Le's Soldier

Part 38

(Tommy POV)

The call came at 8:42 p.m.

I remember the time because I kept staring at it on my phone like it was wrong. Like numbers could lie.

8:42.

Lilly had texted me at 6:15.

Going out. Don't burn the house down.

I'd sent back a middle finger emoji.

That was the last normal moment.

⸻

The Call

It was Katie who answered.

Her voice changed immediately.

You learn people's fear sounds after enough years around them.

"Hello?" she said.

Pause.

"...What?"

I looked up from the couch.

Her face had gone white.

"No, she's here with me," she said. "What happened? Is she okay? Where are they?"

Another pause.

Then: "We're coming."

She hung up slowly.

For a second, she just stood there.

Then she looked at me.

"Tommy..."

My stomach dropped before she even said it.

"What?" I asked. "What happened?"

Her voice cracked.

"There was a shooting. Lilly got hit. They're taking her to Royal."

Everything inside me went cold.

⸻

The Drive

I don't remember grabbing my keys.

I don't remember the traffic lights.

I just remember Katie's hands shaking in the passenger seat, her phone clutched so tight her knuckles were white.

"She'll be okay," I said automatically.

Katie didn't respond.

"She's survived worse," I added.

Still nothing.

That scared me more than anything.

Because Katie always argued.
Always reassured.
Always pushed back.

Silence meant she was imagining the same thing I was.

⸻

The Hospital

Emergency departments at night are too bright.

Too loud.
Too clinical.

We pushed through the doors, the smell of antiseptic hitting immediately.

"Excuse me," Katie said to the front desk, voice trembling. "We're here for Lilly—she was brought in after a shooting."

The nurse typed quickly.

"Family?"

"Yes."

Another pause.

"She's in surgery. Gunshot wounds. They're working on her now."