Sense of connection
1067 Words
Prim's POV:
It's a good thing that Archie's brother had issued the warning about a crazy ex. I was a little prepared for it. How I wished she had been at the wedding, and she made her objection there. To be honest, I really don't care. I would have ignored her while she babbled about how she and Archie were meant to be.
I could deal with that and, somehow, I understand her. I was once in her shoes, but I was never bold enough to impose my right as Eric's longtime girlfriend. She introduced herself. Her name is Georgina Vladivostk, and she claims to be Archie's girlfriend of six years.
Working in the retail industry gave me years of experience of how to deal with unhappy customers. A trick of the trade that I use in real life to cope with the a**holes surrounding my sad life. It works wonders usually. Until she mentions death.
I am allergic to that word.
" Please tell me I am not going to die."
Archie's answer did not help at all. He does not know how I feel. If I die, who would take care of Aspen?
I am the only one he's got and if that happens----my poor boy will be left to die too. My parents won't take responsibility for him. Even Diana. She likes Aspen but not to the point where she's going to be the bigger person and play nice aunt.
He might think I am paranoid.
I really am.
Aspen's life is far more precious than mine. And if it was possible for me to take every single sick cell in his body and transfer it to mine, I would. No questions asked, not if's, no but's. I would gladly give my life for my son as long as he lives.
My phone rings. God no. It's from Maya, a nurse in Aspen's ward.
With trembling fingers, I answered, "M-maya, please tell me he's okay."
[You need to come here. Now.]
That's all I had to hear. I already know what to do. We've been through a lot of these scenarios before. Each time was different. Archie was staring at me. I forgot he was with me in the ladies' toilet. "I need to go."
"Go where?"
"To the hospital."
"Now?"
"Yes!"
"But the reception---"
Tears started to roll over my cheeks. I have no control over them now. All I know is I have to be by Aspen's side. If he's going to stop me with guests and a f*cking reception, he and his family could go to hell. Archie's hand was firm on my arm. "Look, I don't care if I don't get paid for marrying you. All I care about is my son. Please, let me go."
Archie's expression was blank. I had no time to spare, and I grabbed my dress, so I could run with ease. The best way is to use the back door of the restaurant where no one will see me leave. Nora and Will will not agree with what I am going to do and arguing with them will only cost me time. I don't have my car with me, so that's another problem. I hope there's a cab.
Going through the back door was the easy part, the real challenge was waiting for a cab. This is a cozy urban part of the city and customers have cars or booked Ubers waiting, both of which I don't have.
"Wait for me, baby. Mommy is coming." I repeated loudly like a mantra. "I am coming. Hang on, baby. Hang on. Oh, Lord, please. Anything with wheels will do."
Manifesting works because a black car comes swerving in my direction. If I had to go in the middle of the road, I'd do it as long as the driver stops and let me hitch. I was readying my speech for him or her to have pity on me as I waited for the tinted window to roll down. The passenger car door opened instead.
"A-archie?"
"Need a ride?"
"Yes! Oh, yes."
"Well, what are you waiting for? Christmas? Hop in." He sounds annoyed, but I am still glad he came to my rescue. I was literally mixing tears and snoot in my face. He throws a box of tissue onto my lap." Where are we going?"
"Mercy's Children's hospital."
He revved up the car's engine, and we spent the next few minutes in silence as he drove like he had no care in the world. What a shame, it didn't bother me at all as long as we got to our destination in one piece. It wasn’t until we hit a small traffic jam three blocks away from the hospital that I lost my cool. I was praying, hoping that whoever was up there would be considerate enough to keep my baby away from imminent danger.
I even honked the horns twice as if it would help.
"Maybe I should just run for it?" I asked Archie, who was calm as the sea." It's not that far."
"At that state? You don't even have proper shoes."
"You don't understand---"
"Listen to me, Prim. I am not going to take you into that hospital with a broken ankle. Instead of checking on one patient, there would be two."
Archie's got a point. Running won't help. Fortunately, the police were able to fix the problem, and we were on our way. I kept on calling Maya, but she was not picking up. Putting me on the edge that I am already on.
"Thanks for the help, Archie.” I said as he pulled over into the Mercy Children's Hospital car park. "You can go back to the reception now. I really appreciate it. I'll figure out an explanation later to my parents and to your family."
"I am coming with you. They already know." Was his only reply.
I jogged and walked at the same time to Aspen's room. He's not there, and I ran to the ICU again. Every nook and cranny of this hospital is familiar to me now. I saw Aspen being wheeled from the imaging department. He saw me and he smiled at me. He's such a good and brave warrior.
"Aspen, baby. What happened?"
My child was not looking at me, his eyes were fixated past me. "Mommy, is he my daddy?"
- Writer
