Never Met a Girl Like Her | ✔️

(44)

H E A T H

I was getting a bit sick of finding the people that I love, unconscious on the floor. After what happened with Leonie, I figured that I'd be granted a break from pacing hospital corridors while I waited for news. I for sure thought that I wouldn't have to endure that panic again. Well, at least not so soon.

She'd been getting worse. Her condition had plummeted in the last few weeks. But this was Sarah. And she always pulled through. Part of me still hoped that she would. But at the same time, I couldn't deny that something felt different. Something felt wrong.

Alex sat on the floor with his head in his hands. Staff rushed from left to right, their shoes squelching on the floor. Their murmurs regarding other patients. Other problems. It was easy to forget that this wasn't the center of the universe right now. Sarah wasn't the center. The entire world was moving around us and only we were standing still.

Mom appeared around the corner. Her frantic stare scanned over the faces in the corridor until she saw me and her entire body trembled with fear as she outstretched her arms. "Heath?" Her voice shook. "Do you know what's going on? What's happening?"

I pulled her into an embrace. "I don't know yet mom."

"I knew I shouldn't have gone to work tonight. I knew it. She seemed off but she promised me that she felt alright."

I held her a bit tighter. She sounded so wound up and anxious. She shook. It was important that I kept it together for her sake. So no matter how terrified I was, I refused to show it. Because this was the role that I had taken when Sarah was first diagnosed and I wasn't going to abandon it now. "There was nothing more you could have done mom. Alex and I were both with her. It just happened. No warning. Nothing. Don't blame yourself."

"Jazz, Heath." We looked at Alex who then gestured to the room where Sarah was. Doctor Karen was backing out, closing the door behind her and I could see from the look on her face as she turned to us, that it wasn't good.

The three of us approached Karen and while I felt the weight of the world threatening to crush me, I also felt as if I couldn't feel the ground beneath me. My entire body was numb with paralyzing tension. Karen slipped her hands into her white coat pocket and mom began to crumble before she'd even said a word. She knew the face of a doctor who had bad news all too well.

"How about we go and chat in the lounge where it's more private?" Karen suggested but mom shook her head, her fingers clasped and wound tight while I held her up right. "It's happening," Karen said, accepting that mom couldn't or wouldn't move. "She's got a few hours at best. I'm so sorry. I'd suggest making calls to any family that you'd want here and then make the most of what time she has awake. She's deteriorating rather fast."

If I hadn't been holding on to mom, she would have fallen to the floor. She wracked with violent sobs and beside me, Alex was hiding his face, his shoulders shook. My teeth and jaw hurt from being clenched so tight. My nose stung. My throat hurt. But I held it back and turned mom to face me.

"We need to go in there and be strong for her."

Alex began to walk further down the corridor, wiping at his eyes. "I have a phone call to make. I'll be back in a minute."

I knew who he was calling, so I nodded and gave him what best I could of a smile.

"I can't, Heath," mom sobbed, her face drenched with tears. She didn't even look like mom. I barely recognized her. "I can't. It's too soon. I can't do this. She's my baby. I can't."

"Mom," I said, firm because right now, that was what she needed. "Sarah is on her last-- she's on her last hours," I felt as if I'd been punched in the chest when I said that. I cleared my throat. "We're going in there and not leaving her side because we will never get this time back and if you don't go in there, you will regret it."