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A beeping sound filled my ears, loud
at first, then decreased in volume.
I was in a bed and it was daytime, the sun pouring through the windows
above my head. I was looking up at the ceiling of white, frozen in place
by the tight comforter over me. My arms were out, resting limply by my
sides and they felt a little stiff.
Beep, beep, beep…
I knew immediately where I was. The pain rushed back into me and I
winced as I tried to move. There was someone that appeared to be asleep
by my hand, their head bowed down and resting on their arms on the bed.
As I shifted up onto my elbows I knew then who it was. The man seemed to
feel me wake and he looked up the same time I fully regained
consciousness. His blue eyes never looked so bright. John Gillis was
here. Not in Paris. He was here with me and just seeing him made me
forget just about everything that happened. The whites of his eyes were
all red and glossy and when he saw me his face seemed to flood with
happiness and relief. He smiled and all fear and sorrow escaped my body.
I felt tears streaming down my cheeks from overwhelming emotions and we
both reached for each other. He embraced me so passionately it only made
me sob harder. I could tell he was refraining from squeezing me too hard
because of my injuries. There were no words exchanged. With John there
didn’t need to be. We both had a way of reading what each other was
thinking with ease. We just sat there, for I don’t even know how long,
and I couldn’t help but just let out all of my feelings. I felt
resentment, sadness, fear, and yet happiness all at the same time.
“I thought I had lost you,” John told me. I had never heard his voice so
shaky.
Had all of that really happened? Was I really shot in the stomach? The
throbbing pain in the middle of my body told me it was all too real.
There were IVs in my arms and bandages around my knuckles – I didn’t
quite know what for, but it didn’t matter.
When we finally peeled ourselves apart I examined the wound on my
stomach. It was completely covered by a white gauze material that
wrapped around the entire circumference of my waist a couple of times.
“The nurse told me to wake you as soon as you got up,” John stated, as
he wiped his cheeks and tried to regain his cool, standing and pressing
a little red button to the side of that little bag that drips.
“What are you doing here?” was all I could think to ask at the moment,
though I had a thousand other questions swimming in circles in my mind.
John sat down again on the bed. “Emera and I left early when we heard
the news.”
“What? Why? Why would you do something like that? You were in Paris—”
“Take it easy, will ya? I finished my business there the day before we
received the call. None of that matters now anyway. I’m just so glad
you’re okay,” he shook his head and I could still tell he was trying
hard to soak it all in. “When Rafael called us and told us the whole
story, I almost had a heart attack.”
“Tell me what happened… What happened to Ron? What happened after the
shooting?”
“Let me first start by saying you’ve been asleep for about three days.
The doctors said you would be just fine but I still couldn’t stop myself
from worrying when you didn’t wake up right away. They said the bullet
had missed all your vital organs by mere centimeters and that no serious
damage had been done. You got really lucky with your timing, as well.
Turns out Rafael made a trip to your school to inform you about a
schedule change at the car shop, only to find out you had been expelled
and left with Ron. If he had gotten to the manor a minute later with the
police I’m afraid you might not have made it. As for your father…” He
paused and for a second I thought he was going to tell me something
crazy like he was on his way to pick me up or something. “He is in the
Chicago State Prison for a good fifteen years.” John’s lips broke into a
smile of contentment.
My eyes widened and I couldn’t keep the excitement out of my voice. “Are
you serious?”
John nodded.
“No court or anything?” I asked incredulously.
“Well, since the police barged in to find him filthy with blood and with
a gun in his hand, there was no question who committed the crime. Also,
he didn’t try to deny it one bit. He didn’t even try to resist when they
took him under arrest. There will be a court date, but you won’t have to
attend that.”
It was the first time I smiled and felt positively nothing but relief
rush over me in a long time.
John reached over to give me another embrace. “It’s all over now.”
I couldn’t believe after all this time I was finally liberated.
Everything seemed to fall into place and after all that misery I was
being relieved of my troubles.
I collapsed on the pillow behind me trying to contain my exhilaration,
and the nurse came rushing in.
“Hi there, Shuro! How are you feeling?” She had a sweet voice and her
hair was the color of honey, her eyes gleaming as she leaned in and felt
the temperature of my face with the back of her palm.
“Amazing,” I said, and for an instant I thought that she might think I
was being sarcastic. I wasn’t. After the news I had just heard, how can
I be anything but bursting with high spirits? My father was finally in
the exact place I wanted him to be. I may even pay him a visit just to
laugh in his face.
The nurse called a doctor in who gave me a quick examination; checking
my reflexes and tending to my wounds, stuff like that. It stung when he
peered under the gauze to see if any swelling or infection had occurred,
like my skin was being peeled apart again. He gave me an injection in my
arm that he said would ease the pain and let me sleep. He also showed me
a little bottle of pills that he told me I had to take every four hours
for the next two weeks.
The doctor left and it wasn’t long before I dozed off, John sitting on
the chair across the room. I had wanted to ask him a thousand questions
but he told me I should get some rest. The injection made my eyelids
heavy and my whole body relaxed.
• • •
My eyes lifted open again and light stung them like embers. I guessed it
was the next morning since when I drifted off it was starting to get
dark and now it was the complete opposite. I was alone in the hospital
room. There weren’t any more IVs in my arms since, I guessed, the
doctors thought I was doing much better. It wasn’t long before John came
wandering in and clapped his hands together as they swayed in front of
him.
“Shuro! Good morning, bud,” he said with a small smile.
“I was really conked out, huh?”
“You were,” John agreed. “Oh, before I forget again!” John went over to
the chairs where he had previously been sitting and retrieved a huge
stuffed bear I hadn’t been aware was there. It was caramel-colored, with
black shiny eyes and a large red bow sewn around its fluffy neck.
“I picked this up for you at the airport.” John extended his arms and
gave the bear to me. “His name is Mr. Bear.”
I took the bear and examined him, feeling his soft fur between my
fingers. “How creative,” I said to John with a smirk. I couldn’t help
but be grateful for all that John did for me. He left one of the
greatest cities in the world to wait in a murky old hospital for some
kid to regain consciousness.
“Thanks, John,” I said rather quietly, though I didn’t mean only for the
bear. I think he knew.
“Don’t mention it.”
The door to my hospital room opened slowly and John and I immediately
shifted to see who it was. The lack of urgency told us it wasn’t a nurse
or doctor. It was almost hesitant. A beautiful mocha-skinned woman in
her early thirties emerged soundlessly from behind the door and John
instinctively stood and approached her. She didn’t seem to notice John;
her eyes were fixed on me. She seemed full of relief and contentment.
“Shuro, you’re awake!” She came over and wrapped her arms around me. “I
mean, I knew you were because John told me while we were downstairs
having breakfast in the lobby but I just couldn’t believe it. You’re
doing so well! You are so fortunate.” She spoke at a hundred miles an
hour.
“So how are you feeling?” She asked with a smile. Her eyes were gazing
so far into mine I thought she might as well look right into my past and
watch the whole incident herself.
“Better,” I muttered and nodded.
“That’s wonderful. I can tell. You’ve regained a lot of color in your
face.” She gestured toward my cheeks.
We spoke for a bit more but then she stood and flattened her floral
skirt. John stood with his hands in his jean pockets.
“Oh! John, I almost forgot,” Emera started. “Barry called you at the
house yesterday. Something about a pre-court date you two had?”
John cursed and immediately took a look at his watch. “I was supposed to
be at his house forty-five minutes ago. And I had my phone turned off.”
He seemed pretty angry at himself. I hadn’t seen him like that in a long
time. I also took note that now he seemed rather stressed, like all his
thoughts about business and judges and court-dates just rushed back into
his mind from some sort of vacation.
“Sorry, I’ve gotta go. And I’ve gotta make it quick!” He yanked his coat
up from the chair and hung it over his arm, then took his car keys from
the back of his jean pocket and gave his wife a small peck on her lips.
“I’ll be back later,” he told us as the door swung open and he was gone.
Emera and I chatted back and forth about everything; their trip,
airplanes, my father in jail, the bear John gave me, until the sun
completely disappeared behind the straight line of the horizon beyond a
thousand city buildings. The artificial lights were now on, giving the
room a soft yellow golden glow which I wasn’t expecting from a hospital
room.
Emera sat a few feet away on a chair against the wall where John and Mr.
Bear had been. She seemed tired now, her eyelids heavy. Mine were too. I
sat on the edge of the bed with my legs hanging over the side.
“John loves you, you know.” I would have been caught off guard if we
hadn’t been previously talking about John and his work.
I didn’t know what to say to that so I remained silent.
“I mean, you should have seen him on the plane. I had never seen him
like that before… so nervous, so caught up in his thoughts... he
wouldn’t stop fidgeting. When he saw you here, out cold, he couldn’t
bare it. You looked dead.”
I eyed the ground, not saying a word.
“Shuro, I have never seen him so sad… Not since… Well, you know.” Her
eyes filled up with tears but they didn’t fall down yet. Her expression
didn’t change. She was a strong woman, I knew that.
“Emera, you don’t have to—” I started. I didn’t want her to go on. I
knew it hurt her too much to talk about the baby she and John lost.
“Please, Shuro, let me finish,” she said. She shifted so that her arms
were folded neatly over her lap. She didn’t look at me, but instead her
eyes wandered up to somewhere far off; perhaps her own memories. “When
we lost him, it was a horrible time for both of us. So much grief… so
many tears and sleepless nights. It pained me to see John that way,
because he was always so strong, just like me. We balance each other
out, see? And to see him in that state only weakened and saddened me
more. I thought we would never get to be happy or even laugh again. I
missed the days where we would stay up all night just goofing around.
They seemed centuries away.”
My eyes were starting to get just as misty as Emera’s now. I couldn’t
help it. My throat clogged up and I tried to swallow but it only hurt.
She sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand quickly then
continued. “But then he met you, only a year later, and everything
changed. I still remember the day he came home and told me about you. He
told me you were different and that you were really something and that
he was determined to help you, no matter what it took. He finally loved
something again, and for a moment I thought: ‘is this what it would be
like?’” She smiled through watery eyes and gazed at the floor.
I opened my mouth to say something to her, to comfort her, but nothing
came out.
After a while, she continued. “He also told me he felt attached to you,
like he should be protecting you from harm. And I could just tell, by
the tone of his voice and by the look in his eyes, that he had found the
meaning of hope again. It took a long time, but there it was, a faint
shimmer beneath his eyes, and I knew then that somehow everything would
be okay again.” A single tear rolled down her cheek and she wistfully
wiped it away.
I didn’t know what to feel. My limbs felt weak and my eyes were just
about to overflow but they didn’t. I found it hard to believe anyone
could feel that way about me. I was just some troubled kid with a messed
up past and nothing going for him in the future… wasn’t I?
After a few moments of utter silence she stood and walked over to me.
She ran a hand through my hair, pushing it back, and I looked up at her.
I had never been in the presence of someone so strong, so kind and
generous, so accepting, in my life. It was like with her very touch she
was letting you know nothing would ever go wrong again. God, Emera would
have made one hell of a mother.
“You should get some sleep,” she told me.
I had to agree. I was exhausted and didn’t know why. It was probably
only around supper time. I guessed it was the medication I was on that
made me so drowsy. I laid my head down on the pillow and she told me she
would be downstairs in the lobby. She turned the light out as she left.
The tears spilled out of my eyes now only because of the way I was lying
on my side. I reached up and wiped them away from my eyes. Mr. Bear was
at my feet and I couldn’t help but look at him and think of John. |
