Page 106 of Rise Above

“Talon.” Davis stood before me. His eyes were a

little red as he held out a hand to me. “They’re taking Aife to the hospital. EMS wouldn’t let anyone ride with her on. Come on.”

They left? I hadn’t even seen the stretcher leave. It

felt like my world was collapsing around me. No one had

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this much medical trauma follow them, right? First my dad, then my tongue, then my hand, and now Aife. Numb. I felt numb, like static on a TV.

“Talon, buddy,” Davis said, pulling me up from the

arena floor. “Aife needs us, man. Come on.”

Zeke and Chris stood outside, faces grim. All three

held me up as we made our way outside. How was Aife so calm when I was hurt? My mind was sluggish, unable to process anything except the image of her tiny body lying on the tile floor with that trail of blood.

Somehow, we wound up at the hospital. One of the

three shoved me in a hard, plastic chair in the waiting room. A steaming Styrofoam cup was placed in my hand. The liquid inside could only be described as sludge. My stomach turned over at the sight. Where was Aife?

Natalie and Dre appeared from somewhere. Any

color they once had in their skin was now gone. Nat looked shaky, like she was about to keel over. Dre was on the verge of tears. Her eyes were rimmed red, and she was sniffing.

“What the fuck is going on?” My voice came out

raw and hoarse.

Nat looked at me carefully. She bit her lip before

playing with the ends of her hair. “I don’t really know, TJ. They took her back for an MRI. They called her MPOA and reached out to her doctor in Houston. I’m not family, so they won’t tell me anything.”

My fist came down hard on the plastic chair.

“Fuck!”

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“TJ, please be calm,” Dre said, “If you make a

scene, security will come.”

Licking my bottom lip, I just nodded. Silence.

Silence was infuriating. It meant being left alone with my thoughts, and I didn’t want that. My mind was playing the ‘what if game,’ and all the scenarios were bad. Plus, I had so many questions. It was like Dad all over again, but somehow worse. Why was Aife seeing a doctor in Houston? She lived here now. My head throbbed from all my thoughts.

My body jolted once someone shook my shoulder.

A groan escaped my mouth as I stretched and looked up to see a young-looking doctor. He had brown skin and shoulder length hair. He looked tired.

“Come with me. Aife is awake and requesting you.” I stood and popped my back. “You her doctor?”