Page 99 of Surviving the Merge
“Justin? This is Samantha’s uncle, Norman. She—she’s been in an... ac.. accident along State Route 86. Can you make it to the hospital?”
“How—how is she?” I asked, throwing the sheet back, searching out anything to wear.
“Get here as fast as you can, son.”
I hung up and yelled for Damon.
We dressed and left in a hurry. The car ride filled with a tense silence. He pulled up to the hospital entrance, and I jumped out of the car before it came to a full stop. Vaguely registering Damon’s muttered curse as I raced through the hospital revolving doors. Sprinting straight for the elevator bank.
“Excuse me sir... sir... sir, you need to sign in!”
I threw myself into the awaiting elevator and jammed the button for the ICU floor. Cursing the timer that prevented the doors from closing right away. “Come on, come on, come on.” I paced the small confines and counted down with each beep that indicated I’d passed another floor. My head snapped up at the almost silent ding, and as soon as I was able to, I turned my body sideways and squeezed through the opening. Too impatient to wait for the doors to part all the way.
Grabbing the arm of the first person I saw in scrubs, I demanded, “Which way to the surgical waiting room?” I was directed down the hall and around the corner.
I focused on the smell of disinfectant filling my nostrils, the white sterile environment surrounding me, the buzz of the overhead fluorescent lights, and the sound of rubber shoes squeaking on the linoleum floor. I had to. I couldn’t focus on the fact that a hundred feet ahead of me, Sam’s uncle Norman embraced Sam’s inconsolable mother as she questioned God’s reasoning. Her screams filled the corridor.
My movements had been rapid since getting the call. But now, within reaching distance of my final destination, I began slowing down my steps as if the floor had turned to sludge. I needed to get there quickly but was terrified of what news I’d arrive to.
“Mrs. Bailey…?” I trailed off, unwilling to finish my question. I didn’t have the strength to face the possible answer.Please don’t do this to me, Sam.
She quieted, tensing at the sound of her name. Raising her head from the crook of Norman’s neck, she registered that it was me and threw herself into my arms. “Justin, why did this have to happen? I don’t understand.”
I held her, asking myself the same thing. She was supposed to be safely asleep at Max’s
house. How could he allow this to happen? What... did happen?Norman witnessed the undisguised fear in my eyes. He saw the question that lurked behind my gaze. The one I didn’t want to ask but needed the answer to. I unconsciously squeezed Mrs. Bailey tighter, trying to absorb some comfort, even though she stood shattered.
“She’s in surgery now,” he said. “She lost a lot of blood, and they had to resuscitate her twice on the way here. The doctors said they couldn’t determine the extent of her injuries until they went in. It doesn’t look good, Justin.”
“No, she’s strong. She’ll hang on. We’ve got to believe that. We can’t give up on her.”
“Yes, yes, you’re right. Of course you are,” he said, nodding absently, wringing his hands while looking toward the operating room doors. “I helped raise her, you know. Before her dad died, I promised him I would love her like one of my own.” He gave a watery smile.
“You kept your promise. She knows that.” I tried to reassure him, but he placed his palm over his mouth and turned away.
“They’ve been in there for so long, Justin. That has to be a good sign, right?” She looked at me like I had all the answers.
“It means she’s still fighting. She’s not giving up, and we won’t either.” We all stopped breathing when the doctor came through the OR doors on the opposite side of the room, untying his surgical mask and making his way over to us.
“Are you the family of Samantha Bailey?” he asked with a somber expression.
“Yes, I’m her mother, this is her uncle, and this,” she pointed to me, “is her brother.”
He accepted this despite the obvious. “The crash caused extensive internal damage. We had to remove one kidney and her spleen. There was severe non-arterial bleeding of the liver, so we had to do a procedure called perihepatic packing. In literal terms, this means we had to place padding around the site of the bleeding in hopes of stopping it. We couldn’t close her up all the way because we’ll need to go back in within the next few days, depending on how things go, to unpack it. The most concerning thing is the amount of fluid in her lungs. We’ve implanted a tube to handle most of the draining and also a breathing tube, as she’s unable to breathe on her own at the moment. There’s heavy swelling to her knee caused by a break of the tibia. We’ve set the bone, but a close eye will be kept on the swelling. She does appear to have suffered some minor trauma to the skull. We won’t know the repercussions of that until she wakes up.
“The helmet saved her from the worst of it. We’ve done all we can do. It’s up to her now.”
The ringing in my ears battled with the pressure in my head. It sounded like I was hearing everything from underwater.
The helmet...she broke her promise.How many times had I begged her to get rid of that bike? Offering countless times to help her get a car. She drove so recklessly.
She’d told me during the fundraiser that she had to be back in Kisla first thing in the morning. I pleaded with her to take my car, knowing the fog would be thick at that hour in the morning. She promised she would come over from Max’s in the morning to get the key.She promised.I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to her. How could she be so selfish? The building trembled, or maybe it was me.
“Justin.”
My teeth hammered against one another.
“Justin…”
