The Space Between Us

Chapter Ten

I looked down and saw that it was Kim, Jessie's mom. "I better take this," I said, pulling off my helmet and holding up my finger to tell him to wait a minute. "Hello?"

"Lara, it's Kim." She sounded frantic and I could tell she was crying.

"What is it? Is Jessie okay?"

"She's not doing well...she's asking for you."

"Okay, I'm coming now. I'm with Craig. He can give me a ride to the hospital." I looked at him and he nodded, climbing on his bike and pulling his helmet on.

"Jessie wants to see him too."

"Okay, we'll both come." I said goodbye and disconnected the call. I looked at Craig and he looked back at me, trepidation in his eyes. "It's Jessie. She wants to see you too." He looked surprised but nodded.

"Let's go."

We were there in ten minutes, rushing up the quiet halls to her room. There were nurses going in and out of the room and they all wore the same worried look. I felt a pang of panic as Craig took my hand in his and squeezed it.

Kim and Lyle were sitting on either side of the bed with Jessie. A nurse was in the corner of the room, checking her monitor and writing things down on her clipboard.

I looked back at Jessie. She didn't look good at all. So pale and weak. She had an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth and I could hear the ventilator chugging away beside her. Lyle stepped out of our way so we could get closer to her.

"Hi Jessie," I said softly, leaning in close. Her eyes fluttered open and I could see her small smile within the clear mask. "Craig's here too," I said, as I reached behind me to take hold of Craig's hand.

He leaned closer. "Hey you," he said, his voice raspy with emotion. Jessie looked at him and her grin got bigger.

Kim lovingly brushed Jessie's bangs aside with her hand. "She can't talk. Her lungs are struggling tonight just to breathe on their own," she explained.

I nodded, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Craig did the same behind me.

"But she's definitely happy you are both here because that's the first smile we've seen tonight," Kim said with her own teary smile.

"Thanks for coming, you guys," Lyle said from behind Kim. He rested his hands on Kim's shoulders, squeezing them gently. She reached up with one of her hands and covered his as they both looked at Jessie.

"She'll be okay," Kim said. "This is just a little hiccup. A scary hiccup, right Pumpkin," she said to Jessie.

Jessie looked from her mom to her dad, blinking once.

"Yeah," Kim said. "We'll be okay though." She took Jessie's hand in her hands, rubbing the back of her hand softly. She looked up at us after a minute. "We just didn't know what was going to happen for a bit there. She told me weeks ago if that ever happened, I was supposed to call you."

I nodded. "I'm so glad you called." I looked at Jessie. "I'll always come. Anytime, okay."

Jessie nodded.

We stayed with them until Jessie finally fell asleep. The nurses assured us that she was stabilized and should be fine through the night. Kim and Lyle were staying the night so Lyle walked us out of the room.

"I have no words," he said, choking on his emotion. He cleared his throat in an attempt to cover up the fact that he looked like a man ready to break into a flood of tears.

"I'm so sorry this is happening." I didn't know what else to say. What could I say? I hated this. I hated that she was slowly dying. I hated that we had no idea how much time we had left with her.