Fire & Desire // 21 Savage

XVIII (Part I)

M E R C E D E S

"We gotta move, fast!" Was all I heard as doctors was moving a random body in a stretcher in this hospital

I sat down in the lobby with my head in my hands, this was too much, this happened too fast, this was too crazy. And this was all my fault.

I had sat in this hospital for over 13 hours without even moving a muscle. I didn't have the strength to. I didn't want to either.

"Still nothing?" I asked as I seen August come from outside

"They still won't let me back there" he responded without any emotion "It should have been me"

"Don't say that, things happen, Aug" I said, comforting him "it could've been anyone"

"He didn't deserve this, he was- was too much of a decent human in this fucked up world" he said through gritted teeth

We had sat in silence until I heard a familiar voice ring through the halls of the very busy hospital. Mrs Jones.

"And they still won't let-" she stopped as she seen me sitting in the lobby. "Mercedes. Baby," she ran towards me and gave me a hug "I haven't seen you since you left off"

"I know Mrs Jones but I'm doing much better" I lied

"Honey that's good to hear, what brings you down to the hospital at this time?" She asked

"Um-" I didn't have the heart to tell her "it's um-"

"Is it?" She asked me and I nodded

"Please tell me you know something, anything." She said to me as her pleading eyes met mine

I sighed "I-I really don't know how to put this whole puzzle together, Tanya" I said as I stared down at my feet

"Please" she said, her voice in a whisper, you could tell she had been crying. "I did not sit my ass down on a  fourteen hour flight to stand here and for you to know something and not tell me now"

I took a deep breath "Anthony knows my stepbrother, August, and a week ago August got jumped by these guys that Anthony mess with and when they jumped August they took some of his belongings and so we all went to the boss of who jumped him party last night and things just didn't go planned, they shot Anthony"

"Oh, god" she gasped

"I'm so sorry Mrs. Jones" was all I could say

"I knew it. I knew he couldn't be up here with all the crime rates. It was sooner or later he'd be caught up in it"

As I was about to say something, August walked up to us and handed me a water bottle "You haven't drank nothing all day. I'm about to stop by Burger King down the street. Want something?"

I shook my head "I'm okay"

He nodded "Imma get you a whopper meal" he said and jogged out the door

As August left out the door, Savage and a few others walked in, walking in the direction of the front desk. "Excuse me" I told Mrs Jones as I walked in their direction

"They are not gonna see y'all so you might as well sit down" I said to Savage as he just stared down at me "What?"

"You look fucked up" he said "nah like forreal. You good?"

I sighed "I don't know you tell me, Y'all put me up to this and if I would've just said no, then he wouldn't be laying up in this hospital right now"

"It's not your fault" he said "Shit happens"

"Now you sound like August" I turned facing the other way

Savage looked around the room "Where is August?"

"Burger King" I said coldly

"Forreal?" He said digging in his pockets, pulling out his phone

"What are you doing?"

"Shit. Callin him to tell him to bring me something" he said as he was dialing

"Tell him to bring me that new crispy chicken sandwich with a vanilla smoothie" Uzi said

"Are y'all serious?" I asked

"What?" Uzi asked

"This is not the fucking time" I said "y'all need help"

"We need help cause we hungry?- Aye Aug" Savage said as he walked away

I shook my head while everyone shrugged. These people really have no feelings. Eating while someone is shot in the hospital bed.

"Family for Anthony Jones" I heard a female doctor call. I sped walked down to her where I saw Mrs jones and Uzi and Yachty followed closely behind me

"Is this all of the family?" She asked making Mrs. Jones turn around to take a quick look at us and back around "Yes"

"Okay" she started "it's just that we think it's always best to have the whole family around before sharing news as vital as this"

Mrs Jones eyebrows furrowed. "What news?"

The doctor sighed heavily as she opened the Manila folder she held in her hands. She shuffled some papers around, stopped, then removed a pair of glasses from the pocket of her white coat and gently placed them on the bridge of her nose. "Mrs Jones, your son was shot, and the bullet entered and remained lodged into the very edge of his lower right spinal cord. We performed a few surgeries, ran some tests......" the doctor paused here. The two second pause felt like years to me, I held my breath in order to brace myself for what was to come next. "Mrs Jones, I thoroughly regret to inform you that due to the events that happened last night, your son is now a paraplegic"

The room froze. Mrs Jones clinched her chest and I looked up at the docor with disbelief.

"Anthony is paralyzed from the waist down and will need the proper medical assistance from now on so that"

Everything spoken after that was instantly blocked by the sorrow that had begun to enter my mind. A bunch of what if's. What if I had waited for him to come downstairs with me, what if I made him come downstairs with me, what if I never agreed to be their 'distraction', what if we all had never gone to the party at all.

"Tanya, I'm so sorry this happened to Anthony" was all I could say to Mrs Jones, nobody should have to hear this news about their own child, no matter who it is or what they've done.

"It's fine baby, better than the boy being dead. I just wish he would've listened to me! He had a bright future with football but he ended up being a victim to the streets, the only person you should be blaming is me, I raised him, I should've been there for him more"

I shook my head "But you have always been there for him Tanya, he was good at football, but he chose this life for himself, I'm not saying this is good, but I hope it's a good wake up call for him you know, to know that he's still here for a reason and it could've been worse like death, but it's not. Don't blame yourself though, at the end of the day you did the best you could for him"

After that Mrs Jones gave me a hug. "I love you, Mercedes, like a daughter, you've been with Cheyenne until she saw her last day and you've stayed by Anthony's too. Now I mean this, if you need anything, and I mean anything, I'm here, you hear me?"

I nodded as she gave me a peck on the cheek and soon enough walked away with the doctor talking to her about Anthony's new condition.