Southern Heat (Southern 6)

"I’m not leaving,” I say.

"You have her blood on your hands,” she says, and I look down at my hands. I hadn’t even noticed.

"I’ll wash up." I look at her.

"You can’t go in there right now, and I promise I will stay here the whole time,” she says, and she holds her hand up to my cheek. “My sweet boy. She’s going to wake up alone and afraid and probably in a lot of pain. The last thing she’ll want to see is you dressed all in black with her blood on you."

I look over at my father. “Give me your keys." I hold out my hand, and he’s about to hand me the keys when the nurse enters.

"Mr. Barnes," she calls my name and smiles at me. “You can come with me." She turns on her white hospital shoes and doesn’t even look back to see if I’m following her.

I look over at my mother, who has tears in her eyes. “I don’t want to leave you here,” she says.

"I’ll text you if I need you,” I say and hug her. I slip my arms around her waist, and she looks up and kisses my cheek.

"You always were the one to help the wounded,” she says, and then I look at my father.

"I’ll let you know when she wakes up,” I say, not thinking about the alternative.

I turn, following the nurse down the beige hallway right past the nurses’ station that I went to earlier.

She presses the silver button on the wall, and the two blue doors open. Walking in, I feel it’s a whole different space. All I hear is the beeping from the machines. Even the overhead light is dim on this side of the hospital.

A nurses’ station sits in the middle of the huge room with a whiteboard behind them. Each room has a name except for one that has Jane on it. Her column is empty like a blank canvas.

Each room has a window that looks out to the nurses’ station. She pushes open the door to the room, and I think I’m ready for what is to greet me.

But.

I. Was. Wrong.

I stop in the middle of the entrance as I look at her in the bed. The sound of the machine beeping beside her echoes in the room.

She lies in the middle of the bed, wearing a white and blue hospital gown. One hand rests at her side with a gray button on her finger, while the other arm is in a cast up to her elbow. "She’s stable," the nurse tells me, and I don’t even turn my head away from the woman in the bed. Her face is as white as before but cleaned. One of her eyes is still swollen shut.

I take a step forward and stand next to her bed, a white bandage is around her head. A tube down her throat helps her breathe, and the only thing I can watch is her chest rising and falling. “Is she in pain?" I ask the nurse.

"No,” she says, and I see the IV in her arm. “We are giving her morphine every four hours." I sit in the chair beside her bed. My eyes go to one of the machines with green lines on it. “I’ll leave you alone. If you need me." I look over at her. “My name is Deborah."

I don’t say anything to her because I don’t trust my voice not to break. Instead, I nod at her, and she walks out of the room. I have never had to sit by someone’s bed and watch them fight to live. I have never had the pull that I have to this woman who I know nothing about.

My hand moves to take hers in mine. Her icy hand sits in my big warm one. “I’m here,” I say softly, and I hope she can hear me. “You’re safe. I promise you.”

Chapter 4

Willow

"The longer she sleeps, the better it is for her," I hear a woman say as I try to fight off the darkness. “It means her body is healing."

"She flinched her fingers yesterday," the man’s voice says. “When is the doctor coming back?" His voice goes higher.

"He should be passing by soon," the woman says, and I sense that he’s asked her this question before. “You can go home, and I can call you if it changes."

"I’m not going anywhere," he snaps, and then I hear footsteps walk away from the bed.

My arm is picked up. “I know you can hear me,” he says, his tone softer than how he was with the nurse. "I saw your finger move. I know I did." I feel the heat over me, and I want to move my hand, but the darkness just comes and takes me away. His voice gets farther and farther away from me. "Open your eyes. Please."