Bella
I did not remember how we got to the hospital.
One moment I was screaming in the blood-filled street, my hands shaking as I held onto my mother’s bloodied shoulders, and the next I was running through bright white corridors that smelled of antiseptic and something metallic and cold. Darrell was beside me the entire time. I don’t remember grabbing his hand, but at some point my fingers had locked around his sleeve as if he were the only solid thing left in the world.
They let me see her.
She was so pale.
Machines surrounded her. The steady beeping was the only thing convincing me she was still here. I rushed to her bedside, my knees hitting the metal rail as I leaned over her.
“Mom,” I whispered, but it came out broken. “Mom, I’m here. I’m here.”
Her eyelids fluttered slowly, h
