Running on Insulin

Chapter 4

Samantha's POV

I opened my eyes slowly. My head hurt. I looked around and saw I was in a hospital. I started to panic. Now Dad's really going to kill me. He complains enough about my doctor appointments and how much insulin and test strips cost above what his insurance pays. But hospitals cost a lot more.

There were two people sitting beside me. My vision was still a bit blurry. Not sure if it's from the headache or whatever made me pass out.

They spoke to me in such calming tones I knew it wasn't Dad. It was then I noticed there were also two police officers by my bed. And I got scared again. Every time the police had been called they couldn't do anything and I wound up getting beaten up by Dad for causing them to come to the house.

There was someone yelling from somewhere outside of where I was. Dad.

I saw the male cop smile.

"Goody. Now we have a charge of uttering threats," he said, smiling. I recognized the cop. He'd been called to our house a couple of times before. Dad had always sweet talked his way out of trouble. And me right into a beating.

"You're safe now, Samantha," he said. "I promise."

The two cops went to wherever Dad was having his tantrum.

"Hey, Samantha," the male voice beside me said.

"How do you know my name?" I asked, squinting at the person beside me.

"Your MedicAlert bracelet. The paramedics got your name from their dispatcher."

There was a woman with this person. I figured they were probably social workers.

"How are you feeling, sweetie?" The woman asked me. She sounded really nice. Too bad Dad would be able to use that to his advantage.

"My head hurts," I said.

"Do you want something for that? I can ask a nurse," she said. I nodded. She left.

"So, out for a run in the pouring rain?" The man asked. "Without a raincoat? Not the best of ideas on a night like tonight."

I didn't say anything. The less said the better. Social workers suck.

The lady came back and a nurse came with holding a small medicine cup and a cup of water.

"Here's a couple Advil. Let me know if your headache gets worse, okay?" She said. I nodded.

"And social services are coming. They're going to want to talk to you," she said again.

"Wait, aren't you two social services?" I asked the people beside me. The woman laughed. But she sounded nice. It wasn't a mean laugh.

"Oh sweetie. No. We're the people whose back yard you ran into and then passed out in. We came with you to make sure you weren't alone when you woke up. Tyler found you standing in our backyard like a deer in the headlights," her face dropped with sympathy. "He also heard what your, dad?, was yelling. And he didn't want him to come here and hurt you."

I was so confused.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Well, we don't know why you ran into our back yard, but you did, and when you passed out, Tyler brought you into our house. I was going to change you into dry clothes and when I took your sweatshirt off of you, I noticed your MedicAlert bracelet. You were breathing pretty shallow and you were pretty pale. So I checked your bracelet and we thought maybe your blood sugar was low. So instead of changing you, we covered you up with warm blankets and called 911. And we came with to make sure you were okay. As far as the nurse at the front knows, we're your aunt and uncle," she smiled.

"Knock, knock," a voice on the other side of the curtain said. A black woman poked her head around the curtain.

"Hi, Samantha. I'm Jane Simpson. I'm a social worker here at the hospital. Do you mind if we talk for a minute?"

"Whatever," I said.

"Do you mind if your parents step out of the room?"

"They're not my parents," I said.

"Oh. Then, I'm sorry. Who are you?"

"I'm Tyler. This is my wife Jenna. Samantha found her way into our backyard and passed out. We called 911 and had her brought to the hospital."

"And you came with? Why?"

"Because a random teenager passed out in my back yard. I wanted to make sure she was okay. I also heard her father yelling from our fence line that he was going to beat the shit out of her. And I wanted to try to protect her," Tyler said.

"Wow. That's, that's really nice of you. Do you mind if I talk to Samantha alone? And then I'll want to talk to the two of you," Jane said.

"I guess. We'll just be outside here, okay?" Tyler said. My vision was starting to clear. He looked kind of familiar.

Jane asked me a few questions about why I'd run out into a rainstorm, if I knew who Jenna and Tyler were before I landed in their backyard and if I'd come to them on purpose. She asked about my dad and if he had in fact threatened to beat me up. She asked if he ever had before. I told her everything. That I'd just blindly run to escape another beating and really didn't know where I was going. It was the backyard lights that had stopped me and no. I didn't know Tyler or Jenna. I just sort of... wound up there. And I didn't remember anything after I passed out until I woke up here.

Jane then went out and spoke with Tyler and Jenna, and then they came back. Total strangers and they stayed.

I was a bit sleepy and started dozing off. They didn't seem to mind.

I was shaken awake, gently, a while later. I rubbed my eyes and looked around. Tyler was still beside me. Jenna was in another chair, but also sleeping.

"The police want to talk to you again. You up for that?"

"Can you stay?" I asked.

"I think so," he said. He waved the police in. It was the same two cops from before. And Jane. Great. I knew what this meant.

"Samantha," Officer Davis said. "We've remanded your dad into custody. He's been charged with uttering threats, and child abuse, child endangerment and failing to provide the necessities of life."

"What does all that even mean? He gets a slap on the wrist and I get to go home and get beaten up when the hospital bill shows up?"

"No. It means your dad is going to jail. He'll be remanded in custody until his trial, unless he makes bail, but even if he does, you are not going back home. Unfortunately, that means we have to put you into foster care," he said.

"Wonderful. One abusive home to another," I said.

"Could she stay with us? We have the room. We're in a safe neighbourhood."

"We could get an emergency authorization, I suppose. The doctor says he plans on admitting Samantha overnight at least, and that will give me some time to run a background check on you two."

"Oh," Tyler smiled. "That's no problem. I have a bunch of those on file."

"Really?" Jane asked.

"Yeah. I sometimes get involved with unaccompanied minors at work. So I get a background check done every six months or so. That way, everything is on the up and up.  Jenna probably has one as well, but obviously we have no problem if you want to run another one.  We can give you a credit check, too if you want," Tyler said.

"Um, great. I'll be back in the morning to get some information from you so I can run those reports. If they're clear, and I suspect they will be, since you've been so forthcoming about getting those done, I can allow the hospital to release Samantha to you under an emergency authorization for foster care. You're sure?"

"We're sure," Jenna said, smiling at me. "Things happen for a reason.  I suppose we'll figure out what our reason for meeting is, hey Samantha?"

I smiled. I really hoped these two weren't nice on the outside and horrible behind closed doors. But then, they'd called an ambulance when I passed out on them, and had stayed with me. My own father had never spent a night in the hospital with me.