Jesse
NOW
I’ve gotten up to stretch my legs no less than twenty times since they took Fia back an hour ago. In the bathroom, I splash my face with water, purple circles forming under my green eyes. My stubble has grown in, and I feel as crap as I look, but Penny is going to be here any moment, and I have to hold it together for her.
When I told her I knew Fia was going to be fine, I actually meant it. Sheisstrong as hell. But that doesn’t erase the worry lingering in every corner of my mind.
Just an hour ago, I was crawling into the back of the ambulance with the EMTs, eyes glued to Fia. Her red hair was coming out of her ponytail, wrapping around her face, and it felt like I failed her.
Big brothers are supposed to protect, right?
“What’s going on?” I asked the medic twice, trying to make my body small and stay out of the way as they administered a shot.
Blood sugar’s dangerously lowis all I heard, and I stared helplessly at Fia’s pale face as she stirred, near tears of relief when her eyes fluttered open. She was groggy, but there was barely time to explain anything before they rushed her into the ER.
I exit the bathroom in no less of a daze and decide on a second cup of shitty coffee.
As I’m waiting at the vending machine to fill my small paper cup, emptying granola bar wrappers from my pockets—my dinner—a small blonde tornado flies by. The machine finishes sputteringout the hot brown coffee just in time for me to spin around and call out to her.
Black streaks stain Penny’s face as she clutches the counter at reception, her pink sweater bright in this beige waiting room. The small woman at the counter meets her with an apathetic expression. Penny’s chest heaves up and down.
I glance at my watch. There’s no way she got here this quickly without doing a hundred.
“My sister is here…Fia Hanson…I need to see her,” she stutters out, and the woman starts rifling through papers, but I swoop in, resting a hand on Penny’s shoulder.
She jolts but looks up, and her face scrunches. Penny throws her arms around my shoulders, leaning all of her weight on me.
I pull her into my chest and nod at the receptionist.
“Let’s sit…” I murmur into her hair, holding her hand and leading the way to the green vinyl chairs. My limbs are restless, but I’m afraid that if I don’t get her to sit, she will run laps around this place, or bust the doors down to locate her sister herself.
“Sit, Penny,” I instruct, and she does. I hand her my black coffee, and she takes a sip, eyes glazed over. She drinks half the cup before breathing.
She hates black coffee—that’s how I gauge her level of distress.
I’m almost afraid to ask if her car made it here in one piece. Pretty sure there’s a chance that if I went outside right now, it’d be parked on the sidewalk.
Chaos stirs around us, but I focus on her, holding her hand in my lap.
“We’ll find something out any minute,” I whisper, and it’s not a lie, but a hope.
She leans on me as I wrap my arm around her, feeling the softness of her sweater, of her hair. I hate seeing her red-rimmed eyes.
She grips the white cup, gulping the remaining coffee, and turns to me, sniffling. “Tell me everything, from the beginning.”
Exhaling, I recap what happened, leaving my fears and dramatics out of it. Just facts.“I came home from the shelter, walked in, and Fia was lying on the floor next to the kitchen sink. She was on her side, she didn’t land on her stomach, not that I could tell.”
Penny nods, and I don’t even think she notices her fingers digging into my arm.
“Tank was lying next to her, pawing her. He knew something was wrong.” I scrub my jaw, my five o’clock shadow pricking my palm. “She texted me a few minutes prior, telling me she was going to take him for a walk, so she wasn’t out long.”
Penny isn’t talking, so I squeeze her hand.
“The medic said she had a small cut on the back of her head, might’ve hit it on the counter. She was breathing, so I didn’t move her, in case of a neck injury. Paramedics were there less than five minutes later. I rode in the ambulance with her, and they gave her a glucagon shot for low blood sugar, and she was becoming alert when we got here. They rushed her back immediately.”
Penny drops her face into her hands.“I can’t lose another sibling.” She sobs into her hands, and I pull her in tighter.
Just then, the doors open and out walks a nurse, searching the faces until she sees me. She nods, and I nudge Penny.
