Short Track Lovin' ✅

Chapter 52: A Long Wait

The trip to the care center did not last long as they were immediately transferred to Methodist Hospital of Indiana. Alan and Josh could only feel their hearts pounding harder with worry.

Once at the hospital, the pair found themselves in a waiting room with six sets of eyes staring them down – Sarina and Chase's parents. Alan takes a couple deep breath, and explained everything. He told them Chase's original confession, followed by the plan, and followed by how things played out.

"I should've done something," Sarina says quietly as she looks at the floor. All she could do is picture the conversation they had before the race by the car, with her noticing something was off. It was the same thing she noticed that morning when they woke up. Why hadn't she pushed him harder? "I knew something was off...."

"But you did nothing?" Cindy questions as she looks over. It didn't surprise her to be honest, though, considering this girl's history to date. For all we knew she had some connection to this mess as well, too. "Seriously, Sarina?"

"Cindy..." Bill warns as Cindy keeps her eyes focused on Sarina, not even listening to the words of her own husband at this point.

"I asked him if he was alright and he told me he was fine," Sarina answers. "I asked him more than once, Cindy. It wasn't like I just stood there and let this happen. I literally asked him last night, along with a couple times today. I thought maybe I was just off on radar, or something – I don't know. Maybe I should've pus-"

"Oh now you think of that..." Cindy comments as she sits back in the seat, having grown old of this repetitive process over and over.

"To be honest, I noticed something too," Bill admits, causing Cindy to look his way. "And to be honest, I asked and he said he was a little sick. I suggested that he tells the guys, and have a stand-by driver. I just thought it was a stomach bug. I could've never predicted this." Bill then looks straight at Cindy. "So before you chew up Sarina's ass for no reason, think about that. Besides, that's not what's important right now..." Cindy then sits back in the chair, crossing her arms.

"I just can't believe that we're sitting in a hospital once again not even a month later and he's fighting for everything that he's got...." A stray tear falls down her face and she quickly wipes it away. "I just want my baby to be okay..." Bill wraps an arm around her, pulling her close. He felt the emotions, wanting to let go a couple tears of his own, but knew once again he had to be strong for her.

"He will be, Cindy. No matter what..."

"Do you want anything?" Josh asks as he looks at Sarina and she shakes her head no.

"I just can't believe this...." She comments with a sigh. "We knew shit was still possible with her and Bethany running around, but yet we let it happen. I should've went with him to qualifying." It just added to the list of decisions that she had continued to keep screwing up one after another since they got together. Maybe it wasn't meant to be.

"It's not your fault," Alan assures her as he pats her shoulder. If anybody was going to shoulder some blame, he was about to take the biggest leap in knowing the most details. "To be honest, I screwed up, too, probably worse than any of you. I could see the symptoms right before me. I even suggested that we just throw the race totally and get him help. I should've done that. I should've never let him go through with this plan – no matter how clever Josh was in thinking it."

"He's right," Josh adds. "I mean, there's two hours there that we let it eat at him and make it worse. As they say, time is the most important in these situations – and we fucked up. We should've convinced him to tell the authorities, or to go about it another way."

"Are the guys okay?" Bill wonders, having heard about the bomb going off. He was actually surprised there hadn't been a rush of other individuals to the hospital with more traffic to deal with.