Rewrite The Stars

DISPEL

"What's wrong?"

And so she told her. Her voice broke as she told her where she was. With a promise that she's going to be there right away but before she could end their call, Anntonia asked her if she could drop by at the office, see if her girlfriend was still there, concerned that if she is, she didn't want her to drive while being worried sick for their daughter, because she won't be able to cope if God forbid, something happens to her too.

Hospitals have always been her least favourite place. The smell, a huge facility but it still makes her feel claustrophobic. How could she not? The last time she was in a hospital, it was her who's lying down in one of those gurneys, fighting for her and her son's life. Ann closes her eyes. Putting her hand on her chest as if it would help her slow her thudding heart down.

"Just let me breathe please..please, just let me breathe.." she mumbled, talking to herself. Dani is in a hospital and this is not the time to have a panic attack. But it triggers.

She ran towards the direction where it says "EMERGENCY" and looked for any familiar faces from her daughter's school. She called for Michelle again, this time she called her office. Audrey answered right away, the younger girl explained Michelle was in a meeting, but she doesn't know where since she's with Ms. Hastings and they always have their meetings outside the office. This information doesn't help her state of mind right now. Ignoring the pang of jealousy on her chest, she asked the young secretary to let Michelle know right away when she came back from her meeting with Ms. Hastings.

"Ms. Porsild!" She heard her name being called, and it was one of Dani's teachers waiting for her by the entrance of the ER. "She's here.. I'm so sorry about what happened." Anntonia's eyes widened with the way the teacher said it. The woman in front of her is about to cry.

"No." She rasped. She doesn't have time for that, all she wants is to see her daughter. "Where is she?"

The teacher started walking, leading her to where Dani was. Her daughter has gashes and bruises forming on her beautiful face. "She got into a fight with one of her classmates. They were at the top of the slides, w-we thought it was just a playful fight, b-but the next thing we know.." The teacher gulped. "Dani was barrelling down the slide, head first, her classmate pushed her." Her voice frantically explained what had happened, it was after their nature walk in the nearby park from school. When their teachers gave them time to have fun at the playground.

Ann pursed her lips. Her jaw tensed. "Did she hit her head?"

The teacher could only nod her head. "And she broke one of her arms."

"If something happens to my daughter." She blinked her tears and went inside to see Dani.

She rushed to her daughter's side, careful not to touch the gash. "Dani, mummy's here, baby. I'm here. I'm so sorry, honey." It broke her heart when her daughter was trying to reach for her, but she couldn't, not yet. They need to fix her arm and her baby looks so helpless.

Her cries of pain are too much for her to bear. Dani didn't want the nurses to hold her. "Are you the mother of the patient, ma'am?" Anntonia nods. "We have to put a cast on her arm. But we still have to wait for one of our Ortho."

Dani's crying intensifies as she keeps on calling for her mother. "Wait for the ortho? You mean to tell me you don't have one on-call? Look at my daughter. Are there any doctors who can check on her? She hit her head." Anntonia said almost hysterically, looking at each one of the nurses tending to her daughter.

She understands that sometimes they have to wait, but she couldn't help it. It breaks her heart seeing Dani like this, if only she could take her daughter's pain, she'll do it in an instant.