Vampire Lessons (Completed)

Chapter 37 Human Blood

I shook my head. I laid my head on my mom's lap. She bent over me. Her hand stroked my back.

"Steph!" Mom and I both lifted up at the sound of Amy's voice. Amy and Kyle were rushing across the waiting room.

I stood up and met her. We hugged lightly. "Have you heard anything? Why didn't you just tell me where you were. I would have picked you up." Her arms tightened. "How's Mr. Stone?" She released me and turned to my mom. "Mrs. Stone, I'm so sorry I wasn't here sooner."

For the next hour we waited with no news. Unable to sit still I paced the floor. From the conversations around us we weren't the only family here because of the wreck. They didn't know anymore then we did.

"I want mummy, Daddy." A girl about four whined  tugging at her father's pant leg. He scooped her up and snuggled her.

"I know, Kay. I want Mommy, too."

I tried to stay calm. It wasn't possible. If they would at least let us know something, I just wanted to know he was alive, then at least we would have something to concentrate on.

Pressure built up in my chest. But I couldn't sit down. I needed to move. They hadn't sent anyone out to talk to us, any of us.

I shook my head. I can't do this. I have to ask. I have to talk to someone. I stalked over to the desk. The nurse sat typing. Her pink scrubs covered by yellow cartoon characters. She didn't look up when I stopped in front of the desk.

"Excuse me, I need some information about a patient . Last name Stone. He was brought in with other accident victims."

"Are you family?" I told her I was his daughter. She tapped at the keyboard a moment and looked up. "I'm sorry miss. He hasn't been put in the system, yet. As soon as he's entered I'll let your family know." She looked back at her computer screen, dismissing me.

I slapped my hands on the desk. She jerked her head up. "I want answers. Who's in charge here?"

"The head nurse, Mary James, is in charge. But she's gone to the cafeteria. She'll tell you the same thing as I have!" Her voice rang across the waiting room. I had already turned and headed to the main building. The cafeteria wasn't hard to find. Apparently, neither was I.

"Steph, where are you going? What if they have news about your dad?" She slowed down to keep pace with me.

"The emergency head nurse is in the cafeteria. I'm going to talk to her."

"Oh."

We had to ask a few people before we found Mary James. She was finally point out to us by a heavyset black female in a dark blue suit. We made our way over to her table. She had only eaten half her dinner.

"Nurse James?" I slipped into the seat across from her. She hastily wiped her lips with a paper napkin. Amy slipped into the seat beside me.

"Yes, can I help you?" She sat the napkin beside her styrofoam container.

"There are a lot of people in the emergency waiting room needing information on family. My family has been here over an hour. We need information."

"I understand your upset but we are working as fast as we can with the staff we have. It's a Friday night and we've had two major auto collisions in the past six hours, numerous walk-ins, one teenage who broke three bones walking a bridge railing, a couple with food poison, six non-auto related ambulance deliveries, and a nurse trainee that fainted at her first puncture wound."

"You can quote that to me, by heart, but don't know who is in your department at this moment. You're job is helping people in the emergency department. The families in the waiting room have father's, mother's, sons, and daughters, they trust in your care. The least you can give these families is a little information on the people's care." My chest felt so heavy it ached. I wanted to grab the women and shake her.