Depths of a River

Chapter 42- The Hospital

The car came to a stop in front of the hospital's entrance. I got out and waved to the officer before he drove away. I walked inside and straight to the front desk. The lady stared at me with wide eyes, and I looked down to myself. I had Rodrique's blood on my arms, and my top was very dirty.

"I'm here to see Rodriquez Valdez. "I said to her.

"Can I offer you some clean clothes? You can wash up in one of our bathrooms. I know you have been through a lot of trauma." She said with caring eyes.

"Yes, please. Can I please see Rodrique?" I asked her again.

"Mr. Valdez is sleeping. We will wake him up as soon as you cleaned yourself, okay?" she said to me.

I nodded and followed her down the hall. She took a light blue shirt and pants from and closet and walked with it inside another door. She switched on the light to reveal a small bathroom with a shower and a bath. She sat down the clothes on the basin and closed the door behind me as she left. I opened the tap of the bath and took off my clothes as it filled up. My whole body was sore and shaking. There were blood and dust on my feet. I closed the tap when the bath was filled with enough water to cover my whole body. The water burned my skin as I slowly sank to the bottom of the bathtub, some places more than others. I washed my whole body and drained the water before I got out. I put on the blue clothes and walked outside.

The woman, that helped me, walked up to me again and said that I should follow her. She walked down the hall and into one of the rooms.

There were curtains covering the one half of the room and in the bed closest to the door, next to the wall lay Rodrique on a hospital bed. I walked up to him and touched his arm. He opened his eyes, and I saw a trace of a smile when he saw me. The woman had left when I looked back to the door to thank her. I looked back to Rodrique again.

The cut was covered, with a white bandage, in his neck. I climbed onto the bed and lay next to him with my arm around his waist.

"I'm so sorry." I said and felt the warm tears streaming down my face.

"It's fine. Everything is going to be fine. I can go home tomorrow." He said and put his arm around me.

We just laid there in each other's arms. Not one of us said anything, and I kept crying until I was all cried out and didn't have any tears left to cry. There was a small television built into the roof and a familiar movie was showing but I couldn't concentrate on it. We eventually fell asleep together.
I woke up to the nurses opening some of the curtains. I lift my head from Rodrique's chest and looked at him; he was staring at me and smiling. I sat upright and stretched my arms above my head.

"Morning." I said.

"Good Morning," he said back, and I saw a trace of a smile.

I climbed down from the bed and sat down on the chair against the wall. A nurse came in the room and walked over to Rodrique.

"Good morning Mr. Valdez, how are you feeling today?" she asked while writing something on a clipboard, not looking at him as she spoke.

"I am ready to go home, thank you." He said to her and looked over to me.

"Good. The doctor will see you shortly." She said before she left the room.

I looked around the room and saw the clothes that I wore the day before, washed and folded neatly on the bedside cabinet. I closed the curtain around Rodrique's bed and took off the blue outfit to put on the clothes that I wore the day before. Rodrique stared at me with a goofy smile. I frowned at him while putting on my clothes.

"You are the most beautiful person in the world." He said while still staring at my body.

I took my hair out of my top and let it fall to the one side of my head. I climbed back onto the bed and lay next to Rodrique again. My eye caught a familiar face on the small television in the roof. Rodrique grabbed the remote from the bedside cabinet and turned up the volume. They were talking about the incident that happened yesterday.

"GANG LEADER KILLED BY GUN SHOT." Flashed on the bottom of the screen while a photo of Duke's face came up.

The report said that there was a ton of drugs found around the premises. Two people fled, and one minor was caught and arrested. I buried my face under Rodrique's arm.

I didn't want to think about yesterday's events. I wished that it was a dream and none of it had happen, but it did and there was nothing I could do about it.

The doctor came to Rodrique and checked his blood pressure and sugar; everything was normal. He also removed the IV. The nurse came to us after the doctor left the room. She told me that I should look in the drawer, next to the bed, for Rodrique's clothes.

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