Catastrophic

“Charlotte!” My mother called for me. My nine year old self came walking down the hallway and into the kitchen where my mom was. I had just gotten up from my favorite TV show, so I rubbed at my eyes from the change of lighting. I liked to watch TV in the dark.

“Yeah, momma?” I asked, fiddling with my hands. She looked up from chopping tomato for her homemade salsa, and smiled at me.

“Go tell your sister that our dinner is almost done.” She told me, making a shooing motion with her hands, which was kinda scary with the big knife she had in her hands, but looked comical because of the grin on her face. I giggled and turned around, going to run down the stairs to me and my sister’s room. I shoved open the door, sliding toys out of the way as I made my way into the room. She wasn't sitting on the lower of our bunk beds, so I assumed she was in the bathroom. I left the room to stand by the bathroom door.

“Come on, Vespera! Dinner’s almost ready!” I called to her, expecting a surprisingly snarky remark from her. Nothing came, so I waited a minute before pulling on the door knob. She wasn’t sitting by the mirror, and she wasn’t by the toilet, so that left the bathtub. I slowly walked over to the bathtub, and softly called for her again. By now she probably would have yelled at me for coming in without being invited, but still nothing.

I pulled back the curtain, expecting the worst. I wasn’t disappointed. She was laying face down in a full tub of water, not breathing. My own breath caught in my throat as I quickly threw my arms around her, pulling her out of the tub, getting me soaked in the process. I put her laying on her back and covered with a towel, and screamed at the top of my lungs. That was the best way I knew how to get my mom’s attention.

Panicking, I drew a shaky breath and placed my hands on her chest, about to preform CPR. My mom had been making us take classes at the school, seeing as how we lived in a dangerous neighborhood. It payed off, too, because I could see thin lines of water starting to come out of her mouth.

Our mom burst into the room, bearing the tomato covered knife. She let it drop to the sink when she saw Vespera, and covered her hands over her mouth, stunned. Snapping out of her daze, she ran to get the house phone which was one room over, panicking as she cried. Her fingers dialed 9-1-1 frantically, then put the receiver to her ear. I put all of my concentration back onto my sister as I continued to pump the water out of her, as it slowly came in a small stream.

After what seemed like forever and a hundred tears later, the ambulance came screaming down the street, stopping in front of our house. I had now gotten a substantial amount of water out of her system, but still not enough for her to regain consciousness. By this point, I thought she was dead, but I wouldn’t give up.

The uniformed officers came up the stairs with a cot type thing for my sister, and practically shoved me out of the way to get to her. The gently put her on it, and rushed her back down the stairs and into the ambulance. My mom grabbed my hand and pulled up downstairs, where we got into small Focus and left for the hospital.

My sister survived that night, and after an hour of waiting we were allowed to go see her. She looked so small and fragile, hooked up to the few monitors and other machines. Our mother immediately went to her side, taking her hand and letting even more tears escape as she sobbed. I went to the other side of the bed, more calmly, more surreal. I couldn’t believe this had happened to my sister.

“I promise nothing like this will happen again, Vesp.” I told her quietly, she looked towards me with tears in her eyes, as she collapsed into her own sobs, joining our mother. I sniffed back my own tears, but a few silent ones slipped out. “I promise.”