When We Were Young

Mwen Dwe Ale

Boss lady! What the hell happened last night?
TMZ posted pictures of Ben leaving your place

Why aren't you answering? Is everything okay?

I'm coming over.

Franklin's senses were telling him something wasn't right and that he needed to figure out where Sabrina was and why she wasn't responding. He left his apartment and ran to grab the nearest taxi. After getting tangled up in traffic on ninth, he reached her apartment building to find a crowd of people and an ambulance. His stomach dropped and he sprung from the cab to where the gawkers had gathered.

"What's going on?" He shouted.

Lots of shrugs and blank stares came from most of them; finally an older man spoke up and pointed to the ambulance.

"There's a young lady in there. I found her here on the sidewalk."

"Found her?"

"Yes," the man nodded. "She's pretty beat up. I hope she wakes up soon."

"Holy shit." Franklin's blood ran cold as he scrambled to the ambulance. He pounded on the closed door until an EMT finally opened it for him.

"Can I help you?"

"Is that...Sabrina?" His voice crackled as fear riddled his body. He didn't need an answer; his eyes caught a glimpse of her auburn hair, fuzzy from the rain and then the silver band she always wore on her left pointer finger. "I need to come with you." Tears flooded his eyes as he pleaded with the EMT.

"You can't come in the ambulance, sir. We are taking her to the hospital, you can follow in a taxi. Does she have family near here?"

Franklin nodded, backing away from the ambulance. He racked his brain, trying to untangle the chaos.

Grace! I need to call Grace.

"Does she have her cell phone on her?"

"No. No cell phone," the EMT replied.

Franklin dashed inside the building and fumbled to find Sabrina's apartment key on his key ring. Finally, he pushed his way inside and found her cell phone there, plugged in on the table. The unanswered text messages he'd sent were there along with a voicemail notification from Benedict. He disregarded it and found Grace's phone number instead and dialed it from Sabrina's phone.

"Good morning sweetheart--"

"Grace! It's Franklin...from the bookstore."

"Oh hello Franklin! What's--"

"Something's happened to Sabrina! There's an ambulance outside taking her to the hospital--"

"What!? What could have...I don't...is she okay?"

"I don't know anything yet, Grace but I'm going to get a cab and go straight to the hospital."

"We'll meet you there."

---

"You can't make a phone call now, mate."

"I just have to. I'll only be a second," Ben held up a hand, dismissing his manager. Disappointment washed over him as her voicemail message came on immediately.

"Hey, it's Sabrina. Wait for the beep, then say whatever you want."

Beeeeep

As his irritated manager and the flight crew glared at him, he pleaded with the woman that he loved more than anything in the world. He didn't know if she'd listen to his message, or if she'd even care about what he had to say. It didn't matter either way, at the very least he had to try.