Mending Hearts (16 page)

Raelynn

When I hear a man who sounds
like my daddy yell, “RUN!” I run with the kids and some
adults
out of the cafeteria and down the
hallway. Mrs. Hernandez leads us to an empty classroom. “Kids, I
want you all to go all the way to the back of the room and huddle
as close as you can. Very quickly and very quietly, please,” she
says as she claps her hands.

Now we all huddle together and we are all
crying. Tommy holds my hand and I squeeze his hand tightly. When
all of the kids get into the room, Mrs. Hernandez locks the door
and makes a phone call. She hangs up and says, “Sit on the floor
and look at your lap. I don’t want you to look around. Do it now.”
We all sit down and Tommy still holds my hand. I stare at our hands
and try not to look around. The room becomes dark and I know that
Mrs. Hernandez has closed the blinds. The phone in the room rings
and she talks briefly before she walks over to me. “Raelynn, come
with me.” 

I stand up and she holds my
hand as we walk towards the door. A tall man is standing there and
I back away from the door and hide behind her legs. “It’s all
right, Raelynn. Mr. Smith is going to take you across the hall to
see James.” I shake my head and scoot behind her even
further
. I don’t know that man and I don’t
want to go with him.
What if he is a bad
man?
I hear whispers between the man and
her before she kneels down to me. “Raelynn, hold my hand and we are
going to walk quickly across the hall where James is. All
right?” 

I only nod and hold on to the hand with both
of mine. We run quickly down the hall to the clinic. The nurse is
in the doorway waiting for us. “Raelynn, James is in here; stay
here with Mrs. Jones.” 

I nod and take Nurse Jones’ hand. The door
shuts and I hear it lock. Nurse Jones kneels down to me and she has
a friendly face. “James is here; are you all right?” 

“
I’m scared,” I whisper. “I
want to be with my Bubby.” 

“
He’s right over there on
the cot asleep. Let me get you a chair so you can sit beside him.”
When she turns around, I walk over to James and lie in the cot with
him. I gently put my arm around him and cuddle closely into him. He
feels hot and he doesn’t move. Nurse Jones lightly touches my hair
and covers us both with a soft white cotton blanket and says, “Your
daddy will be here soon.” 

Alec

A detective quickly and efficiently leads me
out of the cafeteria and takes me into another room down the hall
from the cafeteria. I look at the doors for a sign that says,
“NURSE.” James should be in there and hopefully he is safe.

“
Mr. Collins?” a man in a
suit and tie asks. 

“
Yes, my children are here…”
I begin to say before he cuts me off. 

“
We have your daughter,
Raelynn, and your son, James. They are both safe. There is a sink
over there; I think you should wash the blood from your
hands.” 

I look down at my bloody hands and I have to
wonder whether the blood is from me or from the gunman. “Thank
you.” 

I wash my hands and he tells me the 911
operator recorded everything that was said from my phone. He also
tells me my call wasn’t the only one they received.

“
I would ask you if you want
the nurse to look at your hands, but as you can imagine, she is
busy helping others.” 

I dry my hands and see that
the blood isn’t mine. I have a few cuts on my knuckles, but nothing
to warrant that much blood. The cuts are big enough for the man’s
blood to get in my body and possibly infect me with any diseases he
is carrying. Opening and closing my hand is very painful and I
wonder if it’s broken
. I’ll need an X-ray
and an H.I.V. test before going home tonight
. I disconnect the call from my cell phone to the 911 operator
before saying, “I’m fine, did he hurt anyone?” Now that the
adrenaline is wearing off, I hear the noise of sirens and
helicopters outside. 

“
I’m afraid he did. We have
one casualty so far.” 

“
Oh, I’m sorry to hear
that.” 

“
Thanks to you, it could
have been much worse. The perpetrator made his intentions very
clear.”

“
The casualty? Was it a
child?” I ask, not sure if I want to know the
answer. 

“
Thankfully, no, but
unfortunately it was the principal. The vice-principal and his
secretary are both badly injured.” 

“
Do you know how he got on
the school grounds?” 

“
We aren’t sure yet. Our
team is still piecing together the missing parts. He worked here at
one time, so there’s no telling.” 

“
Where are my kids? I have a
sick son and my daughter was in the cafeteria. I would really like
to see them.”

The man nods to another man standing near
the door. “Of course, and your fiancée is also on her way. Once you
are reunited with everyone, we have a car that can drive you where
you need to go. We’ll take you out the back since the front is
filled with reporters looking for a story.” 

“
I would really appreciate
it if my name doesn’t get leaked to the media. I have a family, and
I would like to protect them from possible retaliation from the
gunman’s family.” 

“
I understand. We’ll do our
best to keep your name private per your request. You should be
advised we’ll do our best to protect your identity, but sometimes
these things get leaked and it’s beyond our control.”

“
I understand and thank
you.”

“
You also need to know
you’ll be called as a witness when this goes to court.”

The detective escorts me into the clinic
where Raelynn and James are. The lights are off and the blinds are
closed. It takes only a few seconds for my eyes to adjust and focus
in on the kids laying on the cot. The door shuts behind us and
Raelynn looks over her shoulder. “Daddy!” she cries. 

I quickly walk over to her and she is
already up and out of the cot running to me. I swoop her up and hug
her tightly. I kiss her head, her hair, and her soft wet cheeks,
and she cries, “Daddy, there was a bad man…” 

“
I know, Baby,” I interrupt.
“It’s all right.” I hold her and notice her dress is wet and she
smells like urine. It breaks my heart to think my little girl peed
herself. I hold her tightly and smooth her long hair. Kissing her
again, I carry her over to where James is sleeping on the cot. I
say a silent prayer that he is unaware of the events at the
school. 

Before we leave, I ask about Braden and
Briley Jamison. To my surprise both of Brooke and Brice’s kids are
out sick today.

I call Mason to let him know we are on our
way. I also asked him to call my parents to have them bring Rae a
change of clothing. I call Molly and tell her to meet us at the
office. The police offered us an escort, so I decided we would go
to the office. Mason can check out the kids, X-ray my hand, and
give me a rapid HIV test all in the same place. It will also be
more private for the kids. Raelynn wet herself in the cafeteria
from fear; fortunately, James is unaware anything even happened at
the school. He can see everyone is visibly shaken, but he doesn’t
ask why. James is sick and vomits in the car and the driver of the
car pulls over for us.

We enter through the back door of the
office, and to my surprise the building is empty except for the
staff. Mason closed it and had Carla and Cathy, the office
managers, reschedule all the patients for later this week. Mason
examines Raelynn first as Emma sits nearby.

The back door opens and in walk my parents.
I walk to the back door before they can walk further into the
building. Mom and Dad both hug me and I can feel their fear in
their embrace. I explain to them the condition Rae is in and say
that I need them to understand what has happened and my mother
needs to know to remain calm.

“
We called Sam, Bridget,
Danny, Cheryl, Millie, and Gene to let them know. Alec, it’s all
over the news. They even have you, Emma, and the kids on video
coming out the back of the school. They are calling you a hero,
although they aren’t releasing your name.” 

“
I think Raelynn may be in
shock. Mom, can you sit with Emma and the kids? Dad, will you come
with me? James is sick, I think he has a fever,” I say.

My mom doesn’t answer as she takes off down
the hallway in search of Emma and the kids. “Is everything all
right, Alec?” 

“
It’s fine, come with me.” I
inform the staff that family will be coming in and if they can
advise them to remain calm and hide their fears, it would help the
kids. Maybe they can wait in the waiting area for us. I’m not sure
how many will be coming. Dad follows me into a treatment room and I
close the door behind us. I show him my hand and watch his
expression. With my dad being a surgeon, I figure he’ll know more
about broken bones and fractures than anyone.

He touches my fingertips, fingers, and then
the knuckles and the palm of my hand. He is expressionless, as I
thought he would be. “Let’s get this X-rayed.” Dad X-rays it and as
he waits for the film, I go and check on the kids. Molly and Emma
are both visibly shaken, as is everyone else. Raelynn snuggles into
Molly, and Molly rocks her back and forth singing softly to her.
Raelynn is still crying; I can see the sobs as she
breathes. 

Mason consults with me and
my dad before he treats either of the kids.
Mason sees James after he sees Raelynn. He wants to give
Raelynn something to calm her, and he also advises she sees a child
psychologist. Dad and I both agree. James is running a temp and his
flu test came back positive. Mason wants to make sure James isn’t
allergic to any antibiotics before he gives him something. I’m not
sure, so I’ll have to check with Emma.

Mason has a large supply of drugs stocked in
the cabinets. One day a week, he allows drug reps to visit the
office. They bring in and promote the newest and best drugs
available to date. They also bring in various antibiotics,
inhalers, and allergy meds, among other things. I am grateful that
Mason has what we need already on hand. 

I ask Cathy to give me a HIV
test and to send it away stat. She already had everything ready for
me along with the prophylactic medication starter kit. It contains
a 30-day supply of HIV meds. I’ll need to take the meds for the 30
days, and if I test negative for the virus then I can discontinue
the medication. Dad comes in and tells me my hand has a bad sprain
and is badly bruised, but it is not broken.
Finally some good news.
He cleans my
hand, uses Neosporin ointment, and wraps it with 4x4 bandages and
gauze. My hand looks worse than it is but looks as bad as it
feels.

As soon as I can, I go and sit in the room
with the kids, I am relieved when Raelynn falls asleep. Mason comes
in and sits down on the stool. “I medicated Raelynn and James, and
Carla made an appointment for Raelynn to see a child psychologist.”
He hands me the appointment card and says, “She may not need it,
but I would at least take her to see. She has been through so much
today. She may have night terrors and she may begin to wet the bed,
but then again she may not and she may be fine. Every child reacts
to trauma differently.” Emma and Molly both cry. “I gave James
Tylenol for his fever and Amoxicillin for the flu. Emma confirmed
he is allergy free. He’ll start feeling better in a couple days.
I’m also sending you home a low dose of Phenergan for his vomiting.
It’ll also make him sleepy.”

Mason hands me a bag containing the kids’
medication. I look inside; the bag also contains a supply of
bandages and gauze for my hand. “Thank you.” 

“
It’s no problem. Carla said
there’s a waiting area full of people waiting to see you.” He
smiles and I know it’s not newspaper reporters.

I look at Emma and say, “Stay here and we’ll
go home shortly. Let me update everyone and we’ll be ready to
go.” 

Emma nods as she rocks James back and
forth.

I walk into the waiting area, which is full
of family and friends. Brooke, Sara, Brea, my three brothers, my
sister, my parents, Molly’s parents, Max’s parents, and Emma’s
parents are all waiting patiently for news. It just dawns on me all
of the grandparents the kids have. “I guess you all have already
heard.”

Everyone starts talking at once, and I raise
my hand to quiet the room. I hear gasps and I see why. My hand
looks worse than it is. As quickly and as calmly as I can, I try to
explain what happened at the school and I also try to fill them in
on Raelynn and James. Emma’s dad tells me there are two casualties
at the school. The vice-principal also didn’t make it. This news
makes the already somber room even more somber.

I say, “I hate to hear that. This is truly a
sad day in Manatee County. We’re leaving to take the kids home and
may I suggest if you come over, to please call first. Raelynn will
be medicated today and we’ll see how she is tomorrow. James is also
ill with the flu and is contagious.” I look around the room at all
the somber faces. “Thank you all for coming; it means a lot to all
of us.” 

I walk back into the room where the kids
are, and I realize that I don’t have a car. I hear a noise and see
all the grandparents are walking in behind me. They linger in the
hallway since the patient’s rooms are so small. “You’ll need a
ride,” my dad says. 

“
Are you guys ready to go
home?” I ask Emma and Molly. 

I look at Molly, and Emma says, “Molly, do
you want to come home with us? I’m sure you want to be with your
daughter tonight.”