Chapter 33 – Logan
Thirty-Three
LOGAN
With Nico headed down one hall and my dad going down another, I stop at the concession stand to ask the two women working behind the counter if they’ve seen Zuri, showing them the picture of her and Coop Ma sent a few weeks ago.
Neither of them has, but they do tell me they overheard a group of kids talking about going outside to shoot hoops.
Even though I doubt that Zuri would leave, since she really wanted to see Billie perform and I know she wouldn’t just leave without talking to Nalia, I figure it’s as good a place as any to start looking.
I start towards the front exit, stopping to look inside the classrooms and restrooms, I pass on the way but all of them are empty, and I haven't passed a single person.
As I’m getting ready to push through the door to go outside, I hear shouting coming from down the hall and start to jog that direction.
The closer I get, the more apparent it becomes that something has happened.
Over the echo of my footsteps bouncing off the hallway walls, I can hear a girl screaming and multiple other voices, but none of them sound familiar.
I get closer to the double doors that lead into the gym, and the view through the small glass panel in the middle comes into perspective.
I can see a group of boys surrounding a girl with blonde hair.
I swing the door open, and all eyes turn my direction, including the girl I assumed was Zuri.
It’s not her, but when her eyes lock with mine, she looks relieved while the boys all instantly pale.
“Run,” one of the boys yells and Matthew, who is among them, takes off to the door that leads to outside with two other boys running out right behind him.
“Zuri is stuck behind the bleachers.” The girl the boys had surrounded tells me as she runs over to the side of the bleachers that are shoved flat against the wall.
I follow behind her and stop at the end of the bleachers as she attempts to look behind them by pressing her face against the wall.
“Zuri!” she yells as I scan the bleachers for the mechanism to release them.
“She’s not answering. Zuri!” she yells louder.
Finally, finding the switch, I hit it, but nothing happens. I hit it again, still nothing.
Pressing the side of my face to the wall, I look behind the bleachers, there’s barely five inches of space. I can just make out Zuri she looks like she’s asleep which sends fear spiraling down my spine.
Worried that the pressure from the weight of the steps has crushed her chest, I run around to the front of the stairs and pull from the bottom, hoping that if I use enough force, I can get it to unlock and gravity will do the rest. It takes me multiple tries before I’m finally able to yank the steps free, and I have to jump out of the way as they come sliding out in one swift woosh.
With my heart racing, I jog behind the now descended steps to the empty, angled space where Zuri is lying on the ground.
I fall to my knees next to her and press my fingers to her neck, checking for a pulse.
It’s there, steady and strong, and her chest is moving.
Thank fuck.
“Is she okay?” her friend asks, and I look up at her as I adjust Zuri’s body so she’s flat on her back.
“Yes, but I want you to go and tell the first person you see to call 911.”
“But?”
“Go get help, run as fast as you can.”
Still looking terrified, she runs away.
“Honey, you need to wake up.” I lean over Zuri and try to talk myself out of losing my shit. She’s breathing and has a pulse; she’s okay. I need her to wake up before Nalia gets here.
I feel someone join me, and when I look up, my dad is falling to his knees on the opposite side of me.
“Is she okay?”
“Yeah, I think so, I just need her to wake up.” I turn to look towards the exit of the stairs when I hear a gasp and find Nalia standing there with her dad.
“Logan.” The pain in her voice makes my chest ache.
“She’s breathing, baby,” I tell her, then look at her dad when he appears at her side. “Does anyone know if an ambulance is on the way?”
“They should be here any minute,” my dad tells me.
“Let's get her out of here, so it’s easier for them to move her,” I tell him, and he and Nico help me get her out from behind the stairs.
As Nalia comes over to her once we have her on the ground, I check her pulse and her breathing again, while I pray like I have never prayed before.
“She’s right over here.” A voice says, and I look up and watch two EMTs come into the gym with a gurney.
Neither of them hesitates, loading her onto it, and within minutes, Nalia and I are following them outside.
I don’t even give them the option to leave either of us behind.
I push Nalia into the back of the ambulance and get in with her, telling my dad and hers to keep an eye on the kids and to let them know that we will call when we can.
* * *
Sitting in the chair next to Zuri’s hospital bed, I watch her and Nalia as they both sleep peacefully.
Before we even arrived at the hospital, Zuri had woken up disoriented and confused, but she was awake and talking, which was a relief to me but more to Nalia, who was terrified up until that point.
After we arrived at the hospital, the ER doctor came in to check Zuri over, and she told him what happened.
She said that when she was behind the bleachers and realized that she wasn’t going to be able to get out, she couldn’t seem to catch her breath and doesn’t remember anything after that.
After hearing her explain things, he concluded that she probably had a panic attack from being confined in the small space and hyperventilated, which caused her to pass out.
Still, he told us that he wanted to keep her overnight to monitor her, and I knew that I would feel better having her in a place where we could get her help if something out of the ordinary happened.
I also knew that I would be better off here with her and Nalia since if I had left last night there is no doubt I would have gone to Matthew’s house and maybe burnt it to the ground after hearing from Zuri exactly what he and his friends did.
Apparently, he and his friends had come across Zuri and her friend while they were in the cafeteria talking, and after harassing both girls, Matthew stole her friend’s phone out of her hand and ran off with it.
The girls both followed the boys to the gym to get it back, but Matthew tossed it behind the bleachers that had been out at the time.
The girls had both gone back behind the bleachers to retrieve it, but while they were back there, the boys started to shove the bleachers up against the wall.
Evelyn was able to get out before they were closed completely, but Zuri wasn’t fast enough and got stuck.
The last thing she remembers is hearing Evelyn yelling at the boys, trying to get them to help her get Zuri out, but either they wouldn’t listen or they couldn’t get the stairs back open.
And it honestly doesn’t fucking matter. The reality is Zuri and her friend could have been seriously injured.
I doubt the boys knew that there was room behind the bleachers for someone to stand when they were pressed up against the wall.
And I guarantee they didn’t know that there weren’t any sharp pieces of metal or anything else that could have struck the girls.
Dragging my eyes off the Nalia and Zuri, I look to the window and close my eyes that are burning from not sleeping at all last night.
Between Nalia’s family coming by, the police showing up late in the evening, the kids stopping in with their mom and grandparents, and the nurses coming into the room every hour, there wasn’t really time to rest. Plus, the chair I’m in is shit.
“Hey, guys, mind if Dr. Justice comes in?” one of the nurses who had been in earlier asks, dragging me from my thoughts while a man in scrubs comes in behind her.
“Sure.” I sit up, and Nalia sleepily does the same. Neither of the girls got much more sleep than I did last night, with people constantly in and out of the room.
“I’m just going to look you over and ask a few questions then you guys are free to head on home,” Dr. Justice says coming to stand at the edge of the bed.
It doesn’t take him long at all to evaluate Zuri and before he leaves the room, he hands Nalia over the discharge papers and sends us on our way, making sure that we know to come back if we think we need to.
“I’m so hungry,” Zuri tells us from the backseat when we are five minutes from the house. “Can I have bacon?”
“Yeah, sweetheart.” I look over at Nalia when she squeezes my hand.
“Are Billie and Cooper home?”
“Gigi and Pops are bringing them home now,” I tell her as my cell starts to ring. “Speak of the devil. Hey, honey,” I answer the call form Billie on the car stereo.
“Umm, Dad.” She sounds nervous, and my spine stiffens.
“What happened?”
“We just got home and Matthew’s parents just pulled up. They are like really upset.”
Shit, glance over at Nalia and she presses her lips together. “Where’s Gigi and Pops?”
“They’re talking to them outside.”
“We’re on our way home; we should be there in a few minutes, stay inside with your brother.”
“Okay Dad,” She hangs up.
“I can’t believe they would show up at the house,” Nalia whispers, and my jaw clenches.
I’m not at all surprised that they would come to the house.
Late last night, the police showed up at the hospital, and we filed a report with them.
We insisted that they make sure they let whoever needs to know that we want charges pressed, since Matthew is a minor, and it was not up to us what would happen to him.
When we get to the house, I pull in and park behind Billie’s car, seeing Matthew’s mom and dad standing at the bottom of the stairs with my parents between them and the front door.
“I’m going to open the garage, I want you girls to go inside. I’ll deal with them and be inside in just a few minutes.” I shut down the engine and open the door for the garage before I get out.
“Why are you here?” I start towards Matthew’s parents.
“The police came to our house,” his mom says walking towards me. “Matthew and his friends are being charged with assault.”
“Good,” Nalia says, and I sigh. So much for her going into the house; the woman never listens.
“Good? That’s not good, he’s a kid. He didn’t even do anything wrong.”
“He locked Zuri behind the bleachers at school. She was so scared that she passed out and had to spend the night in the hospital,” Nalia snaps.
“But he didn’t really harm her.”
“You need to leave,” I tell them before Nalia can say anything else.
“But before you go, you should know that we will be suing you and the other parents for the cost of Zuri’s medical bills and whatever therapy she might need after experiencing the kind of trauma she went through yesterday,” Nalia tells them, and I swear I hear Billie, who is standing just inside the house with the front door open giggle.
“This is so ridiculous; they’re just kids being kids.”
“No, it’s not just kids being kids or boys being boys when someone is actually hurt,” Nalia tells them before stepping up onto the porch.
“He’s going to have to go to court,” Matthew’s mom says, getting loud. I see the little bit of patience Nalia was holding onto draining out of her.
“Maybe.” She turns around and pins Matthew’s parents in place with her stare.
“If you had dealt with your son accordingly, one of the dozen times he’s done something wrong, instead of avoiding actually parenting and coddling him, we wouldn’t be here.
” With that parting shot, she walks into the house, saying over her shoulder, “Our lawyer will be in touch.”
Fuck, I love her.
“Come on, kids.” She loops her arm around Zuri’s shoulders, then takes Billie’s hand while Cooper glares at Matthew’s parents before he follows the girls deeper into the house. Mom follows them inside and shuts the door while Dad stays out with me.
“This is ridiculous,” Matthew’s mom hisses, turning her glare on her husband. “Why aren't you saying anything?”
He doesn’t answer, he turns and walks to their vehicle parked on the street and she sputters before she rushes after him calling out his name.
“Hopefully, Nalia put some real fear in them, and they’ll think twice before allowing their son to get away with the crap he’s pulled again,” Dad says as we watch them drive off.
“I really fucking hope so.” I pat Dad’s shoulder, then turn for the house. When we get inside, everyone is in the kitchen, standing around the island.
“I’m hungry,” Cooper informs us all, not surprising us in the least, as I walk to Zuri and wrap my arm around her shoulder.
“Are you up to going out to breakfast?” I ask her, and she looks up at me, nodding.
“Alright.” I lean down, kissing the top of her head, then let her go and look at my parents. “Do you guys wanna join us?”
“How about you guys just have some family time?” Mom suggests softly walking over to wrap her arm around me. “Dad and I will be by later to check on you guys.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.” She leans up to kiss my cheek, then passes out hugs to everyone, taking some extra time with Zuri before Dad does the same. When they leave, I do what my mom suggested and take my family out to breakfast.