Chapter 21
Grace
Getting a Little Closer
May 8th 1:33
P.M.
“Can I speak to a Grace Andrews?” an unknown caller asked.
“Speaking.” I oozed professionalism.
“This is Mercy General Hospital; we have a female patient here in the ICU. Her file says you are her next of kin so we called you. She is suffering from liver failure and we need someone to come down here to make some decisions on her behalf. She coherent, but lightly sedated.”
“I’m on my way,” I said, hanging up the phone and rushed around my office to get myself together. “Lawd, not now!” A couple of tears ran down my face as I thought of losing my mother. I knew this day would come. I just didn’t think it would be so soon.
I raced out of my office and nearly knocked over Ashley as she was about to come into the building.
“Sorry,” I said as I continued walking, she followed.
“So what’s the hurry?”
“I have a family emergency. I don’t have time to talk right now,” I said as I crossed into the parking lot structure to get to my car. She kept on following. She didn’t get the hint.
“Anything I can help with?” she asked.
“Certainly not.” I kept walking until I got to the elevator and pushed the button. “I don’t need any company. And don‘t you have classes to attend?” I asked all in one breath.
“Only had one today and it’s over. So I needed something to do. That‘s why I was headed to your office. To see if we could hang out.” She wanted something and she wasn’t fooling me.
This bitch is such a spoiled brat!
“Look Ashley, I don’t have time for this shit. You bugging the hell out of me,” I barked.
“Oh, really?” We were standing on opposite sides of the car. “I think I need to call your husband and bug the hell out of him. Let’s see if he likes what Ashley has to tell him about his wife.”
“Fine!! Get the fuck in!” I yelled. I put my put my finger on the door reader and pressed start button. After a few seconds of reading my fingerprint the car started and I pulled off, out the garage and toward the hospital.
I pulled into the hospital parking garage and looked at myself in the mirror. My mascara was running a little so I reached over to the compartment next to me to get me some Wet Ones to just clean my face up altogether.
“Is everything okay?” I heard Ashley ask me. I ignored her for a few seconds pondering the questions. I mentally went down my list of drama in my life and concluded that being all right was far from me at this moment. I wanted to run from this situation and all of the things that were plaguing me right now. During the drive over to the hospital my husband kept calling my phone. Good thing it was on vibrate and I didn’t have to explain anything to Ashley on why I was ignoring his calls. Even though if I didn’t have it on vibrate, Ashley would think I wasn’t answering my phone because of her. Truth is, my husband knew very little about me or my family and it was the same way with him. I have never met anyone from his family and neither him mine. I know what you are saying: That’s not realistic, but it was in our world. I guess we were both desperate for attention when we started dating. It was off to the justice of the peace and then it was done. He never asked to invite his family and I never mentioned mine. It was kind of like we got each other and we knew that family was a touchy subject for both, so we kept it quiet. Now I was about to lose a very important part of mine and I had no one to help me with it.
“I’ll be fine,” I said, patting her on her leg. We got out of the car and made our way toward the exit.
I stopped right before we went into the hospital entrance. “Ashley, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Look, we about to go in and see my mother. I would appreciate if you kept our relationship between us. She is going through kidney failure and I don’t want to excite or agitate her in anyway. Okay.”
“I promise.” She smiled and then placed her hand over her heart and held the other hand up as if she was pledging allegiance. And that moment I saw the little girl in Ashley. The pure, innocent child that probably was sweet as pie. It also made me wonder why she was acting the way she acted. It has to be a reason for her behavior. I would hate to think that she was acting this way out of pure evilness. “I know I’ve been quite the character, but I will honor this request and keep it cool while we’re in here.”
“Thank you,” I said as politely as I could.
With that we walked into the hospital. We walked through the small hallway that was actually a full body scan. No weapons of any type were accepted in the hospital, library, post office or school in the whole country, except for law enforcement. National security was this country’s first priority at all times.
We walked up to the shielded reception desk and scanned our identification cards, letting them know who we were before we could even speak to anyone. There was an instant background check done every time your identification was scanned for any government facility. Warrants, traffic tickets, child support, etc., everything was flagged and if you weren’t on the up-and-up you would be quarantined, searched again and then the proper authorities would handle the situation accordingly from there. And it only took a few seconds for anything to come back, so there was no running and getting away.
“Thank you for visiting us. Your room number is 434C. Visiting hours are over at 8:00
P.M.
Sharp. Have a pleasant visit,” the lady behind the counter with a headset spoke before we were allowed to get onto the elevator. A pleasant visit was all I could hope for. We rode the elevator in silence.
My mind was on my past. What I been through and how I got to where I was at this moment. I didn’t know what to expect when I got to her room but I straightened myself up and pushed forward as the elevator doors opened. We walked down the hall and counted down the rooms until we got to the one that my mother was in. I pushed the door and walked in. My mother was in the bed with a couple of tubes running out of her.
“Hey, Ma,” I whispered as I leaned over her. She was breathing slowly, but steady. She stirred a little in her bed and then her eyes fluttered open.
“Hey, baby.” Her voice was a little on the weak side. A tear slid out of my eye and down my cheek. “You came!”
“Mama, of course I did. You’re my mother.” I didn’t visit her as much as I did and when she told me she was have kidney problems I kind of pushed it off, when the doctor said that my mother would be fine on the medication she told her to take. I wasn’t being the child that I was expected to be. I was supposed to take care of her in her time of need, but I was still mending. I thought that not seeing her would punish her, but it took away from the time that we needed to be together. It’s amazing what you see when you look from the outside in. All of the things we think we are taking out on people, for things they have done to us, hurts both parties in the situation. And here I am in the hospital close to losing my only relative. I was so angry with myself. “I love you.” It was the first time I said it to her and really felt it. I hope it wasn’t because of the state that she was in that made it feel real, but you don’t miss or treasure something until it’s taken or almost taken away from you. Like right now as I looked down at my mom in this hospital bed. The beeping of the machines around her only made it worse, so much so that I had to take a seat next to her to keep my shaky legs from collapsing from underneath me.
I still had my hand on hers as I sat.
“Who is the young lady you brought with you today?”
“Oh ... she a friend of mine.” I darted my eyes to Ashley really quickly then looked back at my mother.
“Baby, you changed your mind?” she asked me with wonder in her glazed eyes.
“No, Ma ... I haven’t changed my mind.”
“Ma, have you called Aunt Bella to let her know you’re in the hospital?”
“No, I don’t want her to know.” She was a little sour in tone as she said it.
“Why Ma?” I asked.
She looked at me with a “you already know” kind of glare. I knew all too well, so I left it alone.
Before I could get another question out an Asian doctor walked into the room with an electronic device. “Hello, I am Dr. Hang.” He then started to scan my mother‘s midsection. It looked like a wand that is used by police when they are arresting someone, but this was one that the doctor used to scan over her body. In this day and age there was almost no more need for large scanners in hospitals anymore. A simple wave of the wand and doctors could tell you what was going on internally in you in minutes.
“How are you doing today?” he said as soon as he finished.
“I could be better.” I spoke up, seeing that my mom was in the hospital. A “fine” was not the order of the day. I was a wreck inside and I knew it.
“Well let me get to the point of my calling you here. Your mother’s kidneys are failing and it is to the point of no return. She has only a few weeks left to live.”
“Huh?” I muttered. “I mean—how?—she didn’t—” I stammered. “Mama, you told me that everything was fine. How could you—” I instantly got light-headed and room began to spin.
“Miss, you okay?” The Asian doctor rushed over to me and caught me before I almost tumbled out of my chair.
“Yes—yes—no—I need some water ... water please.” I swooned again. He propped me back up in the chair. I saw Ashley leave out of the door. I assumed she went to get me some water. A few more minutes went by and Ashley came back, handed me a bottle of water and rubbed my back. It was feeling so good. I almost forgot where I was. She was so gentle at times. Flashes of our lovemaking popped into my head and I quickly pushed her hand away. I didn’t want anyone thinking I was doing a chick, especially my mother.
“Baby—I—I—I didn’t want to burden you and your new life.” Tears were running down her face. I got up and hugged her as tight as I could.
“Mama, you’re not a burden. I was being selfish and I let the mistakes you made raising me control and rule me.” I squeezed tighter. I didn’t want to lose my mother.
I heard the machine beeping and then it got louder ... and started make a funny noise, causing me to jump off her. I forgot she had some tubes in her and I might have inadvertently pulled one out or something. But it wasn’t me. The noise continued as the doctor raced to her side again checking the machines. I backed up with panic on my face. Ashley stood back by while a couple of nurses rushed in to assist the doctor.
“She’s flatlining!” I heard a nurse yell out. “Get her out of here.”
“Nooooooooo!” I cried out as a few nurses tugged and pulled me out. I wasn’t an easy pull so they struggled. “I’mmmm ... Not Going. Any ... where.” A big male nurse came and helped the other nurses pull me out of the room, while the doctors worked on my mother.
Ashley silently walked alongside of me as they ushered me toward the waiting room.
“I’m very sorry, but you have to wait in here,” the male nurse said to me with a sympathetic look on his face. I am sure that I was not the first person to be dragged out a hospital room by him. “They will do all they can to save her.”
I practically fell in the chair and sobbed deep and hard. I was a mess.
A few minutes later the doctor walked into the room with a look that was all to known.
“She didn’t make it? She didn‘t make it?” I yelled out as I got up and ran up to him.
“No ma’am. I’m sorry I just couldn’t save her. It seems like she just gave up.” he said softly and solemnly.
“No!”
I bellowed out without a care. Then the whole room went black.
I awoke minutes later by the help of some old- fashioned smelling salts. My hair was a mess and I was still in the waiting room, but they had my legs propped up on another chair. Ashley was fanning me. She had look of compassion and sorrow. She had been silent the whole time we were here and I was proud of her for being a lady of her word.
“Is my mother really dead?” She simply nodded her head. “Mmm,” I moaned as my bottom lip began to quiver again. I took the tissue that Ashley had handed me and covered my mouth as I sobbed and rocked. I wasn’t ready for this.
I so wanted to tell her I’m sorry for blaming her for my molestation. It really wasn’t totally her fault. I had a part in it. A real big part in it.
Me and Ashley sat in silence as an hour went by. I then decided that I needed to go home. I was in no condition to drive so I let Ashley drive me home. I hoped my husband was home so I could get him to take Ashley home. But when I arrived home he was nowhere in sight. I was so out of it that against my better judgment I let Ashley sleep on the couch downstairs. I drifted off to sleep and was awakened by Ashley in between my legs lapping at my pussy.
“I thought this would make you feel better,” she said as she went back to work on giving me some release. It didn’t last long because not too long after she started pleasuring me, I heard my front door slam and footsteps moving around downstairs.