Chapter 31

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Joel's POV

12:30am Saturday

Everyone wild awake and seated in the waiting room, but I couldn't seat still like every one else. I kept pacing to and fro trying to stay sane. Lyla had talked Taju and Kelvin into going home, so only her and Charles were left with me.

Lucky for us, my mum was on night duty when we got into the hospital so we were able get Zaria in very quickly. My hand was still bleeding and I was in serious pain but I didn't put my attention to it. It was the least of my problems. I saw my mum walking up to us and I looked up, expecting her to give me great news.

"How is she?" Lyla asked, standing up.

"She is going to be fine, right?" I asked.

"She is going to be fine. She is not yet awake but I promise she will be fine." She looked down at my hand. It was shaking involuntary. "We need to attend to that hand." She added, looking up.

"I'm fine, mum." I lied.

"No you are not." Lyla said.

"You have been wincing in pain since we got here and you can't even touch anything with that hand." Charles chipped in. I sighed then looked at mum. She raised her eyebrows.

"Joel, I need to bandage that up. You are in pain. We have to treat that hand." Mum told me sternly and I exhaled

"I need to be here when Zaria wakes up." I replied.

"Don't worry, It won't take time, I promise. Now come on." She held my other hand and pulled me along.

She took me to her office and sat me down. She took a clean cotton wool to clean the dried blood off my hand. She then took out a new bandage and started to dress my wound. I felt pain shoot through my knuckles but I didn't pay attention to it. My eyes just stared straight ahead. I could feel my mum's eyes on me but I didn't look back at her.

"You know, what you did was really brave. Zaria is lucky to have you...all of you." She said. I looked at her, my face contoured in anger as the image of Sam on Zaria appeared in my mind.

"I wish I killed him." I muttered. "I wanted to kill him." I growled out through gritted teeth.

"Then you would be in jail right now, honey..." She replied but I interrupted her.

"And it would have been totally worth it. That man doesn't deserve to live." I told her sternly.

"He doesn't but it's not in your place to give him the justice he deserves." She smiled. I closed my eyes as my emotions rushed through me. A single tear dropped from my eyes.

"It's all my fault." I muttered.

"Why is it your fault?" She asked.

"I made her promise to call me anytime she senses danger. I promised to be there for her." I sniffed, tears flowing from my eyes as I looked away from my mum.

"She called me. She called me 20 times but I wasn't there to pick her call. I failed her, mum. I broke mine promise." I replied as more tears fell from my eyes. I rarely cried but this was totally worth my tears.

"Hey..." Mum cupped my face in her hand and used her thumb to clean my tears. "It's okay. You can't control everything no matter how much you try to. One way or another, that man would have gotten what he wanted. It might not have been today but trust me it would have even be worse. Pull yourself together. Everything will be fine."

"I'm scared mum." I told her.

"Zaria will be fine. I promise." She kissed my forehead and pulled me in for a hug. I cried my eyes out on her uniform.

𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 (𝙱𝚃𝚂 𝙵𝙰𝙼𝙸𝙻𝚈 𝚂𝙴𝚁𝙸𝙴𝚂 #𝟷)Where stories live. Discover now