“Are you hungry?” Manny asked as the two of them were left alone in the deafening, beeping room.
“No,” Aquilla replied. She couldn’t eat.
“How about a bowl of fruit or something?”
“How about just coffee,” she countered.
“Coffee will stunt your growth,” he smiled. “Black?” he asked, standing.
“Yes, please.”
Quill took the opportunity to go to Seri’s side.
“Seri?” she softly spoke. “Can you hear me?” She had no clue weather she could hear her or not. “I’m sorry, Seri,” she apologized, taking her small frail hand with the needle stuck in the top of it. “I’m sorry I let you get shot. I shouldn’t have been walking in front of you. I should have been aware of our surroundings. I’ve always done that. I’ve been trained to do that since I was three. I’m sorry I let my guard down, Seri. Please be okay. I can’t be here without you. Seri? Can you hear me?” she asked again.
“If you come out of this, I promise I will do better and stop being so difficult to everyone, including you,” Quill promised. “I’ll even suck up this whole school thing and do that too. Please, Seri wake up.” Quill’s eyes widened when she felt Seri’s hand tighten around hers. Could she hear her? Shit. She just promised to go to school. Maybe she wasn’t coherent and it was only a reaction to the meds or something.
Aquilla sat quietly, slumped in her chair, listening to the sounds that she would never forget. The white walls felt like they were closing in on her as she thought about the room. How many people had been in that room? How many people had died there? She was sure it was a lot. The convoluted room smelled of antiseptic, clean like ozone or something, something else she would never forget. It was one of those smells that would stick with you through all of life. You would forget all about it until you smelled it again, and would be right quick to remember why.
Quill dozed off to the sounds of the phlegmatic room around three in the morning. She wasn’t sure if she had really fallen asleep or not. She stayed collapsed, feigning sleep as she listened to her father talk to Seri from the side of her bed.
He begged her to be okay as much as Quill had. He told her that he loved her. She should have said that. Why didn’t she tell Seri that she loved her? He reminded her of their plans to go to Aspen Colorado in the spring, plans to move from the apartment building, and plans to go sky diving. She wanted to go sky diving with Seri. Why didn’t she make plans to do that with her?
Quill could tell that her dad did love Seri. He loved her like she loved Julius. She knew, had she opened her eyes, he would be holding her hand. She didn’t. She lay still with her eyes closed and listened to the intimate conversation.
Quill didn’t see how anyone could sleep in that place. Someone was constantly coming in the room. It’s a good thing Seri was out cold. She would have probably kicked someone in the teeth. The doctor was even there at five in the morning. Didn’t anyone sleep around that place?
Aquilla and Manny stood at precisely the same moment when he entered, both eager to get a real apprise. He checked her vitals and flipped through the charts that the nurses had been updating throughout the night.
“She seems to be holding her own,” he explained, scribbling notes on the clipboard. “There was a lot of damage due to the way the bullet expanded. She was in good hands. I think we have her all patched up and just need to let her heal now.”
“She’s going to be okay?” Quill asked in desperation.
“She’ll be fine,” he smiled. “We’re going to remove the tube from her throat in a couple of hours. She’ll wake up then.”
“Why does she have that? Can’t she breathe?” Quill inquisitively asked.
“She can, however, during surgery, muscles are totally relaxed, and this includes respiratory muscles as well, so oxygen has to be supplied to the body until the effects of the relaxants wear off. We haven’t let them wear off yet. She’s been pretty sedated since she came in. She can breathe just fine, I promise,” he added.
“Do you want some breakfast?” Manny asked, placing his arm around her shoulders. She let him for the first time since she had come there. She didn’t feel the need to step away from the affection.
“I am hungry,” she decided.
“Let’s walk down to the cafeteria and eat some of this lovely hospital food,” he offered with a smile and a tease.
Quill noticed the kiss to Seri’s head before he left her.
Seri gagged. Her head felt like it was going to explode and there was something being ripped from her throat. She was going to be sick. What was happening? Why did everything seem so distant and far away?
“Sarah? Sarah? Sarah?” she heard her name being called. Why were they calling her? What did they want? Her eyes were so heavy; she couldn’t seem to get them to open long enough to find out.
“Seri?” she heard again. This voice was familiar. She knew this voice. Say it again…
“Seri? Can you hear me?” Quill called.
Seri opened her eyes. It was a familiar voice. “Quill,” she said, hoarsely, trying to smile. That didn’t work either. Why were her muscles betraying her? Damn, her throat hurt.
“You scared the fuck out of me,” Quill accused.
“Watch your mouth,” Seri smiled as much as she could. “I didn’t die,” Seri exclaimed, like it had just dawned on her.
“I would have killed you if you died,” Quill assured her.
“Hunter? Did he get away?” Seri alarmingly asked when she remembered the guy that had shot her.
“No, he didn’t get away. Quill here made sure of that,” Manny said from the other side of the bed.
She turned to him with eyes that Quill was sure were full of love.
“Hi, baby,” he said, kissing her lips.
She smiled. She was so in love with this man. How? Why?
“What did you do, Quill?” Seri asked, turning back to her.
Quill modestly shrugged her shoulders. “From what I hear, I broke his leg in a couple different places, and somehow my shoe sent him to surgery for a broken face. I swear I don’t know how it got there.”
“Quill, don’t you ever do that again!” Seri demanded, trying to sit up. It didn’t work. Her muscles weren’t ready to do that just yet. “Don’t you ever go after someone with a gun again. Do you understand me?”
“Yeah, Seri, like I was going to let him take you away at gunpoint, really?”
“You could have been killed, Quill. Just because you fight like nobody I’ve ever met in my life, doesn’t mean you’re invincible to a bullet. Promise me, Quill.”
“I can’t promise that unless you promise to stop chasing bad guys. I don’t want you to do that anymore, Seri. You may not have had anything to lose before, but you do now. You have people that love you and need you. You promise me that you will stop doing what you’re doing and I will promise you not to step in front of a bullet for you.”
“I agree with Quill. You need a new occupation. Maybe painting little mushroom ceramics or something,” Manny established.
Seri smiled. They loved her. She had two some ones that cared about her. It felt….unfamiliar and comforting.
Quill left them shortly after, giving them the alone time she knew they needed. She walked down the hall and peeked through a set of locked double doors. She noticed the police officer sitting in a chair right outside one of the doors. She knew who was in there. She pushed on the locked door. Thank God it was locked. She was sure she could easily spend the rest of her life in prison had she been able to get to that son of a bitch.