Lies You Tell (DE)

49.

CONTINUED..

" We're here Grace look, please look," 

Joseph sat with his head in his hands, pulling his own hair as images of Graces limp body in his arms kept flashing in his mind.

" Please don't let me die,"

The sound of the fear in her voice kept ringing in his ears.

Joseph shook his head rapidly as if that would physically remove the thoughts from his mind and rid him of the mental torture. After entering the hospital, they failed to learn any new information on Graces condition and were told to just take a seat in the waiting room.

Emily, Nia, and Prie all sat together consoling one another while Joseph took a seat next to them and Dre a few seats down by himself. Upon hearing Dre decided Pries beloved child hood friends fate, she couldn't even look him in the eye anymore but that was water under the bridge compared to what was going on now, all Prie cared about was her sister.

There was an eerie silence that filled the waiting room, everyone immersed in their own loud thoughts.

Emily looked over at Joseph who stared straight ahead at the wall barely blinking. He hadn't shed not one tear since all of this happened but you could see the amount of distress on his face. Emily could tell he was one of those types of men that didn't show very much emotion, if any at all.

" Joseph baby," Emily said softly, touching his tattooed hand that gripped the arm chair tightly.

Emily knew that besides Dre, Grace was all Joseph had. She remembered how it felt to lose the man she loved the most in the whole world, the physical aching pain it caused her heart. The way it made her knees buckle and suck the air right out of her lungs when she found out. She'd never felt such a strong pain in all her life, not even child birth compared to the feeling of losing the one she loved the most because that pain never went away.

It still hurt, to this day..

He wiped his hand over his face and looked over at her with tired eyes. She opened her arms for him and gave him a mom hug— one of those hugs your mom would give you when you felt like everything was falling apart but would instantly be fixed with that one affectionate gesture. Emily could feel him relax in her arms as she rubbed his head.

" She's going to be okay, I know my baby, I can feel it," Emily said softly. " She loves you too much to leave you,"

Joseph sat back up, clenching his jaw as the events continued to play over in his mind. " I shouldn't have ducked," He finally spoke for the first time in an hour. " I didn't protect her like I promised,"

Emily shook her head holding up her finger as she tried to fight tears. " Don't do that Joseph, this isn't your fault," She said sternly. "I know you would've protected her if you could. You didn't know that was going to happen,"

Except he did. He knew something was bound to come back to him, he just didn't think Grace would be caught in the middle. Every action has a consequence, that's the way life worked and he was ready for what was to come to him, but he wasn't ready for this.

Everyone was going to feel Joseph for what had been done today. He was going to put an end to everything once and for all after this. None of Uniques blood line was going to live to tell any type of story, not even his granny.

" Family of Grace Jones," an attendee said softly, as she came into the waiting room wrapping her stethoscope around her neck.