“Can I help you?” a nurse asked, jarring me from my paralysis.
“I–I think my brother is a patient here. He was in that accident, and he’s in that room back there! Can I see him? Please, can someone just tell me how he is?”
The nurses looked at each other before one spoke up. “What’s his name?”
“Dallas. Dallas Alexander.”
She sighed. “You can’t see him right now, but he was involved in a two-car collision on the bridge.
My heart sunk to my feet as my voice trembled. “How–how is he?”
“He’s just got out of surgery. He’s stable, but we will closely monitor him over the next forty-eight hours. He had a fractured femur, broken ribs, and lacerations from the impact.”
“Okay, thank you. When will I be able to see him?” I asked.
“Visiting hours are over. Come back tomorrow,” she informed me.
Back in the car, I smacked my steering wheel over and over before crashing my head into its center and breaking down. I screamed and cried so loudly that I was sure security would hear me and either push me off the premises or try to have me admitted for being so damn unstable. I was always good at being the calm one in emergencies and scary situations, especially after Izzy died. I could be upbeat and always find the silver lining, but there wasn’t one for this. I didn’t know how I would tell Imani our mother was dead, let alone tell her that she may be the reason the man she loved didn’t survive. Imani didn’t deserve that, and I would’ve given anything not to have to be the one to tell her. Out of my element, I picked up my phone and called Eli, the only person I felt I could confide in.
The phone rang, and I froze and then melted apart emotionally when I heard his voice on the other end.
“Hello?”
Elijah
“E–Elijah?” she gasped before bawling on the other line.
“Isa? What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with the baby?”
“N–no. It’s m–my m–mom. Sh–she’s–she’s dead. S–she was in a car accident, a–and she–she’s gone.”
My heart dropped. Hearing her sobbing on the other end of the phone was heart-wrenching.
“I can’t do this, Elijah. I can’t! I can’t go through this again! I–I can’t!” she screamed into the receiver.
The pain in her sobbing triggered something in me and suddenly, being apart from her was too hard for me to deal with.
“What do you need from me?” I asked.
“No, no. Nothing. I–I’m sorry for laying all of this on you. I know we had a plan with boundaries in place. I don’t have the right to fall apart in front of you.”
“Isa, you know me. I’m primed for grief. Whatever you can’t handle, lay it on me. I can.”
“I don’t have anyone else to turn to. I just don’tknow what to do.”
“Did you call your sister? I don’t want you to be alone.”
“Y–yeah. She–she’s on her way down here, but I just told her to come. I didn’t want that type of news weighing on her all the way here.”
“I understand.”
“Where are you right now?”
“In the car. I haven’t managed to leave the parking garage yet,” she admitted. “Where are you?”
“Vegas,” I answered, “I had a couple of appearances out here this week.”
“Oh.”