Top 10 - Diversity
Vidhi Patel has spent a large part of her childhood immersed in the world of politics. Now, after graduating from medical school and becoming a pediatrician, she has to make life-changing decisions. Get married and go down the pat...
I was startled from my small nap by the sound of the door opening and the sudden flow of people into the room.
"What's going on?" I inquired, directing my question to the closest nurse. Looking up from the chart, he answered,
"Mr. Favaro's heart rate spiked and has remained constant, so we are monitoring his vitals to see if we can begin taking him off the heavier medications before fully awakens."
Nodding, I moved out of the room to give them more space, only to run into his mother, her arms filled with various food containers, worry lining her face.
"Would you like some help, Gabrielle?" Nodding, she transferred some of the containers to my arms as I explained what was going on right now. When the first nurse exited, I asked how many people were allowed in as of now.
"As of now one, but give us a few minutes and we can arrange for space for a second to be created." Thanking him, I gestured for Gabrielle to go in and see him and offered to stay outside, waiting for the rest of Terrence's family to arrive.
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Terrence's POV:
Cold. Light. Occasionally beeping. Murmuring. I attempted to move my hands but was stopped by cool hands atop mine. Breathing deeply, I caught a whiff of the vanilla scent I could have noticed anywhere. Vidhi. Another concentrated breath led me to the scent of my mother's hazelnut gelato and marinara. Ah, what a way to wake up in a hospital room, two of the three most important women in my life beside me.
"Hey..." I trailed off, stopping when a soreness in my shoulder reminded me how and why I had landed myself in a crinkly bed under bright lights. As the drug-induced haze began to clear, the memories flashed, shots, silence, the standoff, more shots and the bomb smoke curling up above the massive high school.
My attempt to rise was met with resistance in the form of Vidhi's gentle hands and lines leading places I didn't want to think about. My face twisting in pain, I mumbled out, "How are the others? How many are..." Vidhi's face told me that despite my best hopes, there were people more than injured.
"Let's get you squared away first. I'll go get someone." My mother announced, sensing the words that needed to be said.
When she left the room, Vidhi began, "I'm waiting for the SWAT report before I tell you anything in regards to...yesterday. But I had something to ask you...," fidgeting, she continued,
"After today, I realized that there can be no more waiting around. I've lost so many people in shootings, but for once, it sunk in when I saw the same hallways I walked no longer standing and the people I've learned from dead because two men got access to bomb videos and guns. Then there's you, seeing you with a bullet wedged in your shoulder and the other almost clear through your back, crumbling to the ground. There are parts of my heart hurting that I didn't even know could." I looked up to see her eyes filled to capacity with tears, threatening to spill if she blinked.
