Caden:
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Present
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I watch Mabel's unconscious body rise from the ambulance floor and a pair of officers wheel her gurney to the hospital's doors.
I dig my finger nails into my palms to keep from shaking, but it's no use.
I stare at Mabel's pale face as she passes me, and my heart jumps in my throat. Her head is wrapped up in gauze and her lips are almost the same color as her skin.
What if she doesn't make it?
I immediately force the thought out of my head and try to catch up with the officers who carry Mabel's gurney.
The officers shout things back and forth to each other, but I can't hear what they're saying over the consistent, heavy pounding of my heart. Once the officers make it past a set of large, white doors, they quickly wheel Mabel over to a group of nurses, who move as frantic as the officers did.
I jog behind one of the nurses who help wheel Mabel down the hallway until one of the nurses across the gurney catches my eye. She lets go of the gurney and steps in front of me, blocking my path to Mabel. The other nurses continue to rush Mabel away from us, and the lady who stands in my way puts her arm on my shoulder.
"I'm sorry, sir, but you can't be here. You'll have to wait in the lobby like everyone else." She says to me in a shaky but loud voice.
I stare at her as if she's taunting me.
"To hell with that! I have a right to be here, I get to see her!" I state in a louder voice than hers.
"I'm sorry, sir, but you have to wait to see her like everyone else." She says in a sharp tone.
"No, I get to see her, I get to be with-"
Suddenly, a pair of hands wrap around my upper arms and pull me away from the annoyingly persistent nurse.
I cuss at her under my breath and yank my arms free from the guards behind me. I ignore the guards and walk myself out to the lobby.
I find an empty chair and sink down in it, burying my face in my hands. I let out a frustrated sigh and try to calm myself down. My heart still pounds against my chest and my palms are clammy with sweat.
I replay Mabel's fall in my head and tell myself that she'll be fine. I don't believe it, but that doesn't stop me from repeating that three word sentence over and over in my head.
Her friends and family will have to know what happened, and I'm going to have to be the one who tells them.
I lift my head and whip out my phone. Mabel doesn't like to talk about her family all that often, she told me once that she never really knew who to trust growing up and that she mostly counted on her friends to be there for her rather than her family. But, she has mentioned that her and her mother have been slowly mending their relationship.
I search through my contact list in my phone until my thumb stops scrolling on Mabel's Mom. Without hesitation, I press on her contact name and hold the phone up to my ear.
What am I going to say to her? How am I going to tell her that her daughter could potentially be dying?
Just then, the ringing stops, and a muffled, feminine voice answers.
"Hello?" She says.
I open my mouth to say something back, but no words follow.
I can't break the news to her. I'm not even sure if I'm ready to tell myself what happened.
"Hello?" Mabel's mother repeats herself.
I take the phone away from my ear and hang up.
Guilt begins to pile on top of me. She has a right to know, she's her mother.
I'll tell her, I promise myself, I'll tell her.
But if I know Mabel at all, she would want her best friend here for her, too.
I dial another number.
"Hey, Caden." She answers.
"Christina, meet me at the Bellevue Hospital center. It's about Mabel."
