me & tomfoolery

Contained pt. 6 | Mikal Bridges Short Story

Stress was an understatement. Mikal set up the camera for the third time and somehow he just couldn't get it right. Overworked and just needing to talk, he took the phone off the stand and held it.

"Hey y'all, I hope y'all are staying safe out there. It's been a rough couple of days. Asking for y'all to get tested periodically, even if you don't have symptoms. If you encounter someone sick or been around someone who recently gotten sick, get tested. Also asking for prayers right now. Flo needs the encouragement right now and due to her immune system and the baby, she's in the hospital. They're working around the clock to make sure that they're both okay. Just be safe y'all and I'll update you again when I can."

After posting the video, he made his way out the door and back to the hospital.

"How is she doing?" Jana asked making sure her face was double masked. She arrived an hour after Mikal did.

Flo tried to avoid it, it was inevitable. Everyone around her had a job and now they were stepping up to make sure her and the baby were loved and pushing for healthiness. Her mother, Angela was on the other side of the country again and that left her and Mikal. Between that time, Flo started to feel ill. After three days she was rushed to the hospital and now Mikal stood in another room monitoring her because they couldn't be in the same space.

"They won't say."

It drove him crazy to be so helpless in this situation, months ago this wasn't his life. There was a sense of buyers remorse he couldn't shake, he wasn't allowed to feel this way. Having his life flipped upside down but having large pieces of joy dropped off that he wouldn't have imagined.

This was tough.

"They're going to be okay." Jana reassured. Mikal believed it too, but emotionally it was a lot to carry.

The ringing of his phone brought him out of his thoughts. His mother was calling. This he was thankful for. Excusing himself, Mikal found an empty hallway to talk.

"Hey ma."

"Hey son, how is everything?" She cautiously asked. She didn't want to just ask about Flo and the baby, she didn't want to simply ask about him. Her stance was allowing him to share what he felt in his heart.

"Ma I'm honestly falling apart. She not even breathing on her own." He admitted. Right now Florence was breathing through tubbing and that apparently as the upside. The downside would've been a coma. 

"I'll be there in two hours."

Nothing was like a mother's love, nothing.

••••

Laying in complete stillness, somewhere in the world Flo laid, trying to figure it all out. Even in the dream world she was in, she was tired.

I wonder what Sonny is doing? Did that man remember to feed my baby?

Her thoughts were all over the place. All she wanted was to eat and specifically a grilled burger but now wasn't the time for that. At most, she would get a dried out Turkey and gravy with mash meal and that would be that. 

Just the other day they were discussing baby names and laying on the couch and then it seemed like overnight, she would cough with every movement. She couldn't eat because of it. Her body riddled with chills and once her skin started to pale, Mikal had enough and rushed her to the hospital.

She was grateful he wasn't sick. All she needed now was to Will herself up for their child. Immune compromised finally got her in the place she hated the most.