The Essence Of Love

Yellow Tape

"Torian no! AMIRAAAAA!" I scream,opening the bathroom door and we almost crash into each other.

"What? Whats go--"

"The guys are being shot at! We gotta go now! What store did they go to?"

"FUCK, ok let me grab my keys! The white Jeep out front is mine!" She says  sprinting down the hall. I make my way downstairs and out the front door.

We swerve into the Circle K parking lot and the police and EMT's were already on the scene. Rico wasn't answering my calls so I almost strangled myself with the seat belt trying to get out. We duck under the yellow tape and run up to this nerdy looking police officer as someone was being wheeled into the back of an ambulance.

"Excuse me sir, we ha--"

"Ma'am , I need for you two to back up ,this is a crime scene!" He barks in a nasily voice as he holds his hands out to block us in.

"That's my husbands car!" Amira yells and points at a white Range Rover.

"Ma'am , I said you need--"

"What's going on over here Smith?" A heavy set black female officer asks as she approaches us.

"Please ma'am! Our husbands were just here, can you tell us what's going on?" I beg.

"Jones , you know we cant give them that in--"

"I can't provide the names but we have two black males in their twenties headed to Emory. One with two shots to the chest and the other has three shots but I don't know where. The first ambulance left a minute ago." She explains cutting the rude officer off. He shoots her a nasty look and walks away.

"No no no no!" Amira sobs as her legs buckle. I grab her arm to steady her as she slumps to the ground weeping hysterically.

"Thank you ma'am." I tell the officer.

"No problem." She nods sympathetically and walks away. I bend down to Amira.

"Amira honey, you have to get up. The second ambulance is leaving. Rome could've been in the first one and might be at the hospital already, either way we need to go now!" I try to reason but she just shakes her head.

"I can't do this Essence, I cant do this!" She sobs.

"Yes you can come on!" She slowly stands up and I link my arm in hers, dragging her to the car.

"I just found out I'm pregnant and I haven't told him yet. I can't raise a baby by myself! He's my other half if he dies I--"

"Hey, nobody is dying OK? You gotta stay strong girl!" She hands me her keys and we fly to the hospital.

When I pull in I park and we rush inside. We walk up to the receptionist with a bad sew in, who is texting away on her android, abd smacking loudly on some gum.

"Excuse me we need informa--"

"Hold up." She interrupts me as she hold's a finger up.

"Bitch ain't no hold up! Your at work and my husband and his best friend just got shot, so get off your whack ass Galaxy and type in their damn names!" Amira scolds.

The girl stands up and slams her hands down on the desk .

"Who is you cuss--"

"Oh my God, please, can you just type in their--"

"I'm goin' on my break." She rolls her eyes and turns to grab a Hello Kitty lunch box from the counter behind her. That did it for me.

I quickly walked up to her behind the desk and snatch the box from her.

"Rico Reese type it in now and please don't try us again or I'll shove your daughters lunch box down your damn throat!" I demand. She quickly does as she's told.

"He--he's in surgery" She stutters.

"And Rome Edwards?" Amira adds.

"Uhhh the same ya--ya'll can wait in the waiting room the doc--."

"Fuck you very much!" Amira scoffs as we march towards the waiting room right as an asian woman rounds the corner.

"Family of Rome Edwards?" She calls out.

"Yes!" We stand together.

"Good evening ladies I'm Doctor Lynn Meyers." She introduces herself.

"I'm Rome Edward's wife and this is Rico Reese's wife." Amira lies for me.

"OK well Mr.Edwards was shot in the chest twice, but he's in stable condition. We've removed one bullet ,but the second one has been a little difficult to get to. His heart rate was fluctuating so we decided to give his body  a break and resume the surgery tomorrow morning. He's resting now but your welcome to--."

"So your just gonna let him die I--"

"No ma'am , I promise you this is normal, and sometimes we actually leave bullets inside because too much probing around can cause nerve damage, but in this case we're doing it so that we can monitor his heart rate. He's doing OK though ,so you can visit him whenever you'd like." she finishes.

"Oh—Right now please!" Amira blurts.

"Of course sweetie, and Mr. Reese's doctor is coming this way now." She tells me giving my hand a light squeeze.

"Good evening ladies, I'm Doctor Thorp." He greeted.

"Dale, this young lady here is Mr. Reese's wife." Doctor Meyers informed him. She then led Amira down the hall.

"OK , Mrs.Reese your husband has three gunshot wounds, one to his left side and two to his right arm. The two in his arm were easily removed and my team is working on the side wound now. It isn't lodged too deeply and the surgery is going as planned ,so they'll have it out in about 45 minutes. We'll have to keep him here for a few days or so, but he'll make a full recovery in a few weeks." He reassures me.

"Thank God." I sigh in relief.

"I'll come back when were done and let you know what room he'll be in OK?"

"OK thank you." I gave a weak smile.

"Your welcome."

As he was walking away a loud beeping noise rings out. Two nurses from behind the station rush down the hall.

"SOMEBODY HELP!" A distraught voice screams out.

I jog behind them when I realized that it was Amira screaming. They had three nurses holding her back because she was going bat shit crazy.

"HELP HIM! HELP HIIIMMM!"

The obnoxious beeping finally stopped but only for a second. It was followed by the dreaded sound of the heart monitor flat lining. Amira broke free and ran to the room door but when she grabbed the knob they had it locked. She began to beat on the window with all her might while screaming for them to open it.

"Open this fucking door!" She yells.

"Miss Edwards! —"

One of the nurses tries to grab her arm but she elbowed her in the nose and blood went everywhere. What a fucking mess this is. Its like im in a damn movie.

"Fuck you!" Amira spat.

The other nurses help the woman and Amira continues to beat on the door relentlessly. I cover my mouth in shock and stand here frozen not knowing if I wanted to walk closer to her or walk away. I don't even know this girl. The sounds of a defibrillator charging snap me back to reality and I slowly move closer.

"CLEAR!"

I stand next to her and grab her trembling hand. She stops beating and watches with the other hand on the door window. Rome's body bounces a little and the heart monitor picks up for a second but quickly goes flat again , so they begin to charge the defibrillator again.

Amira turns to me slowly with puffy red eyes and mascara stains rolling down her cheeks as the doctor yells clear again.