The Only Thing I Ever Really Loved (Corey Taylor)

Chapter 19

After the hectic rush of getting to the hospital I allowed myself a sigh of relief to finally be away from Sarah. I tapped my foot impatiently as I waited for the elevator to reach the seventh floor, hoping that I wouldn't miss my chance of seeing my friend before she was sent back to jail. As soon as the door slid open I rushed out, beginning my search for the room 492. It turned out to be fairly easy to find since there was an officer standing right outside the door. Once I had told the man my name the rest of our conversation was short, but right as I reached for the door he put a hand out in front of me.

"Miss, I can't allow you inside right at this moment. I'll have someone retrieve you when the child arrives." He tells me.

"Will I be able to see the mother as well?"

"Possibly, it depends on when the doctor decides to release her and the baby."

I just nodded and headed for the waiting room, guided by the signs on the walls. I took a seat as close to the entrance as I could and since there was quite a few people in here I ended up more towards the middle of the room. A preteen boy sitting just across from me caught my attention when I noticed the design on his shirt, the crooked red lettering of Slipknot stared back at me. I chuckled softly at the irony of it and he gave me a confused and irritated look, so I decided to give an explanation.

"You have good taste."

The look on his face didn't change much so I figured that he didn't believe what I was saying, so I just turned my attention out to the window next to me. I counted several clouds that passed by and tried my best to keep my mind still because I knew where it would wander. Not even a few minutes later my thoughts drifted to the things I had been avoiding, about what Sarah was planning to do with Corey. I hadn't spoken to him since that shower incident, so I had no clue how he had been doing. I didn't think he would be that bad off. Some piece of me wanted to go visit him and find out how he was myself, but I feared what kind of issues that might cause.

I had been watching the clouds slowly pass by over the painfully bright blue sky for so long that it put me in a daze and I almost missed them calling my name over the intercom.

"Hey I think they're calling for you." The boy across from me tells me, waving his hand at me.

"Oh right, thank you." I murmur as I hurry to get up and exit the waiting area. 

I approached the room I had been at about four hours ago to find that it was now empty. I rushed over to the nurse's desk to ask the receptionist, "Excuse me, could you tell me what they did with the patient in room 492?"

"Oh the inmate? She's already being transported back to the prison I believe, but the baby girl is in the nursery. It's just down the hall to the left. It's hard to miss." She informs me pointing down the hallway  behind her. 

I thank her as I feel my gut sink like a rock, had Miranda even gotten a chance to hold her daughter?  I walked up to the netted glass to peer at the room full of babies and it didn't take me long to spot them  placing a baby in one of the beds. I read the name at the foot of it. Kasha Leeann Briner was an extremely adorable child, with her surprisingly thick brown hair and tiny features. I truly hope that they at least let Miry see the kid before they separated them from each other.     

One of the nurses stepped out of the room to question me, "Are you the one that has parental custody for the Briner baby?"

"Yes ma'am."

"May I see some ID?"

"Sure." I say as I pull out my license and hand it over to her.

She nodded to herself after a few seconds before giving the piece of plastic back to me as she spoke. "We just have a few more things to take care of and then she should be allowed to leave around nine A.M. tomorrow."   

"Why is it going to be such a long time?"

She reached for the clipboard that she had tucked under her arm as she informed me, "It's standard procedure just to make sure that nothing is wrong with the infant. They all go through this. We can have someone call you when she's ready to be released if you like."

I shook my head, "I got dropped off here, I'll just wait."

With a polite smile and a nod she stepped back into the baby nursery. I checked my phone to see that it was only three in the afternoon and as I let out a tired sigh, I realized then that I was going to be here for a while. I paced up and down the halls for a while until it dawned on me that I had started memorizing the whole seventh floor. I figured that I might as well start making arrangements for someone to come get me in the morning instead of doing nothing but aimlessly strolling around. I ended up calling half of the contacts on my phone, there was only three left. One was in jail, one I didn't need to see right now, and the last was Anthony.

"Hey bro? Are you going to be free around nine in the morning tomorrow?" I asked as I stepped back into the waiting room, the kid with the Slipknot shirt was still there surprisingly. 

"Actually Ash, I'm kind of out of state right now, so I can't really help."

"What are you doing?"

"Meeting someone..."

That genuinely caught my interest, "And who would that be?"

"It's just this girl I've been talking to for a while. If I can hit things off you might meet her soon." He commented, trying to sound casual about it, but I could sense that he was pretty excited. 

"Sounds good."

"Sorry I can't help."

I told him that it was fine and we said our goodbyes a few minutes later after discussing Miranda and several other things. After that I knew that I only had one option left and I could only hope that he was sober. 

"Ashley?" Corey asked sounding stunned.

"Yeah hey, I hate to do this, but I need a favor..."

He quickly cut me off, "Whatever it is, I can do it."

I rose an eyebrow, but I explained my situation to him and that I didn't have my car with me since his soon to be wife had to drop me off here. He shocked me yet again when he told me that he was coming up to the hospital to keep me company and when I tried to tell him not to he wouldn't hear it. Well at least we wouldn't be alone this time.