Nothing.
With my ear pressed to the door, I did my best to listen for his voice.
It was completely quiet.
That’s weird.
Why didn’t he come down and get me once he was finished?
“Rafael? Are you in there?”
He wouldn’t have left or something without telling me, right?I listened again, trying to hear anything. Even his cute snores would be some clue as to what was going on.
Suddenly, a wet, gurgling sound began. It sounded unnatural. Frightening.
I jiggled the doorknob to find it was locked.
Fuck!
I backed up, giving myself as much room as the narrow upstairs hall would allow, and barged into the door.
“What’s happening?” Mom yelled from downstairs.
“Something’s wrong.”
I threw my body into it again. The door cracked a bit.
“Mom, Hank, something is wrong with Rafael.”
Hank ran up the stairs. “What is it?”
“I don’t know. The door is locked, and I hear choking.”
Hank didn’t skip a beat. Together, we threw bodies against the door, which finally splintered at the seams and opened.
Rafael lied on the bed, and I ran to him. I noticed his blue lips first, then the fluttering of his eyes. I put my hand on his cheeks, trying to turn him to look at me, and his skin was cold and clammy.
My heart thundered in my chest. Mom was right outside the bedroom door by this point.
“Jill, call an ambulance,” Hank yelled.
Mom started calling, and my hands started shaking.
“Rafael! Rafael, wake up!”
He was unresponsive. The tears streamed down my cheeks as I shook his body, trying to get him to wake up.
His chest rose and fell unevenly, and the gagging intensified. Vomit started falling from his mouth.
“Rafael! Please! Please, wake up!”
“They’re on their way,” Mom said as she raced into the room. “He’s throwing up? Turn him so he doesn’t choke.”
The three of us turned him so that he lay on his side, and the vomit poured out of his mouth, landing on the floor.
My eyes couldn’t look away as it landed in a puddle, and there, next to the bed, was an empty bottle of Smirnoff.
“Rafael, stay with me. Stay with me.”
