Broken Butterflies (15 page)

The EMT’s were through the door as he blew into Dena’s mouth. Bram stood and gave them room. Ilisha on the other hand would not stop the compressions. Bram took her by the waist and pulled her back. The monitors where hooked up and Ilisha swallowed hard as a flat line ran across.

It wasn’t until the third try with the defibrillator that the monitor made a beep. Ilisha stared it down wishing it to continue with the tiny waves across the screen.

Instead of disappearing into Dena’s chest the pink butterfly stayed put, fluttering its wings. Dena was put on the stretcher and rushed out the door.

Ilisha grabbed her keys. Bram stopped her. “She has the choice to survive, but it’s up to her.”

Ilisha swallowed hard. “So it’s not over?” she asked softly.

Bram took the keys from her and took her hand, leading her out the door.

Ilisha walked into the ER and waited for a doctor. The entire staff was around her mother’s gurney. Knowing they were too busy to speak to her, she went out to the waiting room and sat with Bram.

She sat there for only a few minutes before her legs began to bounce. Soon she was pacing back and forth across the room and biting her nails.

“Hey, do you want me to go in there?” Bram asked her surrounding her in his arms.

“Don’t leave me here,” she pleaded.

He did as she asked and took her with him.

“You remember how this works?” he said in her ear.

She nodded and Bram took them to the room where they worked frantically on Dena. Bram and Ilisha stood in a corner, invisible. Ilisha bit down hard on her lip praying for the best. As her panicked mind drifted she picked up on the words MRI and stroke. Her shoulders slumped. “Oh no, you have to get me out of here!” she whispered to Bram.

In an instant they were outside under a large tree. Ilisha fell to her knees and wept. Bram leaned his back against the tree and pulled her to his chest. “Even if she makes it she may be severely handicapped,” she wept into his shirt.

They stayed outside losing track of time. She never stopped crying.

“Ilisha,” a soft female voice whispered.

She looked up to see one of the techs.

“Your mom has been moved to ICU.”

Ilisha nodded her head in response and stood. Bram held her hand tight as they rode up the elevator.

Though she knew what all the tubes and lines were, they still looked intimidating when attached to her own mother. She rolled a stool over next to the bed and stroked her mom’s long hair, which was normally pulled up in a tight bun on her head. Out of habit she looked at the monitors. Everything looked normal. Not sure what to do she began to wring her hands together.

Bram sat next to Dena on the other side of the bed. When he spoke it made Ilisha jump. She had been lost in her own panic.

“What would you like me to do?” he asked looking in her eyes.

She shook her head back and forth.

“You should know she has seen things she will never forget. Eventually she’ll talk about them, not that most people pay any creed to visions of bright lights and someone waiting for them on the other side with a message,” he added.

“But she’ll know it’s real,” she whispered.

“Yes. Her guardian angel would have been waiting for her. She was given the choice to live or to die. Since she’s still here she chose to live.”

“I don’t think she intended to live paralyzed on one side or not being able to feed herself.”

Bram took Ilisha’s hand. “Just as on the train you need to consent.”

“To what?”

“Do you want me to heal her?”

“You can do that?”

“It’s not advisable, or easy, but yes. She will need to accept it though. It’s not healing in the general sense; I produce a euphoria in her system. It counters her bodies’ battle with itself.”

“Why wouldn’t her guardian angel heal her?”

“Because unlike me, they have chosen not to interfere with life,” Bram explained.

Though the question should have been a no brainer Ilisha stopped and thought. “How much will she remember?

“Everything. She wasn’t marked for death like you, she was given a choice, but she will be able to see the butterflies.”

“Will she know what you are,” questioned Ilisha.

“Not at first, but eventually she will."

“What does that mean for you?”

“I don’t think your mom is going to run around town telling everyone her daughter is dating a fallen angel.”

Ilisha smiled. One thing Dena hated was a spectacle.

“Yes.”

Bram nodded and closed his eyes. Ilisha watched out the glass wall surrounding Dena’s room, making sure the hospital staff was occupied.

“Close the curtain,” he said opening his eyes.

Ilisha pulled the long, thick, curtain across the windowpane. By the time she turned around Bram’s hands were on Dena’s head. A soft, brilliant, white glow pulsated beneath his palms.

Dena’s feet twitched and she began to gag on the tube down her throat. Ilisha’s thumb hit the silent button on the monitor and disconnected the tube. Slowly she pulled it out allowing Dena to take a breath on her own.

Blinking her eyes against the bright florescent lights, Dena became alert.

“Mom,” Ilisha whispered in her ear, laying her head on her shoulder.

Dena brought her arm up and curled her IV laden hand over Ilisha’s upper arm. Though Ilisha tried to keep her emotions in check, she began to weep.

Bram slumped on the bed, his head landing beside Dena’s knee. Ilisha ran to the other side of the bed, tucking her long hair behind her ears. “Bram, talk to me.”

His eyes looked heavy. “I need to transform,” he eked out.

“Make sure to cover this up,” he said just as his body disappeared into an iridescent cloud of smoke. Ilisha frantically moved his clothes, which had collapsed on him. In the next second he was perched on the windowsill, wings fluttering in the sun. She threw the clothing and boots behind the chair.

At first Ilisha was puzzled by his words until a nurse came in and gasped.

“What happened here?” she demanded.

Ilisha thought fast. “She woke up and gagged.”

“You had no authority to remove her life sustaining equipment.”

“I understand that, but I do know what I’m doing.”

“Stay here,” the nurse said before walking out.

When she came back two doctors accompanied her.

“She pulled the endotracheal tube,” the nurse said pointing at Ilisha.

The doctors rushed over to evaluate Dena. She tried to protest but her throat was sore and she could barely whisper.

“Mom, don’t talk.” Ilisha put her hand on Dena’s shoulder.

“You had no authority to treat this patient,” one of the doctors said.

Ilisha rolled her eyes. “I know she’s not my patient, but she’s my mom and she was gagging.”

“She’s not even a doctor,” the nurse said.

Everyone was looking at Ilisha waiting for her response. “No, I’m not a doctor, I’m an ER nurse.”

“At this hospital?” the other doctor demanded.

“Yes.”

“I’ll be in touch with your supervisor.”

Great. I guess I didn’t think this through.

“I don’t understand how this happened. She was in critical condition,” the other doctor said.

Ilisha simply shrugged her shoulders.

The rest of the day was spent with every doctor on the ICU staff evaluating Dena for anything and everything that should be wrong. Each time they came up with no explanation.

Finally Ilisha spoke and told them to stop running the same tests over and over.

A few days later Dena was sent home and Ilisha was called in by Rich. She sat down across from him and waited to hear if she was fired.

“What happened?” Rich asked sliding his chair closer to the desk.

“I think you know the answer.”

“They want disciplinary action taken against you.”

“So am I fired?”

“No, but I do need to write you up.” His face said he was sorry to do so. “You should know this will stay on your records.”

“I know.”

He slid a paper across the desk with a pen lying on top. “I assume your mom isn’t going to sue you for malpractice, along with this hospital.”

Ilisha smiled. “No.”

She signed her name and handed the paper back to him.

“I’m really sorry about this, Lish.”

“It’s not your fault, it’s mine. I’ll see you in a few days.”

“No you won’t,” he said shocked.

She turned to look at him, forehead crinkled.

“I took you off the schedule for a few weeks. You need to take care of your mom and I better not see you back in here for the time being.”

Ilisha gave a sigh filled laugh and a mock salute. “Yes, boss. Thanks.”

Bram stood in the kitchen as Ilisha made a huge pan of Jello. “I take it you’re a fan of wiggly food.”

“No, smart ass, this is for Mom. Her throat is going to be killing her.”

“Come here,” he said crossing the kitchen to meet her half way.

He wrapped his arms around her and buried her head in his chest. “You’re the bravest person I know.”

“How so?”

“You always do what you need to and worry about the consequences later.”

“I think that could be called stupidity.”

He took her face in his hands and looked down into her eyes. “You’re beautiful.”

“Thank you for healing her,” she said softly.

“You’re most welcome.”

Ilisha stood on her tiptoes and kissed him deeply. His familiar touch caused her body to ignite in goose bumps and a chill ran down her spine. Her hand moved down his back to his butt. With a lot of effort she shoved her hands into his back pockets, as if they were a lock to keep her in check. “This will have to wait,” she said reluctantly. “I better go check on her.”

Bram kissed her on the forehead and let her go.

Dena was propped up on pillows watching TV. She smiled when Ilisha walked in and patted the bed beside her.

“I made you some Jello,” Ilisha said as she sat down.

Through a scratchy voice Dena spoke. “It was so beautiful.”

Ilisha swallowed hard.

“It was just like our world, only brilliant colors. Flowers coated the mountainsides and the clouds were perfect billows of white. Animals ran free and I felt like I was surrounded in peace. And, Ilisha, there was someone there with me.”

Ilisha nodded knowing where this was going.

“You believe me?” Dena asked puzzled.

“Of course.”

“She was an angel. I was given the choice whether to live or die. I’ve never seen anything like her. Large white wings were speckled with iridescent sparkles that shimmered in the sun. It was the strangest thing. I had never seen her before, but I felt as though I had known her all my life.”

Ilisha remembered that feeling when she saw Bram on the train. His beauty had caught her so off guard she thought she may drool or cry, or both.

“You really believe me?” Dena asked again.

“I’ve been around a lot of people who experienced near death experiences and I see it in your eyes.” It was a half-truth, but it worked. “Get some rest and I’ll be back in to check on you in a few hours.”

She wrapped her arms around Dena and hugged her tight, taking in her scent.

Bram was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.

“You’re right. Mom was trying to explain everything she saw.”