Once Again

Chapter 28

"Marcela! I'm coming for you!" Luis was chasing after me. We were playing around outside my house. It was a bright Saturday morning during spring break. We make 8 months this month. We act more like little kids than teenagers. But I don't mind. I'm enjoy every moment with him. He grabs me by my waist and he knocks me to the ground, with him falling on me. We laugh hard. He helps me up. He kisses my cheek. That's all he's kissed of me. He hasn't tried to kiss me on my lips and I don't really mind either. We continue to play until a car pulls into the curb. We stop and look at it. It's suspicious.

"Luis, that car doesn't belong here." I tell him.

"Are you sure?" He holds my hand. Someone gets out the car and they start toward us.

"Stop there!" The person has a gun in their hands. He points it at us.

"Sir can we help you?" Luis says, acting calm. He pushes me behind him.

"Shut up! Give me all your money! Now!" He loads it.

"We don't have any money sir." Luis says calmly.

"Don't play stupid! Give it to me!" The man pulls the trigger. He runs away. Luis falls into my hands.

"Luis!!!" I scream and cry at the same time. I look at him and the bullet went through his side.

"Papa! Mama! Help!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. Mama comes out running. She saw us on the grass.

"Luis! Marcela, what happened?!" She kneels next to me. Luis is still breathing but he's in pain. Papa runs out. Daniel follows.

"Papa, call an ambulance!" Mama tells him. Papa nods and rushes inside. Daniel stands there in shock. Minutes later we hear sirens pulling up. Luis is barely breathing now. My face is wet in tears. I couldn't believe Luis had gotten shot. And he defended me. Paramedics come with a gurney to the grass. The man carefully places him on the bed and ties him up. I hold his hand until the paramedics pulls him into the ambulance. Mama hugs me tight as I cry into her shoulder. Papa brings out the car and we follow the ambulance to the hospital. We stop by Doña Sarah's house to tell her the news. She comes with us. I couldn't think straight at the moment. All I could do us cry. We arrive at the hospital and follow the paramedics. The lady at the desk allows us to go with them. They pull him into a room where we couldn't go into. I stayed outside crying on the floor. Hours later, a tall white doctor comes out.

"Ms. Martínez?" Doña Sarah gets up.

"Your son's condition is complicated. Our doctors are trying everything they can to get the bullet without hurting him more. He will be under surgery a few more hours." He speaks Spanish, fluently. I was surprised, but I didn't pay much attention because the news broke me more. I couldn't stop crying. Mama hugged me hard.

"It's going to be okay mija. He's going to get better. We have to pray for him." I just kept crying. Doña Sarah touched my hand.

"Your mama is right. We have to pray." We all gather into a circle and she starts off the prayer. We prayed until another doctor came out.

"Ms. Martínez, unfortunately, we couldn't remove the bullet without more pain to him but we have successfully removed it and he is now in a recovery room. Lets take you over to his room." We all look at the doctor with a great face of joy. I look up at the sky and blow a kiss. We follow the doctor. We go through 4 floors until we reach Luis's room. He is asleep and bandaged from the right side. It seemed to hit his ribcage but didn't hit the lung. I feel tears coming out. He saved me and got shot himself. We all step in and sit in the chairs available. Daniel stays standing. I look at Luis in the bed. I couldn't help but cry more. Mama grabs my hand and squeezes it. We all go into a prayer again. Chano walks in later. Papa must have called him before we left. He comes in with a little baby in his hands. Chano's girlfriend must have had the baby. Their wedding wasn't until the summer and they had already had a baby. He walks over to me.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" He looks at me. I nod. He hugs me and I cry more. My eyes are swollen from crying so much. I couldn't help it. My love was here because of me. I sigh, lean my head back, and close my eyes.

I must have fallen asleep because I wake up aching. I look around. Everyone was asleep somehow, whether it was in a chair or on the floor. I look out the window and it was dark. I peek over at Luis. I see something moving. He's moving his fingers! I quietly walk over to him. I sit at the edge of the bed.

"Luis," I whisper. I grab his hand carefully and bring it up to my lips. I see fingers on his other hand starting to wiggle also. I wait for a bit and now he slowly opens his eyes. He winces. I look at him, studying him carefully. I had never noticed he still looks like the little Luis back in Hidalgo. Such handsomeness. All mine, I thought. He opens his eyes fully now and turns his head.

"Luis, I'm here." I whisper. He looks at me now. He forces a smile. I couldn't help but cry. He dries off my tears with his hand. He holds my hand and takes it over to his lips and kisses it. I smile through my tears. A doctor and nurse walks in. I'm still sitting. I will not move. Everyone wakes up.

"Hello. I'm Dr. Steven Polk. This is nurse Diane. We will be checking Mr. Martínez." He directs it to me. I'm still holding his hand. Doña Sarah nods in agreement. The nurse comes to the bed to look at his bandage. She walks away, nodding. The nurse whispers something to him.

"Okay he seems to be good. We'll come back later. And if you feel any pain contact a nurse." The doctor walks out and the nurse follows. Doña Sarah looks relieved. She walks over to Luis and kisses his cheek and brushes back his hair. He smiles at her. He looks so pale, so weak. But he's alive and that's all that matters.