Chapter 9

 

The day of Richie’s funeral was bright, warm, and sunny. After the previous night’s storm, it felt as if it were spring instead of early September.

Paige and Aileen helped Sarah dress and fix her hair before walking her down for breakfast. Sarah was more responsive today, although she still didn’t talk more than she had to and she ate only a small bite of the bacon and eggs Aileen had prepared. Paige wondered what she would be like after the funeral. Would she be able to recover? Would she be able to carry on with some semblance of a normal life? Paige couldn’t imagine losing a husband and a son the way Sarah had. Even though she came close a couple of times, Paige never married. Her job was her marriage.

She didn’t have time to maintain anything that important. Plus, she liked having her way and doing what she wanted without having anyone else to worry about, except for Harry, of course. He was the only outside responsibility she wanted. But she was still lonely. She still longed for a touch, a whisper, an understanding glance shared between two like individuals.

Harry crawled under the table and laid his head on Sarah’s knee.

Paige watched as Sarah slowly reached down and scratched his ears.

“What a great dog,” she thought. It gave her hope that Sarah could recover. Maybe she should get Sarah a dog after all of this was over.

She remembered how much Harry helped. “There’s something about those loving eyes looking up at you, needing your love and attention, loving you in return,” she thought to herself as she bit into some bacon.

The funeral service was beautiful although Paige didn’t notice any of it. She didn’t feel well at all. She kept fidgeting around on the pew, watching Sarah, looking at the rest of the solemn crowd. It was the same crowd that was in the same place not so long ago for Anthony’s funeral plus all of Richie’s friends. Paige wondered if any of them could have had a hand in Richie’s death.

Sarah finally became hysterical. Paige tried to comfort her but at the same time was relieved to have some sort of emotion from her.

It helped Paige realize that Sarah was coming out of her shell and opening up to what was happening. That would help her cope. Paige held her in her arms and rocked her back and forth through the service.

She stroked her hair and held her hand while trying not to listen to the service and trying to be strong for Sarah.

Paige was thankful that the service was not a long one and the grave side service was to be even shorter. She hoped that having all of Sarah’s friends around her at Aileen’s during the evening that would follow would help as well. Maybe that would force Sarah to break down some of the walls she had built around herself the last couple of days.

After the grave side service was over, Aileen, Paige and Sarah walked back to the car. Paige walked over to stand by Sarah on the sidewalk and Aileen leaned into the car to get her jacket from the back seat. A sudden prick of fear consumed Paige as she heard the squeal of tires and horrible thud. Her heart pounded as she wheeled around to find a TARC bus, Louisville’s public transportation, stopped with Sarah lying on the pavement in front of it. “Oh, God!” Paige screamed as she and Aileen rushed to her. She was bleeding badly from her mouth and nose. Aileen tried to lift her but Paige stopped her.

“Don’t move her! I’ll call for help!” She knelt beside Sarah and found a faint pulse. Paige grabbed her cell phone and called the police station. “An ambulance is on the way.”

“She’s alive.” Tears streaked down Paige’s cheeks as she held Sarah’s hand. “She’ll be okay. She has to be!” She laid her head on Sarah’s shoulder.

“Okay Sarah, hang in there. Help is on the way. Please, Sarah. We need you. I need you!”

Aileen looked up at the bus driver. “What happened?” Aileen pleaded.

The bus driver stood over them, pacing back and forth, rubbing his balding head and tears streaming down his cheeks.

“I don’t know.…” Paige answered for him. “I stood beside her and looked your way.… Before I knew it I heard the crash. I don’t know what happened. I didn’t even know she moved!” She looked at the driver again. “Did she step out in front of you?”

“I’m not sure. It happened so fast. She just appeared in front of me!”

He continued to pace back and forth. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see her until it was too late. Oh, what have I done? Why didn’t I see her?” A crowd of people from the bus formed a circle around them.

“It’s not your fault,” Paige tried to comfort him. “It happened so fast.”

Paige held Sarah’s hand until the ambulance arrived. Jay came as soon as he heard Paige’s call and pulled Paige away from the scene.

“Let them do their work. She’ll be okay.” He rocked her back and forth and brushed her hair. “She’ll be okay,” he repeated over and over again as Paige cried on his shoulder.

“I couldn’t stop it. I should have held on to her!”

“Paige, it’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself. You don’t know what happened.” He held her tightly and continued to try to comfort her. He held out his hand to Aileen, who seemed to be in shock. He pulled her into his arms as well and the three of them stood in silence as they watched them load Sarah into the ambulance.

“I’m going with her,” Paige insisted and tried desperately to push away from Jay.

Jay grabbed her by the arm. “Come on,” he said, “I’ll take you both to the hospital.” He led them to Aileen’s car with Paige resisting all along the way. He took Aileen’s arm as well. Aileen then asked Jay to call Jones on his cell phone. They followed the ambulance to the hospital and hurried to the desk as the EMT’s rushed Sarah in.

After Aileen gave the nurse information about Sarah’s history and insurance, she began to pace back and forth across the waiting room.

There was a long silence between the three of them as they listened to all of the hospital’s intercom pages.

Aileen’s husband, Jones, ran in through the door. “I came as fast as I could.” Jones had already left the funeral and was halfway home when the accident happened. He quickly took Aileen into his arms. “For Christ’s sake, is she all right?”

“I don’t know. We haven’t heard anything yet,” Aileen cried as she broke down into sobs that covered Jones’s shoulder. Paige’s tears started to fall rapidly as Jay put his arm tightly around her. He pulled out his handkerchief, but Paige declined taking it. Silence again took over the room.

Paige glanced around the hospital, feeling like she would explode any minute. She watched as one by one, patients were called back to be seen by the doctors. One with what looked like a broken arm, another was bundled up so much that Paige knew it must have been a fever, and yet another with his hand wrapped with a blood stained towel. As she looked toward the glass doors, she saw someone watching her from the sidewalk. She jumped up and ran for the door with Jay running behind her.

As she ran through them, she frantically looked all around. There was no one in sight other than an elderly man pushing in his wife in a wheel chair.

“What is it, Paige?” Jay asked her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, but there was someone out here, watching me. I saw him the other day at my house in my yard. At least it looks like the same person to me.”

Jay looked around and asked the old man if he had seen anyone.

The old man just shook his head and continued to push his wife into the emergency room.

“Looks like he’s gone now,” he added as he took Paige by the arm and led her toward the door. “Let’s go back inside with Aileen.”

After thirty minutes passed, the tall, thin doctor walked in solemnly and asked everyone to join him in the chapel just off of the waiting room. “I’m so sorry,” he said as he took Paige’s hand. “We did all we could, but Sarah lost a lot of blood internally,” he said as he placed his other hand on Aileen’s arm. “She was just too weak to fight.”

“No!” Paige screamed before she realized anything had sprung from her vocal cords. Jay held her closely to keep her from jumping up from the chair. Aileen broke down hysterically with Jones’ arms wrapped tightly around her, trying to comfort her.

“What else? What else could happen?” Paige was becoming hysterical herself. “Not Sarah … Not Sarah too! Why couldn’t I stop it? Why?”

“Paige … look at me … look at me!” Jay grabbed Paige’s shoulders and turned her to face him. “Paige, there was nothing you could have done! It’s not your fault!”

“I should have stopped her … I should have …” Paige’s sobs were becoming inaudible as she fell into Jay’s arms. He held her tightly as Aileen walked over and put her arms around Paige as well.

“It’s not your fault Paige. There’s nothing you could have done.”

Aileen tried to comfort her.

“I’m so sorry I failed her, Aileen. I’ve really failed her.”

“No … Paige.” Aileen tried to comfort her as difficult as it was. The four of them stood sobbing in the chapel. Both Jones and Jay realized that the best they could do was to just hold them and let them fall apart.