Forgive and Forget: A Billie Joe Story

I open my mouth to say something, but my door swings pen. Billie is standing there with a horrifed expression.

"Robbie won't wake up," he exclaims. My heart stops as I dash out of the room with Tysen and Billie both following me. I se Robbie on the couch with his head back and his eyes closed. "He fell asleep and I tried waking him up and-"

"Go call an ambulance," I order, checking Robbie's pulse. It's faint, but still there. Billie runs into the kitchen as Tysen runs over and kneels on the other side of him. "He's still alive," I say relievingly, "but we need to get him to the hospital." Billie runs back in as we already hear sirens coming. Tysen opens the front door and ten seconds later paramedics come running in with a gurney. They put Robbie on it with an IV and get him out to the ambulance.

"Which one of you is a family member," one of them asks.

"Me," I say. "I'm his daughter." He motions for me to get into the back of the ambulance and I look at Billie and Tysen. "Follow us to the hospital." The doors shut and we start speeding to Oakland Hospital. As soon as we get there the medics pull him out and rush him into the emergency room. A nurse tells me to stay in the waiting room. I sit in one of the chairs with my head in my hands until I hear two people running in.

"Where is he," Billie asks, sittng next to me. Ty sits on the other side of me.

"ER. I don't know what they're doing," I say softly. "He can't leave me. I need him so much, he can't leave me." Tears spill from my eyes and Tysen's arms slip around me as I silently cry into his shoulder. The room is empty except for a few passing doctors and nurses for the next several hours. I fall asleep in the chair with Tysen's arm around my shoulder.

I wake up at 11:47 PM and look around. Billie and Ty are both asleep. A doctor walks over.

"Miss Rizzolino," he asks. I nod.

"That's me," I say, even though I never changed my last name when I left Billie.

"Your father has been out of surgery for last couple hours, if you would like to go see him."

"What was wrong with him?"

"From all of the emotion he restrained from your mother dying, which I am very sorry about, he had a blocked artery."

"You fixed it, right? I mean he's going to be okay?" He nods.

"Luckily, it didn't get so blocked that it would have caused him to have a heart attack." I stand.

"Where is he?"

"Room B213."

"Thank you so much, Doctor. If I lost him-"

"It's fine," he smiles kindly. I walk away and easily find B213. I knock and walk in. Robbie looks up and smiles.

"Hey, baby girl," he says quietly. I walk in slowly and sit in the chair next to the bed.

"Hey," I reply. He sighs.

"El, I'm fine, okay?" I look down and feel tears come to my eyes.

"I thought I lost you," I say as they stream down my cheeks. "You can't... I thought..." He reaches over and tilts my head up. He wipes the tears away and looks directly into my eyes.

"I'm never going to leave. I will do anything I need to do to make sure I'll always be here for you. But you have to do the same for me." I sniffle.

"What do you mean," I ask, my voice cracking.

"You can't leave me, either," he whispers.