Chapter 6
Zion and Steel strode down the hallway of the hospital. At the nurses’ station for the ER they spoke with the nurse on duty.
“Our friend was brought here,” Zion told the woman. “It was a car accident.”
“I’m sorry, if you’re only friends, we can’t tell you anything. Patient confidentiality,” the dark-haired nurse said.
“You can’t just tell us if she’s, okay?” Steel insisted.
The nurse shook her head. “Patient—”
“Confidentiality,” Steel snapped, “I know.”
They walked away from the desk, looking at each other. “This is bullshit,” Steel growled.
“Indeed,” Zion agreed.
It was another hour before Celeste and Daniel arrived. They walked over to the waiting area to talk to Steel and Zion, who had been joined by Shayne and Flynn.
“Have they told you anything?” Celeste asked.
“They wouldn’t tell us squat.” Zion shook her head.
“They’re waiting for you,” Steel added.
“For God’s sake,” Daniel growled, striding over to the nurse’s station. “Our daughter, Jaims Carpenter was brought in, she had a car accident.”
The same dark-haired nurse looked at her computer. “She’s still in the ER. You can go back and see her,” she told them. “Here, put these visitor badges on, she is in bed nine.”
“I’ll tell the bois,” Daniel told his wife. “You go ahead.”
Celeste walked through the double doors, buzzed in by the nurse. At bed nine, she steeled herself, then poked her head behind the curtain. Jaims lay in the hospital bed with her eyes closed. There was a bandage wrapped around her head, and her arm. Celeste moved to sit down next to the bed, her eyes fixed on her daughter.
Jaims came to, looking around her, realizing she was in the hospital. Glancing over she saw her mother sitting in the chair by her side.
“Mom?” Jaims queried.
“Oh baby!” Celeste exclaimed, leaning forward to touch Jaims on the face gently. “What happened, honey?”
Jaims looked confused for a moment, trying to remember how she ended up where she was. “I…I had another migraine…My pills weren’t working…I needed a shot.” Jaims hesitated, still trying to remember what had happened.
“Why were you driving, honey? Couldn’t Raquel take you?”
At the mention of her roommate, Jaims grimaced. “She, um, she wasn’t there.”
“Oh honey, you should have waited for her, or called one of us,” Celeste soothed.
Jaims nodded, but didn’t answer. She remembered just lying in bed for the entire day after Raquel had left. Getting up to go to the bathroom had been excruciating, but she’d done it when she had no choice. The headache had gotten worse. The truth was she had been afraid it was something other than a migraine. The thought had pushed her to drive to the ER in the early hours the next morning. She knew that it was risky, but she’d been afraid to call 911, in case they saw the bruises on her body. In hindsight, the ER staff would have seen them anyway, but she hadn’t thought that far, hoping she could keep the focus on her head.
What she hadn’t accounted for was the bright headlights of approaching cars in the early hours of dawn, before the sun fully rose. They had blinded her, and she hit a parked car, then careened into oncoming traffic. Afterwards everything went black.
The doctor came into the curtained area then, helping Jaims avoid having to talk about the accident with her mother any further.
“Ah, I see you’re awake,” the doctor, a middle-aged man with kind brown eyes, said. “And you must be Mom.”
Celeste smiled, nodding. “How is she, doctor?”
“Well, she took a nasty blow to her head, I’ve ordered some scans to check for internal bleeding. I’ve also ordered a CAT scan.” He looked at Jaims then. “You were complaining about a severe headache when you were brought in.”
Jaims eyes widened in surprise. “I was?” Jaims replied. She didn’t even realize she’d been conscious. “Did I say anything else?” she worried out loud.
“Not that I know of.” The doctor grinned. “We’ll get you in for those scans as soon as we can, it has been a busy day already this morning.”
The doctor left the room, and Jaims did her best to relax. It was hours before they followed through with the scans and many more hours passed until someone finally came to talk to them about the results.
This time, it was a different doctor who came to address the family. Daniel had joined Celeste a little while after the first doctor had been in. He was relaying information to the crew as they were informed of news from the medical staff.
“It looks like we’re going to need to admit you,” the female doctor announced with a bright but serious smile. “You’ve got some bleeding in your head we need to watch, and do some more tests for.”
“Is it serious?” Celeste asked, her voice laced with worry.
“We won’t know until we get those tests run, that’s why we want to keep her here until we know what’s happening,” the doctor told them.
“I understand you have some friends outside that have been waiting to see you,” she said with a smile. “As soon as we can get you upstairs to a room, they can come and see you.”
“Thanks, doc,” Jaims said, nodding and wondering if Raquel was one of those friends.
“Is she okay?” Garrett said anxiously, as they drove to the hospital.
“Is she going to die?” Jackson asked, staring wide-eyed at Jaims, tears in his eyes.
“She’s not going to die,” Jaims assured the boys. “They said it was a minor gunshot wound.”
“But…” Garrett began, his voice trembled.
“Stop!” Jaims told him. “She’s going to be fine, okay? She was shot in the arm, okay? It’s not fatal.”
Both boys nodded somberly.
Jaims exhaled heavily. It was the last thing the boys needed to hear six months after their parents died. Their sister was their world now, and she’d been shot on the job.
At the hospital, Jaims had escorted the boys to the ER, and talked to the nurse there. The pretty redhead had been happy to help. The three of them had been taken back to the ER area Raquel was in, where she was sitting on a gurney as the doctor stitched up her arm.
“Oh Jesus!” Raquel said, seeing the worried look on the boys’ faces. “I’m fine! It’s just a damned scratch!”
“We thought…” Jackson began.
“I know what you thought,” Raquel countered, grinning at her brother. “Gonna take more than some gangster with a gun to take me out.”
“That’s what Jaims said, but we didn’t know.”
“Well, you’re idiots, so…” Raquel teased.
Relief flooded both boys’ faces, as Jaims and Raquel exchanged a look of empathy. Thank you, Raquel mouthed to Jaims. She knew that Jaims had done her best to calm the boys’ fears and she appreciated it.
They’d settled into the new apartment as a family unit, with their extended family always on call. Between Jaims and Raquel, things like rides to school and homework were covered. School projects had been split between the rest of the crew, depending on the subject. Jobs like building a mission for school had been turned over to Steel since she was in construction.
“I’m not into tiny construction!” Steel had complained jovially.
Artistic projects had fallen on Flynn and Shayne, who both had artistic flair. Home economic projects were Jayden’s area, and anything pertaining to computers fell on Case. Finances were handled between Raquel, Dax, and Zion. It worked well for all of them. They raised the boys together.
“Can we get outta here now?” Raquel asked the doctor. “I need a pizza and a beer.”
“Pizza sounds good,” Garrett said with a smile.
“I gotta finish my science project!” Jackson interjected.
“Got Dax comin’ for that one.” Jaims grinned. “Aeronautics degree and all.” She waved as if dismissing the degree that Dax held, making the other three laugh.
They left the ER together; another disaster had been avoided.
“Anyone heard from Rock?” Steel asked, glancing around at the rest of the crew gathered in the waiting room.
“Nope,” Shayne commented.
“Uh-uh,” Flynn remarked.
Jayden shook her head and Case shrugged.
“I texted both Rock and Dax,” Zion declared.
“Weird…” Steel murmured.
***
A loud sound outside made Raquel bolt awake. She looked around, not remembering where she was. Slowly it came to her and she realized that she hadn’t died as she’d figured she would from taking so many pain pills. Turning over, however, her body decided it wanted whatever was left of those pills out. Jumping out of bed, she ran to the bathroom and threw up into the toilet over and over. Finally, she lay on the floor, exhausted.
Sometime later, she moved to sit up and looked down at her watch. It was 4:00 p.m. She was surprised the manager hadn’t banged on the door to tell her to get out yet. She only paid for one day. Getting up off the floor, she moved back into the main part of the room. Sitting down on the bed, she felt tired and hungry. She debated her options; she knew she couldn’t go home yet. With that in mind, she went back downstairs and paid the manager for the next two days. Then she walked down to the corner taqueria and bought herself a burrito and a Coke and took it back up to the room.
Turning on the TV, she lost herself in some random show, doing her best to avoid thinking about Jaims. She successfully avoided thinking of Jaims for a while, but eventually she was consumed with wanting to apologize to her best friend and make amends for her ridiculous outburst. She got in her Jeep and drove home.
At the apartment she walked around, noting that Jaims was gone and hoping she’d left a note or something. She did everything she could to kill time. At one point her phone pinged, a text message come through. Hoping it was Jaims she opened the text and saw that the message notification was from Zion. A ripple of fear went through her. Had Jaims gone to Zion and told her what she had done? Steeling herself, she opened the message. It read: Jaims is in ER, where are you? Come soon! This set off alarm bells further for Raquel. If Jaims was in the ER, had she really hurt her? She couldn’t remember exactly what she’d done. She knew she had been furious, but the rest was a bit of a blur.
If she was in the ER, there might actually be cops waiting there to arrest her. The thought sent a whole new wave of panic through her. The idea that Jaims could really be hurt kept gnawing at her. Had she told their friends? The thought sent a sick feeling shooting through her stomach. She contemplated what their friends would say, what they would be thinking about her. Did they hate her? Of course they hated her now. How could they not? If she was honest with herself, she hated herself too.
She walked to the bathroom and looked in the medicine cabinet. She found nighttime cold medicine; it was brand new. Without bothering to think, she picked up the bottle, opened it and drank the entire contents. Back in her bedroom, she kicked off her tennis shoes and crawled under the covers. As she felt herself growing sleepy. The thought of not waking up occurred again but she just shrugged to herself and closed her eyes.
***
“You scared us!” Zion told Jaims.
“I’m sorry,” Jaims replied.
“We’re just glad you’re probably okay. I mean, except for like your dented skull and all,” Flynn teased.
“It’s pretty oddly shaped anyway,” Shayne added. “So maybe you can wear hats now.”
The crew laughed, including Jaims, who immediately regretted it. “Ow.”
“Laughing is bad, stop it,” Steel told her.
Jaims grinned. “Take the funny twins away then.”
“Ya just can’t take kids anywhere these days.” Case sighed, winking at Jaims.
“You’re gonna be okay, right?” Jayden worried, her tone slightly tremulous.
“I think I will.”
“Okay, we should get out of here and let Jaims rest,” Zion told the group. “Dax said she would be here sometime tomorrow, they’re in the middle of some kind of mandatory training.”
“Thanks,” Jaims told Zion, “I really appreciate all of you.”
“We got you,” Zion told her, reaching down to squeeze Jaims’ hand gently.
No one had mentioned Raquel, where she was, or why she hadn’t shown up at the hospital. Jaims wanted to ask if they’d heard from her, but didn’t want to start a conversation that could lead to questions she didn’t want to answer yet.
The second night in the hospital, Jaims turned over in the bed, trying to get comfortable. She hated sleeping on her back, and because of that, she woke up frequently at night. As she adjusted her pillow, she opened her eyes and almost jumped out of her skin. Raquel was sitting huddled in a chair next to her bed, staring at her.
“Jesus!” Jaims exclaimed, then she scowled. “What are you doing here?”
Raquel didn’t answer for a long moment, looking hesitant, like she wasn’t sure why she was there. Finally, she answered, “I needed to see if you were okay.”
“That’s yet to be determined,” Jaims replied acerbically.
Raquel visibly flinched. “It’s my fault.”
Jaims didn’t answer, waiting to see what Raquel said next. She wasn’t willing to say it was okay because it wasn’t. What Raquel had done, attacking her the way she did, was far from okay.
Raquel moved to the edge of the chair, grabbing the rail on the hospital bed, her look pained. “I’m so sorry, Jaims!” she whispered desperately. “I don’t know what got into me.”
Jaims looked back at her friend of years, her eyes searching Raquel’s face. “You’re in too deep with the painkillers.” Raquel sat back, her face falling as she lowered her eyes. Slowly she nodded her head. “You gotta stop.”
Raquel sniffed loudly, shaking her head. “I don’t know how.”
“You need help,” Jaims told her.
Raquel seemed to shrink into herself, wrapping her arms around herself. “I can’t do it, Jaims.”
“Why the hell not?” Jaims asked. Raquel shrugged, shaking her head. “You’re one of the strongest women I’ve ever met, Rock, if you can’t do this, then no one can.”
Raquel drew a deep breath in through her nose, pressing her lips together. It was obvious she was trying to gather her strength. She bit her lip, contemplating the idea of quitting and what it would take.
“So, like rehab,” Raquel commented.
“Yeah, like rehab.”
Raquel sighed heavily. “You know I hate talking to strangers about shit.”
Jaims let out a short burst of laughter. “Just strangers?”
Raquel scrunched up her face in a humorous mask. “I know, I’m not the proper lesbo, I don’t like to talk about my fuckin’ feelings.”
Jaims couldn’t help but chuckle. It was definitely true; Raquel was the last person to talk about feelings. She would just as soon chuck you on the chin and tell you to suck it up. “Maybe talking about things with strangers would be easier.”
Raquel slid her tongue over her front teeth. “Maybe having a root canal with no Novocain would be easier.”
Jaims didn’t reply, waiting for Raquel to come to grips with what she would need to do to get off the drugs.
After some minutes passed between them, Raquel nodded her head, looking resigned. “I’ll look into getting into rehab through the Army.”
“That’s the badass I know and love.” Jaims smiled.
Raquel reached out to take Jaims’ hand, careful not to bump the IV taped there. “I really am sorry, Jaims, can you forgive me?”
“You’re my best friend, Rock, of course I can forgive you,” Jaims told her. “But I need you to know that you’re not welcome back at the apartment till you’re really clean, okay?”
Raquel’s eyes widened, but Jaims’ words told her that she’d definitely gone over the line. Jaims was the most easy-going person she knew, and if she managed to do this to their friendship, then she was in worse shape than she even realized.