Adolescent Suicide

“Is she okay?”

“What happened, Doc?”

“She’s gone through so much. She needs rest. She needs to go home.”

“Mercy won’t leave Frank. We’d have to drag her out of here, kicking and screaming.”

“If that’s what it takes.”

The voices were distant, barely registering in her mind. She couldn’t remember where she was, what had happened. Her head hurt like a bitch, a dull thudding pain on the base of her skull. Mercy let out a groan as she turned her head to the side, the voices suddenly going very quiet.

“What’s going on?” she muttered, fluttering her eyes open.

She was in the hallway right off of the waiting room, laid out on one of the rolling beds that were used to transport patients to other rooms. The bright lights right above her nearly blinded her, making her eyes go squinty as she looked around. Everyone was surrounding her, including the doctor. A black cuff was wrapped tightly around her upper arm, cutting of circulation to her fingertips.

“Mercy! You passed out. Are you okay?” Ray asked, leaning down to inspect her, as if she were dying or something.

She wasn’t. But Frank damn well could be. She needed to know what was going on with him. She needed to know that he was alive, that she was going to see him again. The panic began to rise up inside of her, overwhelming her mind and heart. It was all she could think of. The thoughts of her headache, and of the inability to feel her hand left her. She felt like maybe she was drowning in her own mind, in the thoughts of Frank. Her breathing started to go shallow, her body coming up off the bed.

“Frank. Is he okay? Dear God, is he okay?” she asked, her blue eyes wide as she grabbed Ray’s shoulders, her fingers digging into the skin beneath his red t-shirt.

His hands came up to grip hers, pulling them gently away from him. His brown eyes shifted over to the doctor, who cast his eyes downwards before reaching over and taking the cuff off of her arm. If it was possible, even more dread coursed through her body. She didn’t like that reaction from Ray. She didn’t like the way the doctor was refusing to look at her.

“Tell me. Damn it, tell me!” she yelled, tears rushing to the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill over.

“Ms. Bryar, I think that you need to calm down. Your blood pressure is off the scale. You are at serious risk of a heart attack or stroke. You need to breath,” the doctor said, giving her a stern look.

His warning went in one ear, and out the other. She wasn’t concerned of her own health at the moment. Mercy’s only focus was Frank.

She furiously shook her head. “No! Tell me if Frank is okay! Tell me!”

The doctor sighed, realizing that she wasn’t going to give up until he gave her the news that was printed out on a sheet of paper, held tightly to the clipboard by the metal jaws.

“I’m sorry for scaring you earlier. I…Frank is going to be okay. The surgery went fine. The bullet didn’t hit anything major. He should be back to full health soon,” the doctor said, giving her a small, reassuring smile.

Mercy felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Her eyes went wide and she reached out, pulled the doctor close, and hugged him tightly. If there were such things as angels, then this man was one of them. He had saved Frank, and in the process, saved her. Without Frank, she would be nothing. Without Frank, she wouldn’t be able to live anymore. He had shown her a different side of herself, he showed her how to love, and how to be loved in return. A world without Frank was scary, and not something that she would ever want to go through. And this man made sure that she didn’t have to.

“Thank you. Thank you so much. I owe you everything,” she whispered as tears made little trails down her pale cheeks.

He pat her on the back, smiling slightly. “You are quite welcome, my dear. I was just doing my job.”

She pulled away and wiped at her eyes. It was then that she realized that she was still covered in blood. She probably looked a wreck. No wonder people were looking at her funny. Now that she knew Frank was okay, she knew that she should go and take a shower. Maybe get some rest. Though she didn’t want to leave Frank, she highly doubted that the doctor would let her in to see him until he was conscious.

“When can I see him?” she asked, hopping down off of the bed. Bob was instantly at her side, an arm wrapped around her shoulders.

Looking at the others, she could see how truly happy they were to know that he was fine, that they had been just as scared as she had been. However, they were now looking at her with worry. She couldn’t for the life of her figure out why. Frank was okay. That meant that she was going to be. As long as she kept the thoughts of what had happened earlier from her mind, she should be fine.

“No sooner than tomorrow. He needs to rest so that he can heal properly. Visiting hours are at 3 pm. Feel free to stop by then,” the doctor said before giving her one last smile as he turned and headed back the way he had come from.

Mercy turned and hugged her brother tight to her. Soon, she was hugged from behind. Judging by the arms that were around her waist, she guessed it to be Sicily. Those arms were soon joined by another, and then another. Within minutes, the six of them were all hugging each other in the middle of the hospital, relieved that the heart of the band was going to continue beating.