Olivia • Hardzello au

1.

Cw: blood reference, wounds.

5 years later

It has been a pretty tough week at the hospital; a lot of people came in with injuries, some bad, some not that bad. There were even some college kids, who were holding a boy that seemed to be unconscious.

Thankfully, he woke up.

As I get home, I throw my bag on the floor, same thing with my jacket, and I let myself fall on the couch with a loud sigh.
Ben's gonna be home soon. He'll probably ask me to sit like properly, like he always does. I never do it though.

"Hey Joe, I'm home!" He says in a cheerful tone.
I run a hand on my face, yawning silently while I curl up on the couch.

"Hi Ben" I say. My eyes are closing slowly, but suddenly the phone rings.
"Oh, cmon!!" I yell in frustration, picking up my stuff and grunting loudly at my stupid phone.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm on my way."
"See you later Joey" says Ben, chuckling with his hand covering his mouth.
"Shut up, jerk."

------------------------

At the Hospital

"Hey Mazzello, listen: we need to treat this woman that had a very bad car accident, her daughter is alone right now. Could you please go talk to her and check if she's got any wounds? She was in the car too."

I nod in response, checking the papers carefully.

"Where is the kid?"
"In the waiting room."

I walk in the room, noticing a little girl sitting on one of the chairs. She's crying and has some blood on her face.
I kneel down in front of her.
"Hey sweetheart, don't cry... It's okay, you're safe now."
She keeps crying, without even looking in my direction. I sigh a little, sitting next to her on the chairs.
"Listen, how about we go sitting on that bed down there and we play a game? It's called uh... 'water game'."

She finally looks at me, and I can't help but noticing her gingerbread eyes, reddish for all the tears she shed.
I pick her up carefully, hearing her moan in pain. Biting my lip, I slowly put her down.
"Take my hand darling." I say in a sweet tone; she probably has a wound on her body.

As I clean her face with a wet towel, she wipes her eyes, staying silent during all the process. She's probably traumatized.

"I'm gonna check if you got injured, okay sweetie?"
She nods again, while I carefully lift her hoodie up, noticing a large cut on her waist. Thank God the blood has stopped coming out.
I gently tap on it, trying not to hurt her or worse, re-open the cut.
She squints her eyes, sniffing slightly and then looking at me.

"Where's my mommy...?"

I freeze, putting a bendage on her tiny body.
"She's being cleaned like you are. Soon you'll be able to see her, okay?"
I smile, trying to reassure her.
She doesn't answer, so I finish cleaning her face and hair, wiping them with a clean towel.

"All done, are you hungry?"

She nods slowly, playing with her fingers and avoiding my eyes again.

"Wait here, I'm gonna take a snack for you."

As I reach the snack machine, I notice one of the nurses coming out with her hands covered in blood and a dark face.

Then they all get out of room, same expression as the nurse that just passed by. Something happened.

"Hey, what happened?"
"The mother died. Her injuries were too deep."

I sigh, nodding silently and looking at the little girl, trying to figure out a way to tell her the news.

This is gonna be hard.