Page 3 of Silent Knight

She spun, her tight brown curls bouncing as she did. “Ezra, thank you.” I noticed tear stains on her cheeks and all my happiness drained.

“Gia, what happened?”

That was when I noticed the blood spatters all over her scrubs. My eyes trailed down the corridor and there were two bodies, a doctor and another nurse, on the floor.

“This guy came in, gunshot wounds, we had him on the gurney trying to stop the bleeding but couldn’t find the source.” Tears began falling freely and I pulled her close.

“It’s okay, breathe.” I rubbed her back and scanned the area.

A security officer was down also…it was so quiet.

“He…he cut Dr. Hu’s throat,” she hiccupped. “I…”

“Where is he, Gia?”

“Ran out of the hospital. Ezra, there’s a mess, the patients I?—”

She called me down here to help clean up so she could get to the other patients in the ER. She was falling apart but had to make sure the other patients were okay. That was the kind of person she was.

“The police will deem this a crime scene, Gia. I can’t touch anything.”

She stared blankly at the carnage before us and nodded slowly. “Right.”

A minute later the emergency room was filled with police, and patients were being transferred out. I held Gia as she explained to the police everything that happened.

“Thank you, Ms. Grant.” The detective handed her his card. “If you think of anything else, please contact me. Until then, you’ll need to bag your scrubs and hand them over to us. Then you can shower and change.”

All emergencies were being routed to a different hospital for the time being since the area was closed off. Gia was being sent home and when she asked if I’d stay with her, there was no way I’d say no.

I stood in the hallway as she cleaned up and listened to the sounds of patients and staff scurrying around. The prickling on the back of my neck intensified and I darted my eyes in the direction I believed I was being watched, but no one was there.

“Ready?” She smiled weakly as she came out. The scent of honeysuckle clung around her and I was sure she’d spent a good fifteen minutes scrubbing her skin.

“I am.” I held my arm out at my side and she tucked right in.

It was a little awkward walking that way but she was my only friend and she was scared.

“My car is in B lot.”

I nodded and we walked in silence to her car. I didn’t drive. It wasn’t that I couldn’t, I just didn’t own a car.

“Are you okay to drive?” I asked when I saw her hands shake around the steering wheel.

“Yeah, I need a minute.” She closed her eyes and took a breath. “Why was he there, Ezra? He wasn’t hurt, just played hurt, and for what, to kill doctors and nurses?”

“Did he say anything?”

Gia opened her mouth a few times and then faced me. “He wasn’t making sense. He was yelling, kept asking ‘where is he where is he.’”

“Never said who he was looking for?”

She shook her head. “We kept asking who he was looking for hoping he’d stop. When Alvin came in and lifted his taser, the man charged him, stabbed him, and ran out of the ER.”

“Okay, take a few breaths. Let’s get you home. You’ll feel better when you’re inside your own house.”

She did as I asked and soon we were driving out of the hospital lot and onto the street toward her place. She didn’t speak and I wasn’t sure what to say so I’d be a presence. Something that made her realize she wasn’t alone.

Growing up, and even now, I often felt like I was alone. When I was scared, being by myself was the worst…even with the secret stranger or whatever I knew was watching me, I lacked a physical being to hold my hand, hug me, just be with me.

---