Rise (20 page)

chapter 27

(Riley)

“I’m looking for the guardian of Atticus Reed.”

Dad stood. “That would be me.”

“Hello.” The man reached out and shook Dad’s hand. “I’m Eric Dancer, the endocrinologist on Atticus’s case. Can you come with me please?” He turned to go, but Dad grabbed his arm.

“I’d prefer for you to talk to me here. Everyone here are her family and friends.”

“Okay.”

“What’s happening with Attie?”

The doctor glanced around the room before looking back at my dad. “She’s in renal failure.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Her kidney is failing,” he said.

“Kidney?” Tammy asked. “I thought we have two kidneys.”

“Most of us do,” he answered. “Looking at her chart, I see that Atticus—”

“Her name is Attie,” I corrected. “She doesn’t like to be called Atticus.”

“I apologize. Attie was in a car accident a while back?”

Dad nodded. “Last year.”

The doctor continued. “Her right kidney was damaged and removed. So one kidney has been left to do the work of two. Under normal circumstances, people survive with one kidney all the time. There are usually no complications, and people are free to live their lives as normal.”

“So what happened with Char—I mean Attie?”

“We believe she’s suffering from acute renal failure, which means that the onset was fast. My guess is that it was caused by dehydration.” He glanced around at everyone again. “If she wasn’t taking in enough water, her kidney tried to hold on to as much water as it could. Therefore, she wasn’t making urine. Her electrolytes got out of balance, and her body wasn’t getting rid of waste. Had she been around other people, they would have noticed that she was becoming lethargic and wasn’t thinking clearly. But, since she was alone … ”

Guilt. I felt immediate guilt. I should’ve been checking on her. I shouldn’t have allowed her to lock herself away.

“What does all of this mean?” Gramps asked.

“Her BUN and creatinine levels are highly elevated, and her glomerular filtration rate has decreased, causing organ failure. Unfortunately, she’s slipped into a coma.”

My legs gave out, and I fell into the seat behind me.

“We’ve placed a catheter into one of the larger arteries in her leg, which will be for hemodialysis.”

“What’s that?” Anne asked.

“It’s a machine that filters her blood for her. The sooner we can remove the toxins from her body and get her rehydrated and her electrolytes balanced, the better her chances of survival.”

“Survival?” Dad asked. “Are you saying we could lose her?”

“It depends on the amount of organ damage. Her heart is beating, and she’s breathing on her own, but at this point, we just don’t know for sure.”

Mom sat down next to me and put her arm around my shoulder.

“I suggest you go home and get some rest,” Dr. Dancer said. “The dialysis is going to take several hours, and I don’t anticipate knowing anything before tomorrow. We have your phone numbers; I’ll contact you as soon I know something.”

“Can someone sit with her?” I asked.

“She’s in ICU, but I’ll allow one person back.”

I looked over at Gramps. He shook his head as tears filled his eyes. “I can’t,” he whispered. “I can’t see her like that again.”

I stood. “I’ll go. I wanna be with her.”

Dad grabbed me and gave me a hug. “I’ll be right out here. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Riley?” Mom grabbed my hand. “I’ll run home and get some stuff. What do you want me to bring you?”

“Um … ” My body shook, and it was hard to think clearly. “My iPod maybe … a book or two … I don’t know, Mom. Whatever you think.”

“Okay.” She kissed me on the cheek before heading toward the exit.

“Oh, and Mom … ”

She turned toward me.

“Attie’s Bible. It’s on her nightstand. She’ll want it when she wakes up.”

I watched her walk out the door before turning back to the doctor and following him through the hospital corridors. Sadly, they were familiar; I’d seen it all before. The only difference was that rather than spending time sitting with a family friend, I would be standing vigil next to the girl I loved.

“Hello, Margaret.” The doctor spoke to a nurse standing outside a patient’s room. “This is Riley Bennett.” I looked through the glass wall and saw Attie lying in the bed. “He’s going to be sitting with Ms. Reed.”

“Yes, Doctor,” the nurse replied.

“Would you make sure he’s comfortable? Answer any questions he may have?”

“Yes, sir.”

I was immediately reacquainted with the smell that permeated everything in the intensive care unit. In one way it smelled clean, like bleach or antibacterial soap; but on the other hand, I couldn’t deny the odor of sickness. It was a depressing and overpowering smell. I wanted to be sitting in Attie’s car, inhaling the scent of her perfume or hand lotion, instead of here.

“Riley?” I took my eyes off of Attie long enough to listen to the doctor speak. “Margaret will take good care of you. I’ll be back to check on Attie in a bit.”

I tried to speak, but my throat was too dry. No sound would escape.

After giving me a quick pat on the shoulder, he walked off.

“Are you family?” the nurse asked.

I shook my head.

“What is your relation to Ms. Reed?”

“I’m her boyfriend.”

Her eyes grew sad. “Oh.”

I glanced back at Attie.

“Well, go on in. I’ve got to go take care of something, and then I’ll be right back in to check on you.”

I slowly walked along the glass wall until I came to an opening and could make my way into the room. Several machines surrounded her bed, and I heard the familiar sound of their humming. The scene looked eerily familiar to a year and a half before, only this time large tubes filled with blood ran between her leg and a swirling pump of some kind. The sight of the red liquid made me nauseated and woozy.

“You’d better sit down,” the nurse warned as she walked back into the room.

I pointed to the tube. “Can she feel that?”

“No. She isn’t feeling anything.” She handed me a pillow and blanket. The blanket felt hot, as if it had just come out of a dryer. “It tends to get a little chilly in here. If you get cold just let me know and I’ll get you a new blanket from the warmer.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Another nurse walked in with a pitcher of water and plastic cup.

“Thanks, Penny. Just set it over there on the windowsill,” Nurse Margaret said before turning back to me. “Riley, you just push this button right here if you need me, okay?” I glanced at the panel on the side of Attie’s bed. Margaret’s finger pointed toward a cartoon picture of someone’s face. “If you need anything … ”

“Or when she wakes up?” I suggested.

Margaret gave a polite smile. “Yes. Definitely if she wakes up.”

Closing my eyes, I listened to the machines hum, vibrate, and beep. In an odd way I found the sounds comforting. They were sounds of life—Attie’s life. They were keeping her from leaving this earth, and they weren’t going to let her give up.

“Heck, if I had a boy as cute as you sitting next to me, I’d surely wake up. She’s a lucky girl.”

I looked back at Attie as tears filled my eyes. “Actually, I’m the lucky one. She never saw it that way though. You’d probly never be able to convince her of it, either.”

“I say you’re both lucky then.” Margaret continued talking, but I wasn’t paying attention, and before long I realized that Attie and I were alone. Ironically, it was practically the first time I’d been in a room alone with her since August. As I reached out and grabbed her hand, I smiled at the realization that if we were home, we’d be breaking rules one, two, and three.

Even if it would have meant I couldn’t touch her, I wished we were home.

chapter 28

“Riley?”

A voice woke me. Lifting my head from the bed, I sat up in my chair. The voice hadn’t come from Attie; she was still asleep in front of me.

“Riley?”

I looked toward the door and saw Margaret. “Yes, ma’am?”

“I’m sorry to wake you, but I have to ask you to leave the room.”

“Excuse me?”

“We’ve got to get her ready to be moved.”

“Moved? Moved where?”

“She’s being transferred.”

“Transferred where?”

“New York.”

I stood and rushed out of the room and into the waiting area. Everyone looked shocked to see me.

“He’s taking her,” I announced as I ran toward my dad.

“Who?” he asked.

“Her dad. He’s moving her to New York.”

His face turned red. “The hell he is.”

“Dad, they just kicked me out of her room. They’re moving her right now.”

“Tammy?” Dad turned to face her.

She stood. “Yes, sir?”

“Get your dad on the phone. Tell him what’s going on and find out what our legal rights are.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Molly, run to the nurses’ station and demand to see Dr. Dancer right now.” His jaw clinched and his back stiffened. “Gramps, get your son on the phone.”

Gramps dialed the number and handed the phone to Dad. I sat in the seat farthest from the noise and watched as he paced the waiting room floor.

“Eddie, what are you doing? … I don’t care who you are; you aren’t taking her away from here.” He shook his head violently. “What are you talking about? Your job? Who cares about your job? You’ll just have to take some time off and get back down here. … This will not happen; do you understand that? You signed paperwork giving us rights. We have medical rights. I have an attorney on the other line right now, and we’ll take legal action if we have to. You will not move her again.”

Gramps stood and motioned for Dad to hand him the phone. Dad shoved it into his hand and marched off toward my mother, who was talking to the nurse.

“Son … ” I looked back at Gramps, who was now talking on the phone. “You leave her right where she is … We’re her family too … ” I could hear Eddie’s voice but couldn’t make out his words. “Enough is enough,” Gramps continued. “You’re either a parent or you aren’t. If you wanna see her, then you come here. She isn’t going anywhere.” He nodded as he listened to his son speak. “Right then, expect to hear from our attorney.” He threw me the phone, and I hung up the call. “Tammy, is that your dad on the phone?”

“Yes, sir.”

He grabbed the phone from her hand and put it to his ear. “Greg, what are our options here? They’re preparing to move her right now. We don’t have much time.” He snapped his fingers in Tammy’s direction and motioned for her to get my dad. “So we need to file an injunction?”

Dad walked up and stood next to his father.

“Just a second, Greg.” Gramps covered the phone with his hand. “Tom, go tell the doctor that our attorney is filing an injunction right now. He’s ordering them to stop preparations to move Attie, and they can’t move her until this is resolved one way or the other.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And tell him to be expecting a phone call from Greg Richland, our attorney.”

“Yes, sir.” Dad ran off toward the nurses’ station again.

I closed my eyes and covered my ears as the chaos around me continued. Time seemed to stand still yet run together at the same time.

I don’t know how much time passed before I heard Margaret’s voice again.

I opened my eyes and looked at her.

“You can go back into her room. She’s not going anywhere right now.”

Jumping up, I ran toward Attie and left the madness behind.

“Hey, Riley.”

I turned toward the door. “Joshua, how’d you get back here?”

“Heck, I’m clergy. I have special powers.”

“Glad to know someone does.”

He walked into the room and sat on the end of the bed. “Sorry I’m just now getting here. We were visiting family in Texas.”

“Aw, it’s okay.” I turned back to Attie. “Is it still crazy out there?”

“There’s a lot of yelling going on. Her dad showed up. Guess he flew in this morning.”

“He did?” I must’ve been losing time. Another day had passed and I didn’t even notice. “At least he isn’t taking her away.”

“I wouldn’t say that. I think he just came to fight it out in person.”

“Oh.”

“Your dad and Gramps aren’t going to let it happen though, so don’t worry about that.”

I nodded.

“How is she?” he asked.

“No change. She hasn’t moved at all. The doctor says a lot of stuff, but I don’t understand any of it. The longer she’s asleep the worse it is, so all I know is that she needs to wake up soon.”

“Yeah. How are you?”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you.”

“I don’t even know. This entire thing is like an outta body experience. I’m here but I’m not kinda thing, or some kinda sick and twisted déjà vu.”

“I can imagine. It’s some pretty heavy stuff for a seventeen-year-old.”

“I would think this would be heavy stuff for a fifty-year-old.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right about that.”

I looked back at her. It was like she wasn’t even in her body. There was almost nothing familiar about her. No warmth, no energy, no color. She was slipping away; deep down inside I knew it was true, but I couldn’t let myself believe it.

Tears filled my eyes. They’d been doing that a lot lately.

“Riley, they sent me in here to get you. Her father would like to sit with her a while, and only one person is allowed back at a time.”

“Why should he be allowed back? He’s the reason she’s in here.”

“It’s easier to woo bears with honey.”

“What does that mean?”

“He’s her father. Your dad figures that if we give in a little, he’ll give in a little too.”

My grip tightened on her hand. “Can I have just a few more minutes?”

“Sure.” He stood to leave. “I’ll let him know that you’ll be out in a few.”

“Thanks.” I watched him leave the room and then sat on the bed. “Charlie, they’re making me go outside. I don’t wanna go; I hope you know that.”

I tried to think of something witty to say. I thought maybe if I were clever enough, she’d wake up just to argue. Nothing witty came to mind.

“I know that things are kinda crazy right now and life hasn’t been real fair, but you gotta wake up. If you’ll just wake up, we can deal with this stuff.” Tears fell from my face and onto the mattress. “Please, Charlie, I know you’re in there, and I know you can hear me. You gotta wake up. I love you, and I really, really need you to come back to me.”

“Riley?”

I turned and saw Dr. Reed standing in the doorway. My face immediately felt hot. I’d never hated anyone more in my life.

I turned back to Attie and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll be right outside, Charlie. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right outside.”

I climbed off the bed and walked toward the door. Mr. Reed held out a hand for me to shake, but I shoved my hands into my pockets and walked out of the room. As I walked through the waiting room, I refused to make eye contact with any of them. I knew they were looking at me with concern on their faces, but I didn’t want to see it. Either that, or they were looking at me in hopes of getting some information, and I didn’t have any to give them. Attie wasn’t getting any better. What more was there to say?

I sat in the chair farthest away from my friends and family. In a groggy daze, I could hear my parents whispering. They mentioned my name several times as well as Attie’s and her dad’s. I kept my eyes closed in hopes that I would fall back to sleep.

Growing up, whenever my family took a road trip somewhere, my mother always told Melody and me that if we would go to sleep, we would get there faster. Maybe if I could just stay asleep now, Attie would wake up faster, and the wait wouldn’t be as agonizing.

I prayed that God would let me go back to sleep until Attie woke up.