A Five-Minute Life

“Ms. Hughes,” he said with a nod of greeting. “Jim. How we doing here, folks?”

“Everything okay?” one of the guards asked.

“We’re fine,” Roger said. “Aren’t we? Let’s all remain calm.”

“I am perfectly calm,” Delia said, never taking her eyes from me.

I glared right back. “I have to be there when she wakes up,” I said, my stony voice cracking. “I promised her.”

Delia tilted her chin. “That may be, but I’m here now. That’s all she needs.”

A tsunami of emotion raged in me, my limbs vibrated with it.

Alonzo put his hand on my arm. “Come on, Jim. Let’s take a breather. It’s been a tough day for all.” He looked at Roger. “We’ll take some time and regroup when everyone’s had a chance to consider what’s best for Miss Hughes, yes?”

Roger nodded, and his sympathetic expression kept me from flying into a rage and tearing down the goddamn walls of this place.

And then Delia gave me a parting glance. One I’d seen Doris wear a hundred times. A smug, triumphant look that said I was a fucking moron and she held all the cards and always would.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said. “I promised Thea I’d stay and I’m staying.”

“You aren’t,” Delia said. “Security, please remove him. He’s trespassing.”

“Fuck you, Delia.” I started for Thea’s room.

“Now, Jim, hold on,” Alonzo said.

“We need to stay calm,” Roger put in.

“Get him out of here,” Delia cried.

Security grabbed my arms and started dragging me back.

“Let go,” I raged, struggling within their grip. “Get the fuck off of me.”

“Hey, easy,” Alonzo shouted.

All the raised voices became muted and distant as I fought to break free. To get to Thea at any cost. “I swore to her, Delia,” I shouted. “Do n-n-not let her wake up alone. You better fucking not let her wake up alone.”

I tore one arm free and jabbed my elbow into a guard’s face.

“Okay, that’s it.” The other guard slammed me against the wall. Pain reverberated up my cheek. My arms were wrenched behind me, my shoulder sockets screaming, and then I was on the floor, a knee on my back, pinning me down. They slipped plastic ties around my wrists and hauled me to my feet.

Delia gave a final parting glare at the door of Thea’s room.

I said nothing as the security guards dragged me down the hall. I had no words left. I was slammed into a chair in an office. Time slipped out from under me as voices talked around my head. All I could think was that I’d failed Thea. She was going to wake up and I wouldn’t be there.

Eventually, someone hauled me to my feet, someone else shoved me out the front doors into the bright sunlight and muggy heat of a waning summer afternoon. It took a second to realize I was free.

“You okay?” Alonzo stood with my duffel bag and guitar case strapped over his shoulders. Rita must have taken them from the hospital van.

“No, I am not okay.”

“Dumb question. Let me rephrase: you going to behave yourself now?”

I said nothing.

He knocked a cigarette from a battered pack and offered me one. I shook my head.