When Kat Came Back

Chapter 6

Ashlynn was terrified. Not only would her mother kill her for lying and going to the concert, but she was going to probably revive her and kill her again when she found out she'd told people about what happened.

What confused her was why a social worker, the police and Patrick were all involved. And why he was so interested in her past.

"Ashlynn," the social worker said. "The police are going to go speak to your parents. Is there anything else we should know?"

Her eyes widened.

"You can't talk to my parents!  My mom will literally kill me!"

"Ashlynn, what your mom has been doing, that's abuse. It's not safe for you to be home."

Ashlyn started crying again.

"There are also some things that are going to happen tonight," the social worker said. "First, the police are going to arrest your mom, at least. Maybe talk to your dad. Because you've verified that your wounds were caused by your mother, you are a ward of the State for now. The doctor wants to admit you because he's concerned that your broken rib might have punctured your lung, and you may need surgery."

Ashlynn stayed quiet, contemplating what she was being told.

The police who were also with her in the ER were asking her more questions about her parents and how they treated her and so on.

At some point, a nurse came by and gave her a painkiller. Ashlynn got drowsy and fell asleep.

Angela looked at the girl closely. She kind of did look like Patrick, a little bit.

A lot of the long-term crew knew about Patrick's family tragedy. And as close as Ashlynn resembled Patrick, the reality was his baby sister was probably long dead.

Angela kept a vigilant watch, however. She respected Patrick and the band. When Josh had asked for someone to go sit with the mysterious girl, Angela was one of the first to volunteer.

She watched the girl sleep and kept half an ear open, listening to the cops and social worker. Apparently there was a detective coming and someone had called Chicago PD to send a detective with Kat's case file. They were taking Patrick seriously.

A doctor came in with some films. Since Patrick was still at the venue, Angela stepped in as her guardian, and of course the social worker.

The rib had indeed punctured Ashlynn's lung and she was at risk for a collapsed lung. He showed where the lung had partially collapsed already.  He was going to want to do surgery as quickly as possible to set the rib and repair the puncture, hoping to avoid a full collapse.

Angela texted Josh.

'Ashlynn's lung is punctured. They want to do surgery. Tonight. Don't freak P out, but get him back here ASAP.'

Josh responded quickly.

'10-4.'

As they were sitting around, after the doctor had left, Ashlynn woke up and started coughing again. As she was coughing, Angela noticed she wasn't getting enough air between coughs. And one hard cough that obviously hurt also was followed by a fairly significant amount of blood.

"I can't breathe!" Ashlynn wheezed.

Angela ran to find a nurse or a doctor while the social worker tried to calm Ashlynn down.

A medical team rushed in and assessed her quickly.

"We need to get her into surgery now," the doctor said. "That lung has collapsed. We need to repair and reinflate it as fast as possible."

Angela watched as they grabbed the stretcher and rushed the gasping girl out of the ER.

Angela texted Josh again.

'Ashlynn in surgery. Her lung collapsed."

'Sending Patrick now.' Josh replied. It was 10:00. The concert wasn't over yet. Josh was stopping the concert for Patrick. What on earth was going on?

Angela waited in the emergency room for Patrick to arrive. By the time he did, Ashlynn had been in surgery for about a half an hour.

"What happened? Where is she?"

"They took her for surgery, Patrick. Her broken rib punctured her lung and it collapsed. She was having trouble breathing. I'm so sorry."

"Fuck!" Patrick swore. A family across the way stared at him. Patrick ran his hands through his hair and shook his head. "What did they say?"

"Nothing, other than they had to take her for surgery immediately."

Patrick went over to the nurse's station and asked where Ashlynn would be taken after surgery. They said likely the ICU, but he could wait in the surgical waiting room.

"Just register with the nurse there, and they'll keep you updated," she smiled.