The photographer

Thirty eight

"Sandy please wait"

She kept running. Turning every hallway, bursting through every door, and bumping into almost everyone she ran past.

Fear made her heart pace faster. Fear made her eyes fill with water. Fear made her knees tremble. Fear was what was slowly but surely taking over her body.

She had already lost one mother, she wasn't ready to lose another. She could hear Stefania yelling her name over and over again.

Alex ran out of the hospital's main doors and glanced over her shoulder to see Stefania still running behind her calling out her name.

"Sandy, per favore, ascoltami" Stefania shouted out.

The little girl didn't stop. She kept running, turning a corner and hiding behind a dumpster.

Stefania had also turned the same corner but stopped when she didn't see Alex anywhere. "No no no" Stefania ran her hand through her hair.

"Jason sent out a search party. I just got my family back. I'm not losing them again" Stefania spoke on her phone.

Alex's panted behind the dumpster, her heart beating ever so fast. Causing her tears to stream down her face at the reality of what was going on.

"Why does this happen to me" she whispered to herself. Her little hands came up to her face as her panic attack crept in.

She heard Stefania's footsteps take off again in search of her. She let out a loud sigh before she cried out loud.

"Hey, kid. Are you okay?" A strange voice spoke out. It was a young lady. She peeked her head further behind the dumpster to see Alex.

Alex remained quiet, her tears stopped rolling down her face as she was quick to wipe them away.

"What's your name kid?" The woman asked, but Alex stayed quiet.

"Alright, well my name is Sanai" She extended her hand out for Alex to shake, but she was too terrified.

"That's okay, I don't like touching people I don't know either" Sanai began. "Maybe they picked their nose before touching me" She continued, which earned a giggle from Alex.

"You found that funny huh? Well let me tell you about the time I got sprayed by a skunk" Sanai said, sitting down, cross-legged, on the ground across from Alex.

"I was walking my little sister to school when we encountered a skunk. It was really big, it shocked me because I always thought skunks were smaller. We were sorta freaking out because we didn't wanna get sprayed. I ended up telling Izzy to start running while I distracted the skunk" Sanai shared.

"So I started waving my arms around and making lots of noise so it would focus on me. Now little did I know skunks can run, so that little poopy head came running towards me and sprayed me" Sanai continued.

Alex started laughing because Sanai was being very goofy. "How did you get the smell off of you?" Alex asked. "I had to bathe in tomato sauce" Sanai replied with a funny face.

"Like spaghetti?!" Alex exclaimed. "Yep like spaghetti" Sanai giggled.

"Kid, why are you hiding behind a dumpster" she asked. "My mom doesn't remember me," Alex said, looking down.

"Alex!" Jason exclaimed. "I'm sorry Jason, I just panicked" Alex started fidgeting with her shirt, backing up into the corner behind the dumpster. Sanai was quick to stand up and stand in between them noticing how anxious the little girl became again.

"Hey, do you want me to come with you? I can tell you more stories about me and my sister?" Sanai said with a soft smile. Alex simply nodded and took Sanai's hand, as they started walking towards the doors of the hospital.