Everything around me was a blur. I felt like fainting. I feel walls closing in on me, then I see his face.
"Clo, don't black out on me, now. I need you here, Clo. Please."
That was all I needed to snap back to reality.
"Everything is alright, little Chloe. No one is dying in front of you anymore if you just help her."
"Is she still alive, Rod?"
"Yes, Clo clo. Please. Call 911."
I can't stop pacing here in the waiting room. I feel so useless. What if she doesn't survive? What if she already lost too much blood? Oh my gosh. She'll die for sure.
"Clo, she's going to be alright. We brought her just in time, okay? The doctors know what to do."
"I just can't stand another death that would happen before my eyes, Rod. After my dad..... I just can't handle it anymore, Rod."
"Shhhhh, it's going to be alright, little princess."
Rod kept on patting me on my back, comforting me and whispering words of assurance. It always felt like this with him. It felt like home, safe and sound, secure from all the dangers in this world.
The doors of the emergency room opens and the doctor in scrubs talks to us.
"Are you relatives of the patient?"
"No, sir. We just saw her on our school grounds full of blood and brought her here."
"Is she alright, doc?"
Rod and I say almost simultaneously.
"She's stable now, but she's in state of trauma."
"Can we see her, doc?"
"Of course. If you can, please ask her her name and if she has relatives nearby, so we can tell them."
We enter the room. As all the rooms in this hospital, it's walls are all white, has a bed for the patient, and smells like how every hospital smells, like medicine.
I remember that day when we rushed dad to the hospital, I was so shocked that I watched it all in a blur, the only things registering through me were the white walls and the strong smell of medicine that seems to linger in every hospital.
The girl was staring at the ceiling, unblinking. She doesn't seem to have noticed us entering but she turned her head as we stopped at the side of her bed.
"Hi. I'm Chloe and this is Rodrigo. What's your name?"
She just stared at us and I swear I am getting creeped out at every second that I might bolt right now if it weren't for Rod's hands keeping me in place.
"We were the ones who brought you here to be taken care of after we saw you at our school's garden. How did you end up there?"
She stared at Rod, fear creeping into her eyes that it was brimming with unshed tears.
"Hey, don't cry. You're alright. No one's going to hurt you. We're here. We'll protect you. You're safe with us. We promise."
"Yeah. No one's here to hurt you."
"Promise?" She croaked, her voice barely audible that you would think she never spoke at all.
"Promise." Both of us said immediately.
The girl's name was Aishia. Her parents were dead and her uncle took her in when they died. She ran away because her uncle had defiled her in the middle of the night. He was drunk and threatened to kill her if she didn't obey. He strapped her on the bed and gagged her mouth so she doesn't make too much noise. Luckily, her uncle's drunk knotting wasn't that tight that when she thrashed for a bit, the knots loosened and that gave her a chance to break free. On the way out though, her uncle spotted her and slapped her hard that her face now had a hand-shaped bruise. She punched his nuts after recovering from the slap and while he was doubling over in pain, she made a dash for her life and somehow ended at our school's garden.
"I see. So, calling her uncle is out of the question. She needs to file a case against him, though. Did she mention any other relative?"
"No, doc. She didn't say anyone else. Presumably, she's all on her own, now."
"Hmmm."
I look around the doctor's office. Books were stacked behind him, all about medical stuff, like bacteria and the human body and whatnots. He also had lots of paper on his desk, not a single memorabilia or photo of any kind found on it. The walls were also white and still has that hospital smell.
"Hey, Aishia, could you please turn on the A/C? It's way too hot in here."
"Sorry about that, ladies."
"Oh, shush it, Rod. Keep your humbleness in check, please."
Aishia giggled way too loudly that caused Rod and me to look at her pointedly.
"You two look cute together," she said in her cute little voice.
"Are you both a couple? I won't be surprised if you are."
"NO!"
Both of us looked at each other, shock evident on our faces. How could this little girl say something like that? My goodness. I'd rather die than fall for this narcissistic guy!
"Hmmm. You'll soon be."
And with those last words, she sauntered off going on her merry way.
"Oi, Aishia! What do you mean we'll soon be?!!!"
But she just kept on skipping on the steps going to the second floor of my house, prancing like a deer on a meadow, smiling widely like she knew something we didn't.
