!”
I need to get to him. I scream his name as loud as I can. “Brendan!” All of a sudden, I see the most beautiful face I’ve ever seen. It’s him! He found me.
Brendan rubs my face as he whispers, “It’s ok, princess. I’m here.”
“It hurts. Everything hurts. I can’t get to the light,” I whisper. I close my eyes, then I remember I need to tell him.
“Stay with me, Princess. You’re ok. Suri…Suri?”
Then everything goes black again.
Chapter eighteen
Brendan
Thank fuck she’s alive. I keep those words running through my head as I lean down and rub the back of my hand against her cheek.
Suddenly the calm I thought I was able to grasp flies out the window as Suri faints in my arms. Shit, this cannot be happening.
“Suri! Wake up,” I tell her as I hug her to me making sure that I can feel her chest move with every breath.
Henry hears me and his footsteps pound to the ground as he rushes over. “Is she hurt? The ambulance should be here in a few minutes.”
I don’t say anything. I can’t. All my words and thoughts are stuck in my chest. The only thing I can do is hold her, whispering in her ear, “Come back to me, Princess.”
The sound of sirens gets closer. Before I can react, two men lean down trying to get to Suri. I grip her tighter pulling her closer to my chest. I can’t let her go.
“Sir, we need to take her to make sure she’s okay.” Shaking my head, I bear my teeth at them. I won’t allow them to take her from me. She. Is. Mine.
Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I hear Henry say, “You gotta let her go, man. She needs to be checked. They’ll take good care of her.”
I know he’s right but it’s so hard. They put a brace around her neck and start to shuffle her onto the backboard to load her up into the ambulance. I can’t make my body move. I just stare as they take my world away from me.
The EMT’s heading to the ambulance snaps me out of my daze. Determined to be with her, I start to climb in with Suri. The same man who tried to take her from me stops me, “Sir, we can’t let you ride with her. It’s family only.”
Hell, what is this crap? “I’m her goddamned fucking husband so get the fuck out of my way.”
He gulps but doesn’t say anything else as we stare at each other, neither of us making a move. The other EMT drops his arms and gruffly says, “Don’t be an ass, Steve, he can ride with her.”
With those words, I don’t waste any more time and finish climbing into the ambulance. I grab her hand. She feels so small and fragile. From somewhere in the distance, I hear Henry yell that he’ll meet me at the hospital.
The ride to the hospital is fast and slow at the same time. I whisper to her the entire way and growl at the fucking EMTs who I’m afraid are hurting her. She never wakes up, never opens her eyes. I’m losing my goddamn mind. Arriving at the hospital the EMTs rush Suri inside. I try to follow her but a hand settles firmly on my chest. I look up and see a tiny blonde woman looking at me. She looks at me softly, but her words leave no room for argument. She sounds like Ma. “Sir, I know you’re worried but you can’t follow. We need to let the doctors check her out.”
I know she’s right, but I feel like I can barely breathe the further she gets from me. I just stare at her. Words run through my mind, but none of them leave my lips. It’s like my whole body is wrapped in a fog of uncertainty. Suri has been missing for five days and now she’s hurt.
Why did I waste so much time staying away from her? I should have accepted the consequences of being exiled a long time ago. I should have followed her to school and told her I loved her. My whole body shakes.
“Sir, take a breath. I promise you I will let you know something as soon as I can,” the nurse tells me. “Breathe,” she says again.
Henry walks up next to me. His eyes bounce back and forth between me and the nurse, probably trying to figure out how much damage I’ve created in the few moments since I arrived. He finally breaks the silence, “What's going on here?”
