Storm
The funeral was beautiful. Luna was remembered as she’d lived. With love.
Standing across the street from the church, I watch Brogan sit beside Gage on a set of swings. Hadley stands beside me, dressed in black and holding her stomach. She keeps moving her hands, and she looks uncomfortable.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” But she has tears in her eyes.
“Hadley, if something is wrong with you or the baby, you need to tell me.” I hold her shoulders and look straight into her eyes as I say this. I know my best friend and she wouldn’t want to draw any attention to herself, especially not today.
She nods at me as the first tear slips free. “I’m in labor. I have been since I showered this morning when my water broke.” She sobs.
“Oh, my God, Hadley.” Turning my gaze to the boys, I feel her body shake as she rests her forehead on my shoulder.
“Brogan, I need you to run across the street as fast as you can and find your dad. Tell him it’s an emergency.”
Brogan doesn’t speak, he simply takes off running across the grass toward the church as a shriek tears from Hadley. Everything seems to be happening in slow motion as her knees give out and I am barely able to catch her before she hits the ground. Gage is beside me in a second with a panicked look on his little face.
“Don’t worry, buddy,” I reassure him as I lower Hadley and myself to the grass. “Hadley is going to be fine, but the baby is coming.”
My explanation seems to soothe some of the worry from his face. He knows about the baby and has been really excited about it since he found out.
“Can I help?” his little voice asks.
It seems like Hadley is through the worst of the contraction as she smiles at him. “Yes, Gage. I need you to hold my hand until Wolf gets here. I need you to help me be less scared.”
Gage smiles at Hadley for the first time in days as he plops down beside her, taking her hand in his and pulling it tightly against his chest. It’s a gesture we all know well because Sparrow would hold Luna’s hand the same way. Emotion crawls its way up my throat and makes it hard to speak.
I look up and see Brogan running across the street. There isn’t time to scream and warn him as a black SUV hits him, sending his little body flying through the air. My world stops at that moment and everything falls away as I watch him hit the ground. I didn’t recognize it earlier, but as my mind clears, I hear the gunshots being fired.
“Hadley, keep Gage with you. I will find Wolf and send him here.”
“No, Storm, you can’t go over there!” She grabs my leg of my pants and tries to stop me from walking away.
“I have to go.” I shake my leg, dislodging her hand and running toward the anarchy that has broken out in front of the church. I don’t run toward the men, I run toward Brogan. I near him as he lies motionless on the pavement, but he doesn’t move. I kneel beside him and feel for a pulse exactly the way Luna taught me. His pulse is there and I don’t see much blood except for on his forehead. But his arm is bent at such an odd angle that I know with complete certainty it is broken.
Pulling my cell from my pocket, I dial 911 and look around me. The SUV is no longer in sight, people are on the ground, screams are coming from somewhere near the church, and from the corner of my eye, I watch Wolf run toward Hadley.
“911, what is your emergency?”
“My name is Storm Lin and there has been a shooting at St. Angelicas on Broad Street. You need to send ambulances.”
I try my best to speak clearly and slowly because I don’t want to have to repeat myself.
“Okay, ma’am. Please remain on the line units have been dispatched to that area.” The operator has a clear voice as she speaks calmly to me. “Have you been hurt?”
“No. But my nephew…” A sob chokes of the rest of the words.
“I need you to remain calm. What happened to your nephew?”
“He was hit by a car. The people who shot at the church hit him with their SUV.” Taking a deep breath, I do my best to compose myself.
“Is he breathing?” she asks.
“Yes, he is breathing. He has a pulse too. But there is blood on his forehead and I am sure his arm is broken.”
“Okay. I need you to not move him. Is he conscious?”
“No.”
“All right. When he does regain consciousness, if the paramedics aren’t there yet, you need to keep him calm. We need him to not move. We don’t know the extent of his injuries, and him moving might cause more damage.”
In the distance, I can hear the sirens approaching, and I feel a small amount of peace at knowing help will be here soon. I stay on the line with the woman until one of the ambulances stop beside me.
“Thank you for your help.”
“It has been my pleasure,” she replies as she hangs up.
The paramedics assess Brogan before placing him on a backboard and then in the ambulance. I see that Hadley is getting loaded into a separate ambulance with Wolf accompanying her. I haven’t seen Pope through all of the chaos and pray that he is fine as I get into the ambulance and we race off to the hospital.