Chapter Seventeen Ren
Chapter Seventeen
Ren
I think I’m dreaming. I think I’m awake. I think…I can’t think. Fog fills my brain. Makes me think I must’ve been clocked in the head—no, that’s not right. No one’s slugged me…this time.
Emi calls me. Which is strange because she used to wake me up for school, but since I’ve taken the job unloading fruit deliveries before school, she isn’t up early enough to get me going.
Slowly, I open my eyes.
“Are you all right?” Violet leans over me.
Everything rushes back in a single moment, like a mudslide crashing down Malibu Canyon Road that will either bury me or sweep me away.
I’m in the Aratanis’ barrack. I came here after Emi went into labor.
We’d hurried her to the hospital, passing cots arranged outside.
Dr. Suzuki was there and he washed his hands in a basin because there’s no running water and I wanted to scream because while I don’t know anything about childbirth, I do know this isn’t right.
Worry filled his face, and he sent Nurse Rose to the WRA offices.
An ambulance was called from Independence, but then things…
they progressed. Badly. Dr. Suzuki said it’d be too risky to move her but that she needed blood. As much as possible.
Mama wasn’t a match.
I gave as much as I could.
Mama got Mr. Nomura. He and Nurse Rose were willing, but they weren’t matches, either.
Dr. Suzuki sent for Kai, and he gave blood.
I told them to take more of mine. Told them to take it all, if they must. I was frenzied.
Dr. Suzuki was grim. They’d finished taking my blood but hadn’t removed the needle.
I grabbed the rubber tubing attached to it and yanked it out.
Blood spurted. Mr. Nomura shouted gruffly at me.
I didn’t stop. I rushed out into the camp.
Went to the only person who I thought might help us.
Violet.
Must have made it because I’m in her barrack. Violet sits next to me on a crate. I sit up. The world spins and bends in and out at the same time.
“Emi…she needs blood…Violet…” Words tumble deliriously from me. “Please, can you help?”
My hand gropes through the empty air. Violet grabs it tight, like I might collapse if she doesn’t. And she’s right. I might.
“It’s all right,” she says. I grip her hand too tightly. I’ll hurt her. I need to loosen my hold, but I don’t know if I can. I need help. I need Violet. “My mother is a match. She went to give blood. She can help Emi.”
“Okay.” The breath behind the word is faint and confused. I try to push the blanket back, but Violet puts her free hand on my chest and pushes me down.
“You’ll faint again. Let me get you some water.”
She doesn’t understand. Emi needs me. I’m all right, but Emi isn’t. I struggle to get up. Everything swims. I take a step forward. Or, I think I do. But somehow, I’ve fallen back into the bed and the world is wavery and…
The memory is fuzzy and doesn’t make any sense.
I know I stumbled back to the hospital with Violet supporting me, her arm tight around my waist. I heard a shriek.
It was Mama, who only shrieks when she’s drunk, but she’s not drunk right now.
Mr. Nomura’s face was haggard and sad. He took my arm and sat me down and told me something crazy. Something that can’t be true.
He told me Emi was dead.