Page 32 of The Kidnapped

Making sure to grab her mother’s purse and her own, she rode in the ambulance with them, holding Olivia’s hand the entire time as the paramedics attempted to figure out why the woman was still unconscious. Hollis felt like she couldn’t breathe. They hadn’t had nearly enough time together yet. Her mom had cancer, yes, but this wasn’t the cancer; at least, she didn’t think it was the cancer. A fall like this could not take her mother this soon after she’d just found her.

Once at the hospital, Hollis was forced to sit in the waiting room, filling out way more paperwork than she’d ever had to fill out in Canada when going to the doctor. She had her mother’s insurance card, thankfully, and gave them that information. Then, she sat down in an uncomfortable plastic chair and stared down the hall, waiting. An hour went by, and she hadn’t heard anything. She didn’t know what to do.

She pulled her phone out of her purse and realized she only had one number there that she could call. Everyone else was in Vancouver. Even still, it wasn’t like she had a lot of contacts in her phone in the first place. She could call Kenna, but the woman was technically her boss. Outside of Kenna and her mother, there was only Raleigh. She pressed Raleigh’s name before she could talk herself out of it and waited.

“Hey,” Raleigh said on the third ring.

“Raleigh.”

“What’s wrong?” Raleigh asked immediately, knowing from Hollis’s tone that something wasn’t right.

“My mom.”

“No,” Raleigh let out.

“Not that. Well, I don’t know. Maybe that. They’re not talking to me.”

“Where are you? Who’s the they?”

“The hospital. She fell, I think.”

“County General or St. Sebastian’s?”

Hollis had to look around to answer that because she hadn’t been paying attention.

“County General.”

“I can be there in fifteen minutes,” Raleigh replied.

“I don’t know why I called you. I’m sorry. I just didn’t have anyone else.”

“Hollis, I’m leaving now, okay?”

“You don’t have to.”

“I’ll see you in fifteen minutes. Are you in the ER?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Okay. I’m on my way.”

???

Hollis didn’t track the time because Raleigh was on her way; she tracked it because it had been another fifteen minutes of her sitting there, not knowing if her mother was alive or dead. Then, she felt a hand on her own, and that snapped her out of staring at the hospital clock. She turned to see Raleigh sitting next to her.

“Hi,” Raleigh said softly.

“Hi.”

“Can I get you anything?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“How long have you been here?”

Hollis checked the clock and replied, “Almost two hours.”

“Have they told you anything?”

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