“I’ll make a note of it.” The doctor nodded before walking away.
“LJ, you can’t be serious,” Pepper gasped. “Are you really going to deny me the right to see my son and he’s fighting for his life?”
“The life you just tried to unplug?”
“I was only trying to do what I thought was best for Sage.My son, the one key factor you keep forgetting.”
Running his hand down his face, Logic glanced at his sisters, who resembled raging bulls. At any moment, it looked as if they were ready to take off and charge their mother again. Keeping his cool was a must, so instead of getting loud, Logic took a deep breath and stared at Pepper. A lump formed in her throat as his eyes penetrated her.
“What’s his favorite color, Pep?” Logic calmly asked. “What size shoe does he wear? What’s his GPA, huh? What is his favorite sport? You wanna visit him, tell me something about him that you’ve learned in the last couple of months you’ve been around him. What is his favorite cereal? What does he do when he can’t sleep? Tell me something about your fucking son!”
“I-I,” she stuttered.
“You can’t tell me shit because you don’t know shit about him…about any of them. These,” he pointed to his sisters, “Are MY fucking kids. I took care of them. I raised them.” He slapped his chest. “You don’t have no fucking say so.”
“CPS should’ve took them! Leaving them in your care got my baby shot!”
“No,yougot him shot.” Spice snatched away from Pearl. “Had him over there taking his money and leaving him in that nasty apartment. This is your fault. We’ve been good without you all this time, and the minute you come back, all hell breaks loose. He left the house because you didn’t pick him up. Sage heard everything that you said about him, so don’t blame Lo for what happened to him. This is all on you, and when my brother wakes up, he’s going to hate you just like we do.”
“Well, I guess I’ll just go,” Pepper spoke through the tears that rolled down her face. “I’m leaving, but this is not over!”
“Bye.” Shugg waved her off. “You never should’ve came back. We don’t need you!”
With John limping next to her, Pepper slowly turned on her heels and exited the family room. She didn’t know what hurt worse, knowing that Sage heard her talking about him or knowing that he left the house because she failed to pick him up like she promised.
“Family of Sage Peterson,” a nurse called out. “I can take you back at this time.”
Logic grabbed his sisters’ hands and started following the nurse. Halfway down the hall, he turned to face Tyler.
“I’ll be right here,” she promised before he could say anything. Logic nodded his head and kept it pushing.
???
Once they reached the room, the twins paused so Logic could enter first. They didn’t know what to expect and were terrified of the unknown. Taking a deep breath, Logic stepped ahead of them. The room was cold and smelled like disinfectant. Approaching the bed, Logic's knees buckled. He tucked his lip into his mouth to keep from crying out loud. Sage didn’t look like the brother he left that evening. A tube was taped to his nose, his leg was hoisted in the air, and his eyes were black and sealed shut. Another tube hung from the corner of his mouth, stretching his lips downward. His face was swollen, and his head was twice its normal size.
“Oh my god,” Spice cried, running to his side.
“Sage,” Shugg sobbed, carefully picking up his hand that was taped with an IV needle. “Brother, please,” she begged. “Please get up.”
Logic stood at the foot of the bed and stared at his brother. He felt guilty for not keeping Pepper away from them. Logic had one job, and he failed. Tears leaked from his eyes as he watched his sisters hold each other while crying over Sage. Logic prayed like hell his little brother pulled through because he didn’t know how they’d move on. For the longest it had been four of them, and three just didn’t make sense. He didn’t know how they’d live in a world where Sage didn’t exist.
“Can I get you anything?” A nurse asked, stepping into the room.
“Nah.” Logic wiped his face. “Why his head so swole?”
“Um, let me see.” She moved around the room and grabbed the chart next to his bed. Quickly scanning it, she nodded andpeered up at him. “It looks like he had an allergic reaction to one of the medicines he was given during the surgery.”
“Is it going to go down?” Spice asked. “Or is his head going to be this size forever?”
“It’s going to go down,” the nurse promised.
“Whew!” Shugg wiped her face and stared down at him. “Because brother I love you, but baby, the jokes I was going to have.” She chuckled lightly, making Logic shake his head.
“You hear me,” Spice agreed.
“That’s good,” the nurse chuckled. “I know it’s hard to look on the bright side, but you have to. Tonight has been horrible and we’ve had to tell so many families that their loved ones are gone, but you still have yours. It’s ok to be sad and scared, but don’t start grieving. This young man is fighting for his life, and as long as he hears your voice and feels your presence, he has every reason to come out of this alive.”
“I appreciate that,” Logic told her.
