Suburb of Lies

Prologue

      Sinai

 I woke up from my nap and looked around so fast, I think I caught whiplash. When I noticed I was safe and sound in my bed, I let out a huge sigh of relief. I was going to go back to sleep until I heard my mother, Ariana , begin to scream like she had been stabbed. I jumped up, ran out to the kitchen where I knew she was, and searched for the problem. She was kneeling on the ground over what seemed to be a person, and the back door was wide open. I swore i saw a figure in black dash out. I looked down again, and I saw my older brother, Matthew, in complete agony. 

As I dialed 911, my mother yelled, "Michael, who did this to you?!"

All he could manage to get out was "Omar Morello," and he passed out. The paramedics had just burst through the door with a stretcher in hand. They loaded Matt onto the stretcher and told one of us to hop in the ambulance. I ran right ahead and told mom to follow us to Rilleview Hospital. 

The doors to the emergency room swung open, nearly hitting me in the face. I ran with the EMTs until we reached another set of doors, where a nurse jumped in front of me, stopping me in my tracks.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but you cannot go past these lines."

"NO! I will see my brother right now! GET OUT OF MY WAY!" I attempted with all the might in my five foot two body  to shoulder past her five foot nine frame, but it was useless. She simply pointed in the direction of the waiting room chairs, and I hung my head in shame as I walked right to the set of chairs against the wall. 

               It's been TWO WHOLE HOURS and I've heard absolutely nothing on my brother. He may be a prick, but I don't truly hate him...and what I said to him. I can't believe that nasty argument we had about thirty minutes before I saw him in a pool of his own blood. Let's not even get into that. Just know that a few of my last words for him involved me telling him to shove his cocaine fueled body into a ditch. Over the loudspeaker I hear, "Surgeon Emma Parker to OR fifteen,  prepared to complete surgery, as quickly as possible. Emma Parker to OR fifteen." No more than  three minutes later, I watched as a tall white lady zoomed past me, putting her hair up while running in the direction they had taken my brother.

Wait a minute.

Is that lady operating on my brother??

I ran after her, leaving all my belongings in the waiting room chair. She had incredibly long legs, so keeping up with this woman was a stroke and a half. But, nobody stopped me in my quest for answers this time.  As she burst into the OR, I ran in right behind her. Every nurse in the room looked at me as if I was a complete nincompoop, but i was too busy craning my neck to see if my brother was on that table. Just as I got a good look, a nurse had swept me off of my feet and onto his chiseled shoulder. Kicking, screaming, and pounding the nurse's chest to no avail. He didn't set me down until we had returned to the waiting room. He shot me a dirty look and stalked off back to OR fifteen, leaving me in the waiting area to sulk, cry, and as unhelpful and unproductive as humanly possible.

I don't know why I'm still leaving y'all in this portion of the story, knowing exactly how we got here would clear things up. So let's clear things up, shall we?