The Changed

Chapter 10- Katherine

    I watch as they wheal my baby into the surgery room. I don't know what they're gonna do to her, something the doctor forgot to tell me. All I know is that they are doing something big, and that the surgery is estimated to take up to 5 hours to complete. I don't know if I can wait that long to see my baby again.

    Already I can feel the guilt setting in. I could've prevented this. I could've taken her to school instead of making get on that stupid bus. Any other mom would've done that. But no, I just had to make her walk to the bus every morning while I stayed at home, sipping my tea and watching soap dramas on T.V. Doesn't help that the last thing I did to her was shove her.

    And because of my not-so-great-a-momness, now my beautiful baby is in the hospital, getting a five hour long surgery. Maybe she should've just gone and lived with her dad after the divorce...

    Her Dad. It occurs to me that he doesn't know any of this. He doesn't know what happened to my baby. Our baby. Not like he cares though, he's in freaking Canada! Hasn't cared to come see her, or me, in nearly seven years! I mean, that's a clear sign he doesn't want to be in our lives, right?

   I still figure I ought to call him. After all, no matter how sucky a father he is, he's still her father. He deserves to know that his baby's been hurt. I just hope that he comes to see her, for her sake, not mine. I don't ever want to have to be in the same room as him again. But I'll have to.

   So I walk back into the waiting room. I'm surprised when I find Amy's friend, Dan, sitting in a chair with his head on his hand, half asleep. I almost feel touched. This boy is sleeping in this dank waiting room for my daughter. My heart warms. I walk towards his almost sleeping form, and when I get to him, I whisper some gentle words, and put my jacket that was tied against my waist around his shoulders.

   I then walk to the other corner of the room and dial Amy's father's phone number into my phone. I hit the call button.

***

    Her dad arrived in the late morning the next day. I still haven't seen Amy, all I know is that she has returned to her room, and is no longer in surgery. The doctor has still neglected to tell me what they did in surgery.

    Being with her dad is like hell, like I suspected.