Chapter Nine
I looked up at Jim, but the glare of the sun made it hard for me to read his expression. “No, really. Max will fix everything.”
He shook his head, eyes still stuck on the traffic flow. “It will never be fixed. Even if I make it through today.”
Something about the tone of his voice scared me. “Jim, let’s just get through today, okay?”
“I can’t help thinking about what tomorrow will be like. And the day after. And the day after.”
Max came walking back over to us, mumbling about how taking the bus might be easier than trying to get a cab’s attention.
“I can’t do it, Maddy,” Jim said as if he hadn’t heard.
I tugged on the sleeve of his jacket, hoping to get his attention on me, but in an instant he’d pulled away. The moment he took off I understood. Just a few steps more and he jumped out into traffic. He was throwing himself in front of oncoming cars.
I screamed. Everyone screamed. Everyone but Max. He was right in front of me when Jim pulled away from my side. He didn’t even hesitate. He just spun around and went right out into traffic after him.
It happened so fast I would have missed it if my eyes weren’t stuck open in horror. Jim jumped in front of a big black Buick and stopped, but Max reached him a fraction of a second later, shoving him out of the way with all his might. Jim went tumbling down right on the yellow line as the cars on the other side started to screech to a halt.
Max almost made it. He was so close to jumping out of the way, but that black Buick just couldn’t stop in time. It caught him on the right side of his body, flinging him around and slamming his head right into the passenger side window. The glass splintered. His body crushed back to the pavement, bouncing as if there wasn’t a solid bone left in him.
A concert of screeching tires and colliding fenders filled the next few moments as the cars tried to avoid the bodies in the road. The flux of people on the sidewalk ran out into the streets and I was the frontline. I had to run around the Buick, whose driver was trying to get out without slamming into the waves of people.
I found Max lying between two of the cars. The position he was laying in didn’t make sense. His arm was pointing a direction I knew wasn’t humanly impossible. But as I fell to my knees the only thing I saw was his head.
There was an angry crack from his eyebrow to his scalp. Blood was splashed across his forehead and streaming down his face like red hot tears.
“Max?” I whispered.
The ensuing crowd filling in behind me was throwing us into deep shadows.
I put my hand on his chest. “Max?”
He didn’t move. I started screaming his name at that point, loud enough to wake the dead, but Max just laid there.
Two hands wrapped around my shoulders and pulled me to my feet, shoving me back into the crowd in the same movement. I wanted to fight back, until I saw the paramedic uniforms descending on his body. I still had to fight the urge to get back to him.
The bodies around me moved and shoved then suddenly a pair of hands was attached to my wrists, trying to pull me away.
I tried to pull back as I turned around to find Georgia holding onto me. The tears in her eyes struck me still. I shook my head, but she kept pulling me.
“I have to go with him,” I whispered and looked back. They had Max on a stretcher.
“Dave will go. He’ll call us as soon as he gets there.”
“No.” My voice was weak. My body must have been as well because she easily yanked me through the crowd and back to the sidewalk.
I wrenched around and saw the ambulance. They were loading him in.
“Max,” I yelled, but Georgia wrapped her arms around my shoulders and pinned me in place.
I understand now, of course. Even if I had made it as far as the emergency rooms, I would have gone hysterical as soon as I got there. She knew about the negative reactions I had to hospitals, to the chemical smells, the noxious food, the blaring white walls that only made sense if the staff thought they were trying to get the patients use to the shinning white of the Pearly Gates. She was trying to protect me.
But, as I balanced on the edge of the curb, all I could feel was how weak I must be if I couldn’t even fight Georgia off long enough to get to Max’s side. All I could do was stand there with tears pouring out of my eyes.
The ambulance pulled away with a squeal, leaving me searching the streets for anything to give me hope. I saw a lot of stunned faces. A lot people were shaking their heads.
My gaze turned up a little and there, on the other side of the street, I saw Jim. He was just standing there, staring at me, but my head was so foggy I’m not even sure I understood anything.
Georgia finally succeeded in wrestling me back into the building. I didn’t think I was doing anything except standing there, but she told me later I was putting up such a fight she almost considered knocking me out. Apparently, I screamed until she got me through the door.
Nate came running over to me as she pulled me to the elevator. There must have been something about the expression on my face that told the whole story, because the moment he made eye contact his color drained and his mouth fell open. The elevator doors slid shut, cutting off my last view of the street and the chaos. A hollow feeling latched onto my body, as if there wasn’t anything left inside of me. I was just a black hole.
Georgia sat me down on the leather sofa in my apartment and that’s where I stayed. She tried to talk to me every once and a while, but I never was able to respond. I could barely hear her. I couldn’t feel a thing.
It was six hours before Dave called. I thought it had been days. Georgia made it to the phone first. My legs were stiff from barely having moved. She’d stayed limber by pacing.
“Okay,” she said and handed the phone to me. “He’s going to put the doctor on to talk to you.”
I nodded and took the phone. It felt so heavy. “Hello.”
“Um, hi, my name is Dr. Phillips.” He cleared his throat. “We usually like to talk to the next of kin. I’m told you are his secretary. Can you get us in contact with them?”
“I’m all he has,” I replied.
“Are you sure—”
“Please,” I begged. “Tell me. Is Max all right?”
“We’re not sure yet.”
Half of me soared. He wasn’t dead. Half of my crashed. He wasn’t all right.
“His arm is broken,” the doctor continued. “But we haven’t found any internal injuries. That’s a good sign.”
“What about his head?”
“Yes, that’s the problem. At best, he has a major concussion. He lost a lot of blood as well. We’re sending him through another CAT scan in an hour.”
“Another?”
“The first one was inconclusive.”
I didn’t know what that meant and I decided I didn’t want to know. I’d wait for conclusions.
“Has he said anything?”
“He woke up a few times, but we’ve been forced to put him into a drug induced coma. He was delusional, raving mostly. It shot his blood pressure up.”
I clutched my chest and tried to force the air in while trying to force the images in my head out. “What did he say?”
“I don’t know. It didn’t make any sense.”
“Can I see him?”
“He’s in ICU right now. He’ll stay there until we get more testing done.”
“When can I see him?”
He hesitated. “It is really is supposed to be the family—”
“I’m all he’s got,” I repeated, aware that my voice was beginning to sound monotone.
There was a pause. “All right. I’ll make sure the nurses know. You won’t be able to see him any earlier than tomorrow afternoon. Call and make sure before you come down, okay?”
“Okay.”
He gave the phone back
to Dave and I gave it back to Georgia.
I slept on the sofa that night. I don’t know why that felt better than sleeping in my bed. It just did. Maybe I couldn’t stand the thought of being comfortable when I knew Max was suffering. Still, he probably slept better than I did.
Georgia was still asleep in my recliner when I woke up the next morning. It didn’t take me long to remember what had happened and turn my attention to not thinking about it. I showered, dressed in my favorite suit then grabbed a banana and headed for the door.
“What do you think you are doing?” Georgia said. She was trying to sound stern, but the yawn was making it hard for her to get that across.
“Going to the office,” I replied and kept my eyes on the door.
“Maddy, don’t be ri—”
“I’ll die, Georgia,” I said quickly then looked back at her. “If I stay around here all day I’ll die. Okay? There are things for me to do at the office. For one thing I need to find stand-ins for Max.”
“Being there will only remind you.”
“I’ll just pretend he’s at an appointment.” I held up my hands. “Don’t tell me that’s bad for my psyche. I know it is. All I’ve got to do is get through this day.”
Georgia stared at me for a while then slowly nodded. “When are you going to call the hospital?”
“They said I could call after noon.”
“So, about a minute after twelve?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Keep your cell on. I’m going to call you every few hours.”
I nodded in returned and headed out the door.