Page 64 of Prophet
I stumbled a bit as it went into reverse and caught myself by grabbing a metal bar on the side wall.
The doors popped open as the EMT with me ? moved the gurney Jewel laid on ? out. The second guy assisted him.
I jumped down and pain shot through me, I ignored it. Rushing alongside of them, the double glass doors slid open. The two men maneuvered her gurney through and to the back. The one who’d taken care of her held the bag up as he and the gurney moved along at a fast pace.
A nurse suddenly stepped in front of me. I actually bumped into her. With a low growl, I went around her.
“Sir! You are bleeding!” she called to me.
I kept moving as fast as I could to keep up with the two EMTs, who wheeled her up next to an exam table. One of them unbuckled the straps over her while the other moved to where her legs were as they both carefully shifted her body to the table.
An older man in a white lab coat came in and was next to the exam table in almost a flash. A nurse joined him. They both did their jobs as I never took my eyes from Jewel. My mind was nearly blank as all I could seem to register was their swift movements. Then a chill came over me when they removed her shirt —bruises, new and crimson colored covered her arms. There were cuts along her neck and shoulder as dried blood seemed to cover her.
Someone grasped my arm and pain shot through me.
“Prophet, they got her now,” Redemption spoke in a quiet voice. “You need some help, man.”
I kept shaking my head.
“Brother, you were shot,” he went on. “You know that, right?”
I shook his hold on my arm away even as I flinched. “Leave me alone, Red,” I whispered low.
“Boy!”
I stilled at the familiar voice and said, “Dad?’
A curtain on the other side of Jewel’s table was yanked open.
My dad stood there with no shirt and a blood crusted gash along his chest. “You get tended to. This little girl didn’t go through all that just so you could drop dead!”
Chapter Twenty:The Fan Club
Jewel
Floating. That was all I knew. I seemed to be on a sea, like rolling along water but they were gentle waves. I wondered if this was what it was like to be dead. I saw no light, like people said happened when you died. I couldn’t feel my body, but I did have thoughts. It seemed. How odd, so your brain still worked after you died?
My father had said, when people passed, they entered heaven where there would be utter peace and light. I couldn’t get a sense of me, of my limbs or my body and I didn’t feel at peace. I felt desperation and anxiety. If it was heaven, I did not want any part of it. This place ? while I felt no pain ? wasn’t a good place to be. I tried to remember how I got here. What had happened? Nothing came and that was what caused my distress. Abruptly, images passed through my mind, but they were just blurs and fast moving objects. I needed it to slow down so I could see them, I needed to remember.
I waited, what else could I do? I had no control over anything. After the blurs slowed and stopped, I saw a face. Prophet! Oh yes, I’d been with his dad somewhere. I tried to grasp the facts. I’d never met his dad, had I? I wanted to scream in frustration as my memory just wasn’t there. There had been a race of some kind. Being chased. Time running out. Why?
Focus Jewel, focus.
I heard something, up until now, there had only been my thoughts and silence. What is that sound?Beeping?Then it got louder and louder.
“Jewel?”
Oh! Prophet's voice.I wanted to shout his name. Tell him to come and get me. Feeling seemed to come back to me, but I still couldn’t move. Something like a whooshing sounded out but I could not identify it. I now could feel more as I tried to see, I tried to open my eyes.
“Yes, baby. Come on,” Prophet’s voice came to me again…It sounded like it was coming and going in a yo-yo effect.
I opened my eyes. Light instantly hit them and blinded me. I shut them again. I could feel more now as my hand was squeezed by someone holding it.
“Jewel please?” Prophet’s voice begged. “Come back to me…”
I squeezed his hand back.
“Yes, yes!” he exclaimed.
