Playing Hard to Get (August Alsina Story)

Like You'll Never See Me Again

I don't wanna forget the present is a gift
And I don't wanna take for granted the time you may have here with me
'Cause Lord only knows another day is not really guaranteed
-Alicia Keys

°August°
I sat in the waiting room anxious ta' see what's going on with Camila, I been hea' along with Lani, Ty, ha' Pops, Mom and Jamie all night long. Still no word.
We were all restless and scared, my heart dropped when I was told what happened ta' my babeh.
I tried ta' sit down, but my nerves was to bad so I continued ta' pace back and forth.
Lani had a magazine in front of her but hadn't read a word from it. She was burning holes in the cold tile floor instead. Ty sat beside her not knowing what to do. He tried to hold her but she only pushed away, so instead he gently rubbed her back.

Her mom, Carla sat alone crying silently while her dad and Jamie tried to piece together how a night of trying to make peace turned so bad.

I looked down at my phone. My mama hit my line, "I prayed for her Aug. I love you and always remember, When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles."
-Psalm 34:17 She said.

Out of all the text I'd received tonight this one made my eyes water cause I had prayed for ha' too. Knowing my mama was there fa' me was like food to my soul.
I looked over at Lani, her fixed gaze wasn't on the floor but now somewhere else, I followed her eyes and they landed on a thin, little older lady with a short haircut. She walked towards us with a clipboard in her hands.

"The family of Camila Smith?" She asked us.
We nodded and held our breaths as we waited for the news.

She looked at us with sorrow in her eyes, "It wasn't looking to good when she came in here, she's on some strong medicine at the moment and is asleep, but for the most part she's fine."

We all exhaled.
"How is she doing? Is she OK?" Her dad asked.

"The xrays revealed that she does have a few broken ribs, collapsed lung, a broken ankle and a few scratches here and there, also an lacerated spleen. We're running test to make sure there's no internal bleeding anywhere."

"When can we see ha'?" I asked the nurse.

She looked at the clipboard and back at us. "You can see her now, but she won't be awake anytime soon."

"We just wanna see her." Her dad took the words out my mouth.

"OK, but before we go any further I do want to let you know that she might not be the same person she was before."

"Are you implying memory loss? Lani spoke for the first time

The nurse nodded.
"That and some of her body functions may be off. "She took a really bad blow to the head."
-

I stepped into the room after the family. I heard Lani take the biggest gasp of breath and knew it didn't look good.
"I can't do this." She said as she ran out the room tears streaming down her face.
Ty went after her.
I stepped further into the room and walked over to Camila.

Her gorgeous face was completely swollen and bruised, she had a bandage on the top right corner of her forehead. Different machines, wires, and tubes ran wild. It was all to much to take in and I went back to the corner of the room, trying to keep my emotions in check.

I watched as her dad touched her hair as he stood over her, breathing heavy and blinking his eyes, trying to fight back the tears like everyone else.
He bent down kissing her swollen cheek.

My lip trembled uncontrollably as I gathered myself together and walked to her bedside, I noticed a feeding tube in her.
This shit was serious.
She looked like she was in so much pain and I hated that.

I didn't want to touch her, I was afraid that if I did the wrong thing something bad would happen to her again.
The door opened and the same nurse came in.
"I hate to have to do this to you guys, but your time is up."

"What?" Her dad said.

"I'm sorry, but we will be running a lot of test on her and its best that no one be in the room." She said.

"I'm not leaving this fucking room. My daughter is fighting for her life. We waited all night to know how she was doing and now after finally getting to see her you want us to just up and leave after seeing her like this? I don't want her to be alone......I want her to know I'll never let anything bad happen to her ever again, I have to be by her side when she wakes up. Please!" He cried.

"I'm going to have to call security if you refuse to leave." She said sternly.

"Come on. You don't need that type of drama right now." I said to him.

He looked at Camila one last time.
"Daddy will be here baby. I love you." He touched her one last time before storming out.

I took a deep breath, "God gotcha' babeh, I promise." I kissed her nose as a tear escaped.

"We'll call you guys first thing tomorrow when she wakes up. I really don't want to do this to guys. I've been in this same situation before." The nurse said to me.

I wiped my face and nodded, "I understand its ya' job. Just take care of ha' please."