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Chapter 1
Laurel
From the shower, I could hear it echoing throughout my apartment. Probably my mother. I continued washing my body, lathering the soap, when it started ringing again. I hurriedly washed my body off, wrapped a towel around my wet body, and ran to the phone. It was a call I never expected to receive.
“Hello?” I said, out of breath from running across my apartment half-naked.
“Is this Lacey?” the woman asked.
“Yes, this is me. Can I help you?” I asked, wondering why this lady was calling me.
“This is Mandy from Memorial Hospital. Your sister has been admitted and is in bad condition. She has you down as her emergency contact.”
I fell to the ground with a hard thud, not caring about my bareness. What happened? My sister lived in Texas and was going to college there. I knew she never should have moved there by herself.
“What happened?” I said, my voice shaking.
“Honestly. We are not sure. Do you live nearby?”
“No, ma’am. I live outta state. I’ll try to get on the next flight out.”
“Okay, we will call if we need anything before you get here. Fly safe, and I’m sorry about the circumstances.”
“Thanks,” I said, hanging up the phone.
I never expected to receive this phone call. I mean, who really did? The tears kept coming, and I couldn’t make them stop. The hospital didn’t have any idea what happened to her. How the hell could they not know?
I went to my closet to get dressed and pulled on a pair of sweats and my old college t-shirt. As I sat down at my desk and opened up my laptop, my first instinct was to call my boss. Let him know I wouldn’t be coming in tomorrow and possibly for the rest of the week. Hopefully, they would understand. I shook my head, deciding just to call them from Dallas. I had been there for ten years and never used all of my vacation. Surely, they wouldn’t dock me. I still had a week’s vacation under my belt, but usually, we had to give a two-week notice. Under the circumstances, I think they would let me use it.
I searched for the next flight out. Wow, $746? Well, I didn’t have a choice. I grabbed my credit card out of my wallet and booked it. I hated Texas, but I couldn’t let my sister sit in a hospital by herself.
I closed my laptop and headed straight for the closet, lugging out my suitcase, and started loading it up with essentials and clothing needed for the trip. I had to pack more since I didn’t know exactly how long I would be there. I couldn’t come home until I knew she was okay.
I took out my phone and ordered an Uber to take me to the airport because I didn’t want to pay parking fees or abandon my car there. Turning the thermostat up and grabbing the suitcase, I headed downstairs to the car waiting for me.
The Uber driver was helpful. He took my suitcase from me and loaded it into the back.
“Flying out, huh? Vacation?” he asked in a foreign accent.
“No, I wish that was the case. My sister is in the hospital in Dallas. I just found out.”
The cab driver stopped the car, turned around, and from his frown, I could tell he was devastated to have asked the previous question.
“I’m so sorry. Forgive me. I hope she is okay.”
He continued driving through the endless traffic until we finally pulled up to the terminal. The older gentleman stepped out of the car, grabbed my suitcase, and apologized again. I shook my head to let him know it was okay, then I was on my way.
After going through security and boarding the plane, I experienced an overwhelming sense of fear. My sister had no health issues that I knew of. The last time I spoke to her on the phone, she informed me about the new guy she had been dating. He sounded like a decent guy who was going to school and had plans for himself. She seemed happy, but where was he? Why wasn’t he at the hospital with her? I took a sleeping pill, so I could sleep for the remainder of the flight instead of having a wandering brain. Nothing good ever came from that.
The next thing I knew, I woke up to the bounce of the plane as it landed. Welcome to Dallas. I went straight for the baggage terminal to retrieve my bag and headed to the hospital by getting a cab waiting outside the terminal.
As I walked inside the hospital, I approached the front desk. The air was sterile and cold.
“I’m here for my sister, Lacey. Is Mandy here?”
“Hey, I’m Mandy.” She looked at me and smiled. “Nice to meet you under the circumstances. Come with me, I’ll take you back to her.”
I followed behind her, wondering what she would look like. What had happened?
