8
JACE'S POV
The short drive that took me down to the hospital seemed to last for hours.
I was in a daze, my heart slamming in my chest, fear gnawing at my insides.
My mother.
The sight of the same woman who had looked okay after I left the house that morning in a pool of her own blood was something out of a nightmare.
How? How was it possible?
I knew she wasn't strong enough, that was why I made sure to do practically each and every chore before leaving the house every morning. She didn't have to do anything apart from eat and take her drugs.
There was no excuse for her to be moving around.
As the taxi inched towards the hospital, my initial fear began to dissolve to anger. Why? Why had she even left the bed in the first place? Surely she had fallen?
I shook my head in a bid to control the anger that threatened to envelope me whole.
"Jace? Are you okay?"
I had nearly forgotten that Xander was next to me. Everything was happening so fast, it was impossible to even keep track of the events that had followed as soon as I received that unfortunate call.
I nodded, swallowing hard as I wondered what Mrs Chang was going to think when I didn't show up after my thirty minutes had elapsed.
Was I going to lose two jobs in a span of hours?
The taxi came to an abrupt halt immediately, drawing me out from my reverie. Xander paid the driver while I dashed into the hospital, a madman, my eyes wild, searching for my mother.
The nurses managed to calm me down and get me to speak, then guided Xander and I to the waiting area to wait for a few minutes while the doctors did their jobs.
"Everything's going to be fine, man. I promise."
Xander's voice would've been a relief on a normal day, but being in the hospital to see your mother who was already ill was far from a normal day.
Everything was not going to be fine.
I roamed the halls of the waiting area, my head in my hands. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to my mother.
After my father's death, I had vowed to take care of her. Was this how I was taking care of her? Was this the way I had promised to fulfill the promises I had made to my dead father?
"Mr Wilder?"
The sound of my name seemed to come from faraway. It was when I saw the stethoscope around the older man's neck that it dawned on me that it was the doctor talking to me.
"Doctor, how is my mum?"
"Oh, she's doing quite well, Mr Wilder. The swift interference of your neighbor was crucial."
I nodded, thankful to Mrs Jones who had rushed back home to attend to her grandchildren.
"Mr Wilder, your mother's collapse came as a result of the tuberculosis which she is currently battling. She suffered a collapsed lung also known as pneumothorax. The tuberculosis caused damages in her lungs, rupturing it and allowing air to leak into the space between the lung and the chest wall."
I stared at the bald headed doctor, unable to comprehend the words that left his lips.
"We managed to get the situation under control by taking her into the theatre immediately and applying a video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery."
I turned to Xander, who nodded at the doctor in understanding. He was saving to study medicine in college, and it was obvious he understood what the doctor said better than I did.
"Can we see her, doc?"
"Yes, you can. However, I'd like to have a word with you in my office shortly, Mr Wilder. Thank you. The nurse will lead you to the room which she occupies."
The walk to the room where my mother was in seemed to take forever. I constantly clenched and unclenched my hands in nervousness, thinking about Simon and how confused he would be when he returned home to an empty house and blood on the floor.
I shivered slightly as we stopped at the door of one of the numerous rooms in the huge post surgical ward of the hospital.
When I saw my mother and the machines sticking to her frail body, I felt my knees buckle.
The smile on her face was what kept me from falling. It was a weak smile, but it was a smile regardless, a beacon of light in the darkness.
"Mum…"
I clutched her hand, squeezing it because my lips couldn't find the right words. I didn't know what to do. Console her? Apologize for not being there when she needed me most?
Throughout the drive all I had wanted was to see her, and now in front of her, words failed me.
I barely recognized my own mother anymore.
"Oh, I'll be fine, Jace. Just one of those complications that we're going to triumph over. Has your shift ended?"
I shook my head, observing how weak her voice seemed to be, and how much of a struggle it was for her to even speak.
I hated seeing her like this, but at the same time, I was helpless. The frustration had succeeded in turning me inside out to the extent of generating confusion.
"Simon?"
"I'll have Xander bring him to the hospital. I'm not leaving your side ever again, mum. I'm sorry…"
"Oh, stop it, Jace. You have to work. You have a brother to take care of, bills to sort. You're a growing young man. Your life is outside there, not here with me, okay?"
When she coughed, the nurse moved, selecting her words carefully as she spoke.
"She needs to rest, Mr Wilder. She needs her rest."
I nodded, agreeing with the nurse as I kissed my mother's hand before proceeding to leave the room, Xander beside me. I had to see the doctor first before anything else.
"I'll have to see the doctor alone, Xander. Wait out here for me."
Xander nodded, maintaining eye contact before I entered the office.
"If you need anything, man, I'm out here."