Hold My Hand

Taylor felt drained and her emotions were all over the place, but she knew that she needed to keep them under control. Her phone ringing brought her back to reality and she fished it out of her pocket, frowning at the unfamiliar number flashing across her screen.

“Hello?” she said as she answered it.

‘Hi, am I speaking to Taylor Shaw?’ came a woman’s voice from the other end.

“You are.”

‘This is nurse Lomax over at the Gaffney Chicago Medical Centre, we had a Mrs. Caswell rushed in about an hour ago, and you are listed as her emergency contact.’

“That’s correct, is she okay?” Taylor asked, already grabbing her jacket from her locker and heading up to the chief’s office.

‘I’m not going to lie; it’s not looking good and I would strongly suggest getting here as quickly as possible.’

“I’m on my way.”

Once she had hung up, Taylor cleared everything with the chief and took a taxi to the hospital. Dread filled her chest as she entered the building, approaching one of the nurses and knowing from the woman’s face at the mention of Mrs. Caswell’s name that she was too late.

Stood at the window of the room that held Mrs. Caswell’s body, Taylor watched as the nurses disconnected the machinery and felt tears roll down her face. Everyone soon left and she headed in, walking over to the bed.

Despite witnessing death on a regular basis, she had never experienced personal loss before and it was nothing like she expected. She felt guilty for not being there in those final moments and it hurt... physically hurt, but Taylor knew that the elderly lady was now at peace.

Kelly turned up a while later, tapping lightly on the door and wrapping his arms around Taylor as she allowed herself to break down. Once she had managed to calm herself down, she pulled back with a shaky deep breath and glanced up as a doctor joined them.

“I know that this is a bad time, but I need you to sign a few forms and fill out some information for me,” the doctor stated, “Did you want me to notify her family?”

“No, I’ll do it... but thank you.”

The forms took nearly half an hour to complete, but Taylor got them done and pulled her phone from her pocket. Unsure of what to say, she stared at the phone screen for a few seconds and reluctantly pressed the call button as Kelly entwined their fingers. Words seemed to spew from her mouth and after one of the most difficult conversations she’d ever had, she hung up.

“How about we go home and watch a movie?” Kelly suggested.

“That sounds good,” Taylor replied, following Kelly back to his truck and climbing into the passenger seat.

It didn’t take them long to reach the apartment and Taylor set up the movie, settling on the sofa. Lost in thought, she jumped as Kelly joined her and offered him a small smile as he handed her a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

“Are you hungry?” he inquired.

“Not at the moment.”

With her cup placed on the table, she cuddled into Kelly’s side without another word and pressed play as he put his arm around her. She had no idea when she drifted off to sleep, but the film was almost over by the time she woke up and Shay had joined them.

“Hey there,” Kelly whispered as she shifted to get comfortable, “You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“If you fancy it, everyone is down at Molly’s,” Shay told her, “It might be a good distraction from everything.”

“Why not,” Taylor agreed, “I could use a drink.”

Taylor wasn’t one to ever really get drunk, but she just needed to forget for a while and she’d heard many people say that drink was the perfect solution for that. Each drink offered seemed like a better idea and brought her closer to the numbness she desired, but Taylor wasn’t prepared for the insecurities it dragged up as well.

Not wanting to ruin the other’s night, she slipped out of the bar without a word and started walking. She had no real destination in mind, but soon found herself outside Antonio’s apartment building and buzzed his door number.

With her balance off-kilter, she knocked on his door and stumbled forward as he opened it.

“Rough day?” he asked, letting Taylor in and leading her to the living room.

“Why does everyone leave me?” Taylor mumbled as she dropped onto the sofa, “My parents have never been there, Mrs. Caswell passed away today and it won’t be long until Kelly realizes that he can do better.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Renee is back in town and everyone loves Renee,” Taylor replied, “I don’t deserve good things.”

“You deserve everything good, Taylor,” Antonio argued, sending Kelly a quick text to let him know that she was there, “This is just the drink talking, you need to sleep it off and things will seem a lot better in the morning.”

Taylor took a deep breath, feeling tears roll down her cheeks and wiping them away. It wasn’t long until exhaustion washed over her and she offered Antonio a mumbled thank you as he covered her with a blanket, before submitting to the darkness.