My mind races as I wait in the drive through of Wendy's. I hope Cuba is okay. It's been almost four days since she went missing. Berlin doesn't want to be home with bout her so she's been staying at my apartment. When I arrive at my house Blossom is sitting in my living room with Berlin.
"Any news?" Blossom asks as I sit on the other couch. "Nothing yet." Misty comes over and licks my hand. I give her a French fry and she gladly gobbles it up. Even the pup hasn't been the same, she's less energetic. "God What is..." my phone rings and I rush to answer it. "We may have something." The detective says inter the phone. "We'll be right over." Berlin runs to put her shoes on and I grab the keys off the table.
Blossom offers to drive because my hands were shaking so bad. When we get to the station I see Cuba's mom sitting in the lobby. "Ms. Parker." She looks up and her face is full of tears. "I just flew in from Puerto Rico." I give her a hug as she cries. "They've been everything they can." I hear Berlin say to her. She lets go of me and turns to her.
The detective comes out and I'm the first to see her. She pulls me to the side and whispers, "I think we know where they went." My heart starts to race. "We've been tracking phone calls between two burner phones. The connection seems to come from the mountain ranges." Berlin made her way over to us as the detective finished her sentence. "The mountains?" The detective nods. She leads all of us to the back room and tells us to wait there.
My nerves are on a never ending roller coaster ride. "She's going to be fine." Ms. Parker places her hand on mine. Somehow the woman who's child is missing is stronger then me. "I know." Berlin picks at her nails as we wait. "It's been almost two hours." I look over at her and she frowns. "They'll let us know soon." I say more to convince myself.
The door opens and a male officer walks in. "They found her. They are bringing her to first priority hospital. I'll escort you." We jump up and scurry behind the officer. As he leads us through traffic I can't help but smile because I'm about to see my girl again. When we pull up to the hospital the officer wastes no time showing us to her room. There's a nurse outside her door when we arrived.
"You will have to be quiet. The patient is in a medically induced coma. There was brain damage and lots of superficial cuts. The marks on her back however are still being investigated." We all nod and then the nurse lets us in her room. I see her asleep in the bed and they had her on her side. I walk to her and choose to see her face first. I forget how to breath as I take in her bruised face. The anger boils up inside of me. She has a bandage on her arm and another one on her thigh.
A detective joins us in the room. "The wounds I'm about to show you are hard to look at." He slips on a pair of gloves. "The one on her thigh was made with a scalpel. They ingraved the word 'whore' on her leg." He carefully removes the bandage on her leg. Her mom gasps and grips onto my arm. I feel bile raise in my throat but fight against it. "You said they... who is they?" Berlin asks. "A Katrina Salgado and Michael Drow." Berlin looks at me and I already know she thinks the same thing.
He moves on to her arm and the word 'nothing' is hidden under the bandage. When he moves to her back it seems like he took forever to remove the bandage. There were five rips in her back and that's when I couldn't stay in there any longer. I ran out of the room and out of the hospital. My heart felt like it was going to explode and I felt sick to my stomach. I sit on the curb and hang my head in my hands.
I don't know how long I stay like that. When I head back inside her mom and Berlin are getting ready to go. "I'm gonna stay here." I say to them. I give them a hug and see them off. I return to Cuba's room and sit in the corner. I watch nurses and doctors come in and out of her room all night long. I'm still awake when her mom returns in the morning.
"Word of what happened to her got out. The tabloids are going crazy." I sigh and look at the floor. My mind won't stop racing and I feel like this is my fault. Her mom must know what I'm thinking because she places a hand on my shoulder. "Mijo stop blaming yourself. The people that did this were sick." I thank her and walk over to her daughter. "The doctor said he's going to wake her up today. I'm gonna go home. I don't think she wants to see me." I place a kiss on her forehead and turn to leave.
Her mom stops me. "Come back. You don't have to come inside but come back." I nod and walk out the door. I shuffle down the road and stop at the coffee shop on the corner. I sit inside and sip on the bland drink. It starts to rain and I think about how this fits my mood. My phone rings and I ignore it, it rings again so I look at who's calling. "What Blossom?" "Is she up?" I want to scream at Blossom and tell her to lay off but I don't. She's Cuba's friend and it wouldn't be fair. "I'm not sure." "What do you-" "I left about 45 minutes ago. I didn't think she would want to see me." I hear blossom sigh. "Tae.. your overthinking it. Your probably the one person she wants."
My mind says otherwise and I feel myself getting mad all over again. "I gotta go." I hang up before she can say something else. I pay for the nasty coffee and make the 25 minute walk to my apartment. I try to sit on the couch and get myself together but all I could see was red. The next hour or so was a blur and I don't remember how it happened. When I was calm I noticed I destroyed my whole living room.
"Fuck me." I say aloud as I begin to pick up the mess I made. Once I was done I went and took a shower. I threw on the purple shirt that Cuba loves and some black jeans. I grab my purple and black 1's and then put on a beanie. I stick my house keys in my pocket and make my way down to my car. I stop at the flower shop and pick out a single daisy. It's her favorite.. I smile to myself as I pay. I drive to the hospital and sit in the parking lot for about 20 minutes.
"Relax you got this. Just be nice and timid." I step out of the car and grab the flower. I make my way inside and to her room. I hear laughter inside and I hesitate to walk in. What if she doesn't want me there? Oh god. I groan and sit on the wooden chair before standing back up. "Just relax." I hear Berlin say from behind me. I turn to her and smile. "Is she up?" "YeA and in a good mood considerably." I reach for the door and take a deep breath before going inside.
Her head turns and I see her bloodshot eye. Her mom slips out and leaves me alone with her. "Hey." She whispers. I walk over to her and hand her the daisy. "Thank you." She smiles at me and I feel myself smile back. She stares at me and I look down at the floor. "Hey, I'm glad you came." My heart races and all the negative thoughts are gone in a flash. I sit on the bed next to her and she leans against me. "I missed you."
YOU ARE READING
The Secretary
Non-FictionHow could she turn down her boss when he was also the same man she loved for quite some time. She lived her life being late to work and making deli runs for her coworkers. Her life was normal until the truth comes out and people want to see her hurt
