Memory in a Bottle

Jace

The employee showed me some promising ideas. As we were going to the checkout my phone started ringing. I looked at the screen and saw that mom was calling.

"Hello?" I answer.

"Honey, something happened to Delilah and I'm on my way to the hospital. I don't know what happened my police friend said to meet him there and he'll fill me in on what happened." She said sounding hysterical. My heart sank.

"What?!?!" I half-shout. I feel my knees collapse underneath me and my body hit the ground. "Is... is she okay?" I ask. There was silence on the other end.

"I don't know, Jason." Mom whispers. "I'm at the hospital now, I'll find out what has happened to her and I hope you drive safe." She says and hangs up. The employee was crouched in front of me.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

"No, something happened to my girlfriend."

"I'm so sorry."

"I can't buy this at least not right now. I have to go to the hospital." I tell her handing her Delilah's gift. She takes it and helps me up.

"I'll put this aside and you can come back and buy it."

"Thanks." I say and ran to my car and sped off. I arrive at the hospital and rush in. I see mom and I run to her. Her eyes are red and blotchy. She saw me and rushed to me. "What happened, ma?"

"Delilah's kidnapper found her and shot her. The next-door neighbor heard her screams and rushed to the house to find her kidnapper over her and he shot the kidnapper and called the police." Mom bites her lip as she looks at me. She looks like she's holding something back.

"Mom, is she okay?"

"Um... she's okay, but the baby.... didn't make it." She says as her voice breaks. My heart sinks. No! No! No! No! My knees collapsed again, and tears streamed down my face, Mom crouched next to me and hugged me, when she did that my tears came faster.

After a couple minutes the tears became less, and I began to calm down. I knew that I had to be strong for her, but I couldn't.... not right now. She's going to be more crushed than me whether she knows it or not. I knew she was looking forward to it. I also knew that she's going to be a little bit traumatized from what happened to her. I'm glad that our neighbor killed him. I closed my eyes and breathed in and out.

"When.... When can I see her?" I ask. I took another breath and opened my eyes.

"I don't know. She's still in surgery." Mom replies.

"But... but how did you know-"

"I have a friend here that is giving me updates throughout the time she has entered the hospital."

"How much longer is she going to be in surgery?" I ask sounding like a six-year-old.

"I..." She sighs. "I don't know, Jason." When she uses my full name, I know that she's done talking. She gets up and walks to the cafeteria. I stand up and sat in a chair in the waiting room. There's no way that I can eat nor smell food without getting the urge to vomit. I didn't have to go to the store today, I didn't have to leave Delilah alone in the house, and yet I did and now she's in the hospital. I lean my head back as my eyes flutter close unwillingly.

"Jace..." a male voice says shaking me. "Jace." I opened my eyes to see a doctor crouched in front of me. I sit up on full alert.

"Did something-"

"No, No, No. She's okay. I just wanted to tell you that she's out of surgery and that she's just now heading to the ICU. I'm sorry about both of your losses. My ex-girlfriend had a miscarriage, although it's not the same I understand the feeling to lose a child. I understand what the both of you must be going through, if you both need anything here's my number and give me a call. Alright?" A lump formed in my throat as I took the paper.

"Thank you" I whisper trying to keep it together. The doctor starts to stand up. "Wait, what's your name?''

"Dexter. Dexter Smith." He replied patting my shoulder and walked away. I get up to find mom and tell her the news. I find her in the cafe drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. As I approach her, she looks up from whatever she was reading.

"Hey." She says "How are you feeling?"

"As okay as I should be. Lilah's in the ICU now.

"That's great!" She looked down at her newspaper and frowned.

"Mom? What's wrong?" I asked concerningly. She looks up with tears threatening to spill.

"I was looking forward to being a grandmother but now I'm not sure if she's going to be able to bare children anymore because of what happened." She replies as tears fall. I walk over to her chair and crouched in front of her.

"I'm sorry ma. I-I should've been there at the house to-" Mom puts her finger over my lips to silence me.

"Don't do this to yourself, honey. You'll mess up your mind. Don't blame yourself for not being there. Did you know that he was going to be there? No, no you didn't, neither did she or me. Nobody knew, except that man. He's the one to blame, not you. Not me. Not Lilah. She's going to need us. We're in this together, my son. No matter what." She says softly. She leans forward and kisses my forehead. "I love you Jace. Let's go see if we can go to her."

"Okay." We get up and walked to the ICU. We sit on the chairs in the waiting room when Dexter walks over.

"You may go see her. She's not awake yet but she will be soon, and I think it's important for you to be there." He says looking at me. Me and mom follow Dexter to Delilah's room. As soon as we walk in, I inhale sharply as I see Delilah's face. I hear mom's loud gasp. I never expected to see bruises all over her face. Her face is black and blue, her eyes looks a little swollen. The doctors probably gave her something to bring the swelling down. Her arms are covered in bruises and cuts. Tears weld in my eyes as I see her looking broken. I try not to imagine what the rest of her body looks like underneath the blanket and hospital gown. I close my eyes and stood there on the verge of breaking down. Once I opened my eyes, I saw that mom was already by Delilah's side crying uncontrollably. I stood there frozen watching the scene before me. Then slowly I put one foot in front of another and made my way to mom. With each step I took the more furious I got. Finally, I reached mom's side and I put a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and hugged me tightly. I wrap my arms around her and let her cry.

After a couple minutes mom calmed down and sat down in the chair. I grabbed another one and pushed it next to the bed. I sat down and grabbed Delilah's hand and kissed it softly. I reached up and softly and caressed her face. I sat back down and leaned back my hand still holding hers. My eyes were getting heavy and they fluttered closed as exhaustion from today came creeping in.