*Adam’s PoV*
I should’ve gotten to her sooner. This is all my fault. I should’ve asked her if she was okay or at least have gotten to her sooner! God damn it…
“Don’t beat yourself up, this isn’t your fault,” Neil said as if he had read my mind.
“But I should’ve found her sooner!” I shouted.
“No! Dude it’s not your fault! Imagine what would’ve happened if you had never found her!” he yelled back.
I guess he’s right. There wasn’t much I could do…
“Don’t beat yourself up…” Brad said while patting my back.
After about an hour a nurse came out and let us into the room Tosh was in. She looked horrified. Her eyes were wide and she was shaking. “What’s wrong?” Barry asked her.
“I’m hate of hospitals. They’re gross, filled with germs, and I don’t trust doctors!” she said. Then she added, “No offense.” to the nurse.
Neil kind of giggled. “It’s okay girl, you can trust em.” She smiled slightly.
“How is she, doc?” I asked the nurse.
“Well she has 2 broken ribs but besides that just bruises,” she said. “We can do surgery soon and get the ribs fixed, then we’ll have to check her head to make sure she hasn’t gotten anything like a messed up nerve or concussion. She should be able to leave in two weeks and she should be all better between a month or two if nothing goes wrong.”
“Okay, thank you,” I said.
“Will you fill out some paperwork please?” the nurse asked.
“Alright.” I followed her to a desk to get the papers and a pen and headed back into her room. I looked at the questions. I knew none of this. “Natasha, what’s your last name?”
“I don’t have one.”
“But you have a family, right?”
She looked awkward. “No…” she answered. My heart sunk.
“How long have you been on your own?” Barry asked.
“Uhm… since I was about 8 or 9 years old…” she said.
“And how old are you now?” I asked, fearing the answer. I can’t imagine what it’d be like to have no family.
“14 years-old,” she replied.
“You’re 14 and living on your own?!” Barry burst out, clearly in shock.
“Uh, yeah… nothing big, I’ve just been livin’ on the streets.” She paused for a second and looked at us all. “Wait! Guys I need you to contact Ms. Parker from the library!”
“What?” Brad asked.
“The librarian at the Ontario, Toronto Library’s name is Ms. Parker. Tell her I’m okay and doing well. Please?” She gave us big puppy dog eyes.
“Alright,” Neil said. He started grabbing his stuff and so did Barry and Brad.
“You comin’ Adam?” Brad asked.
“Nah, I’m gonna hang here for a bit.”
“Mmk, see ya later,” they all said. “Get better Tosh.”
“Bye,” she smiled.
They left and I sat on a chair near her bed.
“How do you not have a family?” I asked, thinking I said it in my head.
“It’s hard to say,” she responded.
“Shit, I said that out loud?” I said. “I’m sorry I don’t want to be poking into your personal life if you don’t want me to.”
“Nah, it’s okay. I don’t have a family because when I was 8 I ran away from home. I didn’t care if I didn’t get the best education I just knew that I had to escape. I grabbed as much as I could. I sold items for money and limited myself on how much food I could eat. I preformed on the streets for money and took trains and busses that lead towards Toronto. I don’t know why but I felt that I’d be safe here. I got here about 2-3 years ago and I got a job at the library and I lived in various neighborhoods where I’d street perform until someone would call police on me and I’d have to run to a new place,” she said. “Ms. Parker warned me that the rich neighborhoods were dangerous but I didn’t listen and look at me now, stuck in a hospital with no family and no money.”
“You could have a family…” I whispered
*Natasha’s PoV*
“What? How?” I asked. What does he mean I COULD have a family? Is he suggesting I should go back home?
“I…I could adopt you…” he said slowly and cautiously.
I was shocked. I think my jaw dropped to the floor. I imagined a little cartoon me having to crawl to the floor and lift my mouth back up so that it wouldn’t be that wide open.
“Se-seriously?” I asked.
“Yeah…”
I had no idea what to say. I probably looked like an idiot just sitting there trying to think of what needed to happen.
“Uhm… Yes that’d be rad,” I said. Ya know, I don’t think living with your number one idol will be that complicated.
He smiled. “Awesome. Then I guess on this paperwork I’ll put that you’re Natasha Gontier.”
I smiled. I liked that name. He started to fill out more paperwork. While he did he hummed a little tune. I slowly slipped into sleep. I woke by Adam whispering “Wake up sleepyhead,” into my ear.
My eyes drifted open. I saw Brad, Barry, Neil, Adam, the nurse and Ms. Parker all watching me. “Ms. Parker!” shouted out. I nearly tried to sit up when I felt the pain in my ribs so I laid back down right away. Instead I simply smiled at her.
“Do you know how worried I was?!” she started. I didn’t even get a chance to respond. “I didn’t know what was going on there! I didn’t how performing was going or if police had gotten you! I didn’t know if you got sick or if you had good shelter! Then these young gentlemen come in and tell me you’re in the hospital! Gosh Natasha! I was worried sick!”
“Sorry,” I murmured.
“Sorry?! Sorry?! You could’ve died and I would’ve never known!” she screeched.
“No one would’ve ever known so don’t feel left out!” I said with annoyance in my voice. She looked shocked and taken aback. I came back to my senses. “I’m sorry Ms. Parker. I’ve never had many people who actually care about me and, well I just don’t know how to handle it. I’m sorry that you were worried about me, I’m sorry that I made you worry. I should’ve come in to the library. I know that sorry can’t fix it but at the moment it’s all I can do.”
Ms. Parker looked surprised yet pleased. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
I smiled. The nurse looked awkward but took this chance to speak up. “I need Natasha for a catscan so if all of you could please stand aside while we head out that would be great.”
I gulped, like I said I hate doctors, I hate nurses and I HATE hospitals. She helped me stand up. My chest hurt like crazy they had a cast on it but they couldn’t do surgery on it until they made sure my head was okay so that no medications could make anything worse. We walked into a room with a big machine. It was round and had a space in the center where a bed was sticking out. It looked like a tongue. The nurse directed me to lie down on the bed and wait for the doctor to arrive. A couple minutes later a doctor walked in. He looked like what you’d expect on T.V. He was medium sized with grayish white hair and glasses.
“Hey there little girl!” he said, trying to keep the mood happy.
“I’m not little…” I whispered. I felt as if he were going to suck my soul out.
He sighed. “Fine, be that way. Lay on one side and stay very still.”
I did as he said and the tongue bed went into the machine. A bright light passed over my head a couple of times and then the bed moved back out. Then he repeated that again and again and again for each side.
Finally he was finished. “Nothing seems wrong!” he said cheerily.
I was still creeped out. My soul is NOT for sucking. I just mumbled some weird noise and the nurse took me back to the room.
I got to relax a bit. I just sat there and chilled. Everyone stared at me as if expecting me to bear horrid or great news. For a second I was confused and then I remembered that I was fine.
“The test went fine, I’m all good!” I said. Everyone’s expressions grew happy.
“By the way guys, I have to make an announcement,” Adam said.
*Adam’s PoV*
I decided it was about time to tell them that Tosh was going to be my daughter. Everyone looked over at me.
“I adopted Tosh,” I said quickly so I could get it out.
Brad, Barry and Neil looked shocked but it turned into a smile. Neil came over and patted my shoulder. “Way to go, bro.”
Barry went up to Tosh. “I’m your uncle now, alright? Uncle Barry!”
She started to laugh and so did everyone else. A big tough looking guy saying, “Call me Uncle Barry” is a rare sight.
A doctor walked into the room. “Are Natasha’s parents here?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said walking up to him.
“We need to work out a day for surgery. Our open times are either tomorrow at 2 pm or next week on Wednesday at 8 am.”
“Uhm… How about tomorrow?” I asked Tosh.
“Sounds good. Let’s get this over with as soon as possible,” she said.
“Alright Doc, tomorrow at 2 pm,” I said over to him.
“Okay,” he said. “The paperwork for the surgery should be included in the papers you’ve already been given.”
“Thank you,” I said as he walked out.
I decided to spend the night there in the room with her. I slept on the couch but I couldn’t fall asleep right away. I watched her sleeping, she looked so peaceful. Her choppy black hair shined in the light from the hallway. I wondered what she may be feeling like when she has surgery tomorrow. I wonder how she feels about me being her dad now. All the thoughts of the future swirled around in my head. Life is going to change so much…