Jacky
It had been a day since the doctor came and took the ventilator out for Em but she was still in a deep sleep. I called Karen and Vicky to let them know the news but it was still a waiting game from here and not a very exciting one. She made great progress by being able to breathe on her own but we don't know how much damage her injuries did. I just continued to sit by her bedside praying for her and waiting for her to wake up.
It was around 10:30 the next morning and I was getting myself ready when I heard another low groan come from Emrys. I quickly turned around and caught her as she tried to open her eyes. I rushed to her side and watched her intensely to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me and sure enough after a few seconds her eyes started to crack open causing tears of immense joy to flood my eyes.
"Hey there sleepy head? Can you hear me?" I asked as I pulled the chair closer to her bedside before sitting down. There was light confusion in her eyes when she heard my voice and she looked around until she spotted me.
"Oh thank God you're finally up. You had me so worried you know that?" I said as I grabbed her hand and held it close to my chest as tears escaped my eyes. She opened her mouth to speak but almost immediately started coughing which made me grab the cup of water I had earlier and gave it to her.
I bent the straw and placed the cup down in front of her so she wouldn't have to sit up completely. She took a few sips before sitting back and clearing her throat. I set the cup close by just incase she needed more water later on.
"How long was I out?" She asked in a hoarse voice.
"For almost 3 weeks. We didn't think you would make it." I said getting slightly choked up at the thought.
"Apple Jack I'm good. Ain't no need to be crying, you know I'm thugged out." She joked with a smile that caused me to laugh lightly. Even in sickness she knew how to make someone laugh.
"I know 'thugged out' but you were in bad shape Honeybunches of Oats. Had me so worried I haven't even left." I said calling her by the nickname I had given her during summer. She gave me a lopsided grin before briefly closing her eyes and lightly squeezing my hand.
"Thanks for staying here with me Mama Jacky I really appreciate it." She said as her morning nurse knocked on the doorframe.
"Well look who's finally up. How you feeling hun?" She asked as she came in started checking Emrys's vitals.
"I'm okay. The lights are making my head hurt though." She answered as the nurse continued to check on her. As she was doing that I took the opportunity to text everyone and let them know that she had woken up. Seconds later almost everyone said that they were on their way up here to see her.
The nurse finished her morning rounds and about ten minutes later the doctors and surgeons came in and checked on Emrys to make sure everything was alright and to make sure that her injuries didn't leave her with any disabilities and thankfully they didn't. She would just need physical therapy to improve her strength and help her learn to walk again since her pelvis was shattered from the fall.
After they checked her out they gave her some pain medicine and lunch which caused her to become drowsy by the time everyone made it to the hospital. Of course Karen and Vicky were the first two people bursting through the door.
"Finally your ugly self is up!" Vicky exclaimed as she walked in and saw Em watching tv.
"Girl you lucky ya mama and ya auntie in the room cause I was bout to call you something." She said with a playful mug as she laughed lightly.
"Yeah watch your mouth cause you will get popped in it." Karen said with a laugh as she walked over and gave me a hug before going over to Emerys and hugging her to the best of her abilities.
"Yep. Twice at that so watch it." I said as I gave her the look I use to give my children when they were younger.
"Yes ma'am mother dearest I'll watch what I say." She said with a light laugh that made me aware of how tired she was. There was another knock on the door and soon J. Drew, Kierra and Angel were walking in with flowers and balloons and soon after them came Dorinda, Nikki, Twinkie and Bishop.
They all crowded around her and showered her with hugs and kisses before sitting there and talking to her for a while. Everyone had been here for about 30 minutes before another knock came; I got up and walked over to the door and opened it to see two police officers standing on the opposite side.
"Hello, can I help you gentlemen?" I asked as I stepped out slightly closing the door behind me.
"Yes we're here to interview a Miss Emrys about the accident that took place at her foster home a few weeks ago." One of the officers answered.
"Alright well she has some visitors so let me just get them all out so you can ask her your questions." I replied before stepping back into the room and telling everyone what was going on. We all had decided to go to the cafeteria as the questioning was taking place so I began to get my things together but Emrys stopped me before I could walk out behind everyone.
"Wait. Can you stay in here with me while I talk to them?" She asked with a glint of worry in her eyes. I simply nodded and set my purse down before letting the officers know they could come in.
"Hello Emrys I'm Officer Simmons and this is Officer Ruiz. We just had some questions about what took place two weeks ago." The officer on the right started.
"What would you like to know?" She asked in a low voice that seemed to be coated with fear.
"What exactly went down? How did you end up barricaded in the room?" Officer Ruiz asked finally jumping into the conversation.
"Well my foster mom kicked me out cause her boyfriend and I don't get along. He's very homophobic and was verbally abusive to me because I'm gay. I went by after school to get the rest of my things because my best friend's mom told me I could stay with them. I went to get my things and he let me in but he gave me a fifteen minute time limit to get my things and I guess I took too long. He accused me of stealing stuff before coming in with lighter fluid and pouring it all over my stuff and flicking a lit cigarette onto one of my suitcases. I had grabbed the water bottles I had around my room to put it out but it was spreading really fast so I tried to climb out the window since I couldn't get out the door but I fell and ended up here." She said summarizing what happened in the quickest way she could. I could feel distress radiating off of her so I grabbed her hand and held it between mine to offer her some support.
"And was your foster mother home when all of this happened?" Officer Simmons asked as he finished taking some notes. She shook her head no causing them to nod before writing something else.
"Well they are both under arrest for child endangerment and child abuse and since this happened because of your sexual orientation it will also be labeled as a hate crime. Right now it would be hard to place you into another foster home since you are about to age out so is there anywhere you could go immediately as you recover from this accident?" He asked again as he looked over at Emrys but before she could answer I butted in.
"She'll be staying with me once she get released Officer." I said quickly causing her to look over at me in surprise.
"Alright well leading up to and during the trial a social worker will be making home visits to see how she's doing and how she's healing from the injuries so if you could write down your name, number and address that will help us in the long run." He replied as he turned to an empty piece of paper in his pad before handing it to me along with his pen.
I took them from him and quickly wrote down all my information before handing it back with a light smile. He read it off just to confirm everything before he and his partner headed out. I turned my attention back to Em and saw her staring at me still.
"What are you looking at?" I asked with my eyebrows raised.
"Apparently my new mama." She said with a light laugh that was followed by a few tears.
"Aww now what you crying for girl? Ain't no reason to cry." I said as I grabbed some kleenex from my purse to wipe of her cheeks.
"They happy tears Apple Jack. You letting me stay at your house, you must really love me cause you don't let nobody stay." She replied with another laugh as she took the kleenex from me to clean her own face off.
"Yeah I guess it's something like that." I replied as I put my hand on her cheek, lightly running my thumb across the scar that was forming above her eyebrow.
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word count: 1,651
edited
And that is the last chapter of The Ghost of Jealousy. Thank y'all for reading this book I love y'all so muchhhh *in my fake crying voice like Dorinda* Book 2 will be up very soon with a few chapters coming at once so be on the look out for The Weeping Widow. Much love yall 💜