One Step Closer

OSC/ Eighteen

One Step Closer/ Eighteen

                               “She’s still alive, but she lost a LOT of blood…Mrs. Morrison, do you know her blood type?!”

                               “Type O, negative…I think,”

                               “She also has a high trace amount of Restoril in her system, likely through OD. We need to filter her system first, and flush it, while slowly adding new blood and plasma. She has some deep lacerations on her wrists, we gotta get those cleaned and stitched up,”

                              “Is she gonna be okay?”

                              “Mrs. Morrison, your daughter cant be in here- we’re gonna need you to take her to the waiting area,”

                               Criss’s mother walked her to the waiting area. “Criss, you did well, in calling the medics…there is nothing more you can do. I have to be in there to give whatever advice I can to help them,”

                              “I- I just want her to be okay, Mom,” exasperated Criss, as she shook. “I feel so awful…I said a lot of mean things to her. I- I…I was so angry for what she did to you and Daddy. I didn’t realize how bad she was hurting inside,”

                              Criss buried her head into her mother’s bosom, unleashing her tears. Her mother caressed her hair. “It’s gonna be okay. Austyn will pull through…she’s a tough girl,”

                              “How could I be so callous, as to not want to hear her feelings? I’m a bad person,” squeaked Criss.  Her mother lifted her, looking straight into Criss’s eyes. “You are not a bad person. You had every right to feel how you felt…but we also should’ve taken in measure, Austyn’s history. She has been through a lot, and given how she reacted to being put into situations, she reacted only the best way she knew how. We should’ve given her a chance to say her part,”

                                Criss smiled, as her mother wiped away her tears. “Austyn is going to pull through…and then we are going to get her the help she needs, and we are going to be there for her, so that this doesn’t happen to her with anyone again,”

                                 “Okay,” Criss nodded.

                                 “Now I have to go back in there, and help the doctors out. I’ll be back when it is over and she is stabilized,” said her mother. Criss replied, nodding, as her mother stood…she walked back into the trauma center. Criss pulled her knees against her body, as she sat in the chair. The coldness, emanating from the hospital was unlike the usual cold that one would feel, in another air conditioned facility. It was though at times, one’s senses cold feel the cold auras of the recently departed walking the hallways of the hospital, amongst the cold air…it was most prominent, at night. Criss’s body shivered, as her mind could almost swear she was sitting in a waiting area, with the unseen dead.

                                 She sniffled, her eyes puffy and red. Criss wondered at what point of her life, did everything she held dear, spiral out of control? She had met a man, who she very much wanted to be with, she had set her bestie up with a person whom she thought was a pretty great guy, school was going well…she had no worries. But all of a sudden, life reared its ugly head, and plopped this whole ordeal in her lap- her father having an affair, with her best friend. It caused a whole backlash ripple that made her friendship with Hadrian shaky, as well as she hadn’t really talked to Alonzo in days. She seemed consumed, with ridding herself of the problem- but she didn’t want to rid herself of Austyn, at least, not this way.