Donna looked at the screen in despair. The results were not very encouraging for the little girl. Donna sighed, she hated that this was happening. She didn’t want anyone to experience this, especially not Justice whom she considered like a niece, especially given how close the little girl had came to actually becoming her niece.
She stared at the blue screen again, willing the waves to tell a different story, but she should know better by now. The machines never lie, especially when you wanted them to.
Nailah looked up as Donna walked into the tiny room.
“How are you today, Nailah?”
Nailah smiled. “I’m doing well. How’s Justice? Is she getting better. She hasn’t woken up yet.”
Donna bit her lip, an action that failed to go unnoticed by Nailah.
“What is it? What’s going on?”
Donna swallowed. “Justice’s condition is deteriorating. Her brain function is lower and her body isn’t responding to the treatment.”
“What does that mean?”
“I… I’m not sure at the moment. There’s only one more treatment that we can try. If she doesn’t improve…” she trailed off looking at the little girl laying motionless in the crib.
“She’ll get better. She has to.” Nailah affirmed.
Sierra walked in the large room and quietly took a seat in the back, well what could be regarded as the back considering the chairs were arranged in a circle. The room hummed with quiet tones of participants greeting each other. A few of them sent smiles and waves her way.
“Let’s begin,” a quiet woman spoke to the diverse crowd. “We have some new faces, welcome to the group. Believe me when I say that this group will be an important part of your recovery.”
Sierra groaned. She did not want to be here. A few pills and now everyone thought she was an addict. Worse, an addict in need of recovery!
She continued to fume as participants went around the circle sharing their stories and their triumphs. She didn’t belong here. She wasn’t an addict, she didn’t have a problem. Yea so Taco Stan sitting next to her overdosed three times before he detoxed and was drug free for six months now, but she wasn’t like that. She could quit anytime she wanted. A simple fainting spell and now she was labeled an addict.
“Are you alright?” the facilitator asked in her direction.
Sierra growled, “I don’t belong here.”
“Are you in the wrong group? This is-“
“I know what this is!” She screamed standing up. “I don’t belong here! I’m not a druggie! I took a few pills so what! I don’t need to be here!”
With those words she darted out the room.
“Sierra, would you care to explain why you didn’t attend the group meetings I signed you up for?” Donna asked glaring at the woman on the other side of the desk.
“I don’t belong there. I don’t need to be there. It’s stupid.”
“Stupid?” Donna allowed the word to roll over her tongue. “The group is a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them.”
“I am not an addict.”
“You were popping pills for the entire semester. You overdosed and fainted. You were close to death. What do you call that?”
Sierra glared.
“Listen, there is no such thing as recreational drug use. Once the drug controls you, you are an addict. Didn’t you try to stop taking the pills?”
Sierra nodded.
“But you couldn’t. You didn’t think you’d survive without the pills, without the feeling it gave you, the strength you thought you gained.”
Sierra nodded.
“Go back to the group. That’s not a request. If you fail to attend the group regularly the board will expel you from the school. The only thing between the angry board members and your dismissal letter are these groups. The board didn’t want to give you that chance, but once I convinced them of your potential and past success as a medical student, they saw things my way. Now, I didn’t put my butt on the line just for you to throw it away.”
Sierra gulped.
“Are we clear?”
“Yes… I’ll go to the groups.”
Erika anxiously chewed her fingernails, a habit she had dropped ages ago. Wow, I must be really nervous. She watched the office window hoping to catch a glance of Willis before he walked through the door, she didn’t want to be caught off guard.
After days-no weeks-of debate she was ready. She was taking the plunge and diving in. She had decided to dump Mr. Moneybags and follow *gasp* love. Something she hadn’t done in years.
Willis walked in and handed her a small wrapped package.
“Open it.”
“They’re beautiful,” she said admiring the diamond studs.
“I am glad that you approve. I told my secretary to tell the saleswoman to pick out her finest pair of earrings.”
Erika’s smile weakened slightly, he didn’t pick them out himself.
“You wished to see me?”
“Yes, I did. It’s about our relationship.”
“Great! I want to discuss that as well.”
“You do?”
“Yes,” Willis said nodding. “I have something very important to discuss with you, but not here. I’m going to my beach house soon. Come with me.”
“Go with you?”
“Yes, come with me. We can discuss it there.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. “I will be unable to pick you up, but here are the keys to my vintage Porsche. Please drive it to the airport, then take my private jet to the island. This key is to the house. I’ll make all the arrangements, so everything should be ready for you. You won’t need any clothing, I’ll have my staff buy you a new wardrobe for the trip, shoes and accessories and whatever else you desire. Of course, you’ll want to get a massage before the trip, so just go the E’lan Spa and give them this credit card and my name. They’ll take care of you. Would you desire to be picked up instead? I can have my driver pick you up. “
Erika stared in awe at the keys and gleaming credit card resting in her hand. “No driving is fine.”
“Great. Now what did you wish to discuss.”
Erika swallowed and smiled. “It’s not important.”
Opal took a deep breath as the countdown began.
At the appointed time she effortlessly bounced off the board and into the pool. She could still hear the screams and cheers of the crowd from underwater. Quickly she rose to the surface and started the breaststroke.
She could see glimpse of her teammates and coach cheering from the stands as she pulled out ahead of the competition. She was in her element, her prime, this was where she belonged. The buzzer chimed indicated the end of the race and she climbed out the pool giddy with the elation of winning yet another race. With any luck she would be able to qualify for the nationals this year. The goal she had been working towards for much of her swimming career.
After the competition, Opal wearily dried her legs in the empty locker room. Her team had been the clear winners of the meet and she had placed first in all her events. She nearly jumped off the seat when the team and her coach rounded the corner with sounds of applause and cheers.
“Way to go, Opal!”
“Without you, we wouldn’t have won this!”
“Yea, Opal!”
Her coach leaned into her. “There’s a man outside the locker room that you need to speak with. Immediately.”
Opal jumped to her feet and hurried out the warm room into the coolness of the empty pool area. She recognized him immediately, but didn’t believe it until he greeted her.
“Opal?:
She nodded, too awestruck to speak.
“I’m Peter Jenns, from the National Association of Swimmers.”
She nodded again, only an idiot would not know the man standing in front of her. He launched so many swim careers and he was also in charge of handpicking the team for the nationals.
“I saw your performance today. Outstanding. In fact, if you keep that up, you may very well be getting a call from me in the spring.”
Opal nearly fainted. A call from Peter in the spring meant that she would be invited to join the team for the Nationals.
“Keep it up. All I can say is keep it up!”
Opal watched him walk away in awe, acutely aware that she never spoke during the entire meeting.
Donna stared at Nailah. The woman looked drained, Donna had heard from university officials that she was having a hard time finishing up her last year of study and she knew that it was attributed to her child spending weeks in the hospital.
“Well? Aren’t you going to say something?” Nailah pleaded.
Donna wished she didn’t have to. She wished that her hands could heal every patient that walked in her doors, make every ailment disappear, but she wasn’t God. She didn’t have that power.
Nailah sobbed into her hands. Donna watched quietly as the women cried all her tears into her hands. She swallowed hoping not to break down herself, not to have the tears that she cried when the results came back return. She needed to be strong for her patient’s family.
“Wh… what happens now?”
“Nothing. We wait.”
“For what?”
“To see what Justice will do.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, that either Justice’s body will continue to break down. She will lose the ability to move, her limbs will stop moving. Eventually her lungs will stop breathing or her heart will stop beating or both. Right now she’s only at 45% capability. That means the machines she’s hooked up too are doing 55% of the work for her. Breathing for her. Making her heart beat. Her brain is non-responsive. Right now she’s at the fork in the road, she’ll either improve on her own. Getting better and eventually the machines will be needless, or… “
Nailah didn’t need to hear the rest. She knew and she wept for her little girl.
Donna quietly left the room allowing the young mother to mourn and giving herself the privacy to shed her own tears.
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