Golden Rule

Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – Fernanda

       I came out of the school building feeling a mixture of respite and worry. I called Noah’s phone first and did not get an answer. I tried Nana Regina and Maddie and still nothing. They should have been here by now. Noah had planned to pick up Nana and Maddie; then come here to pick me up for our dinner date. Maybe they were held up in traffic but why weren’t any of them answering their phones.

    I was losing my self-control and my wolf was also getting agitated at my uneasiness. I didn’t know what to make of the situation. It was getting too worrisome for them to have been running late and it was not like Noah or Nana to be late anywhere. Maybe he forgot he was supposed to pick me up, unlikely but still possible. Goddess I couldn’t wait to get my hands on him and torture him. No, he would enjoy my methods of torture on him. I would get him back one way or another.

    I thought about it and made up my mind that I should start to make my way toward the restaurant. I called a car service to get there as soon as possible. When I gave the driver the address and he looked it up, he informed me there was a traffic jam or accident on the way so he would have to take a different route to get there.

    Ok, maybe that’s why they were late. They are stuck in traffic. I send Noah, Nana and even Maddie a message letting them know I was on my way to the restaurant.

       I silently huffed in frustration and gave the driver the go ahead. The uneasy feeling grew in my chest and I was beginning to feel beyond anxious, almost sick. I just wanted to get there and relax and joke with my loves. I wanted to embrace Nana and Madison and feel Noah’s arms around me.

    What was wrong with me? I was done with all my exams and I knew I had not bombed them. I could not understand this damn feeling of dread I had. I was ready for this day to be over in all honesty. Days with thoughts of my parents were always hard but I managed to push through. This day especially had been a whirlwind. It’s not every day you finish med school.

    We were completely stopped on a neighborhood street. I had no idea where we were. I opened my phone to check our location and realized we were at least an hour from the restaurant because of the traffic. I studied the map a few more seconds, looking for possible side streets.

    “I guess everyone had the same idea we had of going around the accident.” Said the driver in his cheerful African accent, distracting me from the map. I just smiled at him. I couldn’t make small talk even though I knew I would distract me. I could have asked him where he was from, about his family, if he liked driving people around. Anything. But my mind was elsewhere. The feeling in my chest getting worse if that was possible.

    Since I was not familiar with the area where we were, I didn’t want to leave the car and walk. I knew it wasn’t safe to walk around some parts of Chicago looking like a tourist following my phone. On top of that, I felt bad leaving the driver stuck in traffic missing out on fares. I just stayed put taking deep breaths trying to ease the uncomfortable feeling.

       I started calling Noah’s, Nana’s, and Maddie’s phones nonstop. When I kept trying Noah’s phone, the call finally picked up, but my heart fell to my stomach. A man’s voice answered.

    “Sergeant Perez speaking.”

    “Why do you have my boyfriend’s phone? Where is he? Is He ok?”

    “I just have some personal belongings and his phone Miss; they are operating on him now. He and two others, an older woman and a teenage girl were involved in an accident.”

       My heart skipped a beat. I felt bile rise and I started breaking out in a cold sweat.

    “What hospital were they taken to?”

    “Middle Medical.”

    I hang up on the officer and give the driver an apologetic glance. I talk as I take my casual flat shoes off and throw them in my bag, secure my bag around my neck and through my arm.

    “I have to go; I will make sure to pay you for your time on the app. Thanks!”

    I make a dash out of the car toward the main avenue. Middle Medical is where my hospital sends overflow emergency patients. If I can get to that general direction, I can make out the overall area and be there soon. My socks cushion my feet some and I let my wolf to the surface to help me with speed and healing of my feet running on the hard pavement and on broken glass and rubble.

       At this moment I don’t care how I look like to people. I don’t care if I am running at a superhuman speed in the middle of Chicago neighborhoods and avenues.

    I just cannot care. I need to get to them.

    Suddenly I feel I sharp pain go through my foot and up my leg. s**t! I cannot have this right now. I have been running for at least 20 minutes and I know I am still a good distance away. When I feel blood gushing out of my foot and know I must stop.

    Sure enough, I must have stepped on a big piece of glass because the cut is still oozing blood. Damn it. I look around and the few people walking on this neighborhood street are mostly kids and teenagers    walking home from staying after school most likely. Thankfully, all in their own elements and not sparing me the least bit of their attention.

    I notice a good distance between the two girls that just passed by me and the next group of kids walking my way and let my wolf out. My hands and feet start to turn into paws. The unnatural sounds my bones are making go completely unnoticed by the kids around me. Within 5 seconds my hands and feet are back, and the cut is completely healed though I might have a scar.

    Just then the next group of kids reaches up to the steps where I am sitting and one of the girls looks at my foot with wide eyes. My blood soaked sock obvious to her. Just then her friend grabs her to drag her along and I let out a deep breath.

    My foot feels better. No threat of infection and besides the blood on my sock, it’s as if nothing had happened. I start on my run again.

    After about 15 minutes, I can finally make out landmarks, stores and other familiar surroundings. I start crying. But I must slow down my run, so I am not seen coming up to the hospital in my wolf speed. When I finally reach the hospital, I rush through the ambulance entrance ignoring the calls of the techs and EMTs as I run for the nurses’ desk.

    “Regina Maldonado, Noah Frederick, Madison Fenton! What are their statuses?! What room are they in? Are their charts in the system?”

       The nurses all look at me dumbfounded.

    “why are you all just standing there?! Pull them up!”

    I see one of the nurses look behind me and I tense up.

    “miss?” a man’s shy voice says behind me.

    I turn and am faced with two men, one middle aged and the other in his late twenties maybe early thirties, with badges hanging off their necks. The bile rises back up again in my throat. They do not look at me in the eyes. The younger looking one does not even look in my general direction. This is not going to be good. I can feel it now.

    “I am detective Gonzalez, and this is detective Paone. Please, follow us. We have a room waiting.” Says the older man.

    They start walking and I give the nurses a quick glance. Their somber looks speak volumes and I do not want to face this right now. This cannot be happening. I take a deep breath as I start to follow the detectives, but my feet feel like cement. Even my body does not want to have this conversation. I guess they do not feel me behind them, and they turn back to look at me and notice my feet. Detective Gonzalez gives me a questioning look.

    “Are you hurt? Where are your shoes?” asks detective Paone. He gives off a big brother vibe.

    Realization hits me and I reach to take my nasty socks off. After I throw what’s left of them in the trash. I reach in my bag for my shoes and put them on. But I still cannot take a step forward to follow the detectives. A nurse and detective Paone come up to me I guess to push me along. 

    I look at her and her face is in a deep blush. I look over at detective Paone who is looking at her with saucer eyes, geez their happiness amongst my despair. I give a deep sigh and take a step forward. I follow detective Gonzalez and the newly found couple begin to walk behind me, and I can literally feel them stare at each other as we are walking. They annoy me to be honest.

    We make it to a room that is labeled ‘Conference Room 1E’. The nurse begins excusing herself as she steals a last glace at the young detective. I look at her name tag. Claire.

    The detectives offer me a seat and I brace myself.

    “where is my family? How long did they say it would be with Noah? Where are Nana and Maddie?”

    “Nana?” says Detective Gonzalez.

    “Mrs. Maldonado is my Nana, she raised me and is like my mother.”

    A sadness washes over both detectives’ already gloomy faces as they give each curt glances.

    “Ms. Maldonado….” my throat tightens as detective Gonzalez continues “we regret to inform you that... Mr. Frederick, your Nana and Miss Fenton succumbed to their injuries. I’m so sorry.”

    I just sit there like an i***t looking, staring at the detective. I am waiting for Detective Paone to jump in and correct him. To tell his partner that he is mistaken, and that Noah is in surgery and my nana and Maddie are in ICU or in a room. I glace at Detective Paone with my eyes urging him to say the words I need to hear. But he only looks at me.

    “we are truly sorry Ms. Maldonado.” Detective Paone says in a hushed tone.

    My wolf is howling in my head. She is taking the pain away from me that otherwise I would be feeling in my chest. She wants to comfort me, but she is hurting just as much. I can sense that she wants to be let out to run, to vent, she wants to tear at something, and she wants to physically feel with me. That is why she is absorbing that tightness in my chest.

    “please believe that we are doing everything we can to understand what happened. Many eyewitnesses are coming forward and relaying to us what they saw…….”

    All I can hear after that is a loud ringing in my ears.