“Rachel. Kaleb. Wake up, it’s an emergency!” I slammed my hand repeatedly on their bedroom door. I knew it was theirs because it was the only room that they didn’t point out on the tour of the house.
“What’s wrong, Anastasia?” Kaleb asked as he opened their door, sleepily rubbing at his eyes.
“It’s Ambrose. Come quick.” I spread my hands in front of myself, even though I was still processing what just happened. “He attacked me, I didn’t know who it was…”
“What have you done?” Rachel asked, as she appeared behind Kaleb, her face pale and drawn with fear. They rushed past me and into my room. Rachel’s anguished scream echoed down the hall to me and I swear my heart broke. Ambrose may have hated me, but I didn’t hate him, not really…
“Ana,” Kaleb yelled. “Get my phone and call 911.” His voice dropped as he tried to console his wife. “He’s going to be okay, Rach. We’ll get him to the hospital…”
I darted into their room, which was large and luxurious, and found Kaleb’s smartphone by the bedside light. I dialled 911 as I ran back to my own room. Rachel was cradling Ambrose’s head. The pool of blood was spreading around them on the wooden flooring. With a shaking hand, I gave the phone to Kaleb.
“Hello? I need an ambulance, right away. My son has been stabbed.” He spoke quickly and efficiently.
I thought I was going to be sick. I couldn’t listen to that. I walked out of the room, down the stairs, and into the street. Someone needed to flag down the ambulance when they arrived, so I figured that person should be me. I wished briefly that I’d worn warmer pyjamas, waiting out there in the cold, but I scolded myself for being so selfish. Ambrose could be dying and I’m complaining about being cold?
The lights of the silent ambulance showed up first before it raced down the street towards me and came to a sudden stop.
“In here!” I called, waving them over. The EMTs rushed to me. “They’re upstairs, end of the hall.”
One of them nodded. “Right, thanks. Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m… I’m fine,” I stammered. With that confirmation, they left me and both jogged into the open house, and disappeared up the stairs.
I waited in the hallway downstairs. I wished I could go up and get fresh clothes. But, of course, they were all up in my room… One of the EMTs came down the stairs and jogged outside to the ambulance. They were back a moment later with a gurney.
So he must still be alive. Before long, everyone came down the stairs all at once. The EMTs carried Ambrose between them on the gurney. He was pale and sweaty, mercifully, his eyes were closed, so he couldn’t see me inspecting him from a distance.
“You go with him, Rachel, we’ll meet you at the hospital.” Kaleb looked at me then and handed me one of my hoodies. “Come on.”
On the way to the hospital, Kaleb didn’t speak. His face was pale and wan, He followed the ambulance at break-neck speed, and pulled into a parking lot near the ambulance bay. We both jogged into the emergency room to see Ambrose being wheeled into a ‘no visitors’ area and to see Rachel drop to her knees in tears.
* * *
Sitting in the hospital waiting room my mind spun. While Kaleb paced back and forth, Rachel slumped in her chair silently sobbing. Me? I was trying to figure out what this all meant. My parents still hadn’t asked me what had happened. But they’d seen the gun by now. And that wasn’t a bullet wound in Ambrose’s stomach…
But all I could think was;Ambrose? Why Ambrose?
When I planted myself in the Varela household it was to set a trap for someone who was trying to kill me. With the target on my back, Ambrose hadn’t been who I expected to take the bait. He was my brother, whether he had liked it or not.
It just didn’t make any sense.
Cassio was the man I’d been after, not Ambrose. Oh boy, I couldn’t wait to hear Ambrose explain his way out of this one. Was it simply because he hated methatmuch, or had Cassio gotten to him.
“Family of Ambrose Varela?” a man in a white coat called out to the mostly empty waiting room.
I stood from the hard plastic of the hospital chair and followed my parents to the doctor. I felt like an imposter, I was the reason Ambrose was here. But I didn’t let that get to me. He was family, to some extent, I wanted to know how he was doing. And when, or if, I’d be able to go in and talk to him. These weeks I’d been looking for answers and now I felt they may have been closer than I thought this entire time.
“Yes?” Kaleb said as he held Rachel tightly in his arms as she tried to compose herself.
“Young Mr Varela should make a full recovery. He lost some blood, and we took some time assessing just how deep the wound was, but he was very lucky. None of his organs were harmed in the attack. He’s been stitched up and given some pain medication. He’s sleeping at the minute but I’ll come and get you when he wakes up.”
“Thank you, doctor,” I said as my parents walked back to their seats.
We sat, waiting for an update, the sky had started lightening - the sun would soon be rising. My phone buzzed in my hand as a text came through. Not surprised I looked down to see Nikolai’s name flash across my screen. I had expected him to get in touch eventually, as soon as he realised that no one was home.
Where are you? — N
I ignored it for the time being. I couldn’t exactly answer right now, with my parents sitting only feet away. It was a risky move, but I knew for a fact that if I heard his voice I would crumble.
