Chapter 15

                                    

                                          
Perrie
"Just so you know, Molly is a total sweetheart. She's the sweetest kid I've ever met - except from Leoni, baby Karl, Amara, George and Kailum, of course. Everyone at the hospital adores her and Alex loves her like his own daughter. Even Jesy and Leigh have fallen in love with the little princess, so you're definitely going to love her."
                          
Overly excited for Jade to meet the little girl, I grasped her hand and led her to Molly's room. I knew Molly was excited yet nervous to meet Jade. These last couple of days, she'd asked a ton of questions about the flight attendant. 
                          
Right before I went on my shift early yesterday morning, Molly asked if she'd ever get to meet the woman I'd take a bullet for. Her whole face lit up like the sun when I told her I would take Jade with me on my next visit. 
                          
Seeing her so happy felt like a breath of fresh air. Alex and I had never seen her so happy before. I hoped I'd get to see that smile again when I walked into her room with the woman she'd asked so many questions about. 
                          
"Hey, Perrie, can Vanessa and I talk to you for a minute?" Becca asked nervously when Jade and I walked past the reception desk. 
                          
"Now is not a good time. Can we take it after I've introduced Jade to Molly? Perfect!" 
                          
Becca and Vanessa exchanged concerned looks. I decided to ignore it and just focus on making Molly's time here as bearable as possible. As soon as Jade and I arrived outside her room, I let go of the brunette's hand and pushed the door to the little girl's room open. 
                          
"Good eve-" 
                          
I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw that Molly's hospital bed was empty. All of her belongings were gone. Nothing, absolutely nothing, indicated that a little girl had spent her days and nights in here. 
                          
Maybe she'd been assigned another room. Maybe that was what Becca and Vanessa wanted to talk to me about. 
                          
But before I got the chance to go back to my colleagues, they appeared in the hospital room. My stomach twisted in knots at the sight of the sad look on their faces. 
                          
"Where is Molly?" I asked worriedly. 
                          
Vanessa took a deep, trembling breath. "Perrie, I'm so sorry." 
                          
"Molly's heart stopped beating this morning. We did everything we could but..." Becca swallowed hard as she wiped away tears from her eyes. "Her life couldn't be saved." 
                          
No, not Molly. She couldn't be gone. They'd mistaken her for another girl in the same age. Molly was alive. She was just in another room, waiting for me and Jade to come visit. Just like I promised we would. 
                          
"This is not funny in the slightest. Just tell me where she is, goddammit!" I shouted. 
                          
"Perrie..." Jade said carefully as she reached for my hand. 
                          
"No!" I shouted. 
                          
I slapped her hand away, didn't want to hold it, then I aimed my eyes at my colleagues again. Breathing as if I'd been running for hours on end, I ran my hands through my hair. Becca and Vanessa looked at me the way a doctor looked at a pregnant woman who'd just found out that she was sick. 
                          
"Please, I'm begging you, just tell me where is. Tell me where I can find her" I pleaded. 
                          
"She's dead, Perrie" Vanessa said sadly. 
                          
"No..." I whispered as tears welled up in my eyes. 
                          
Becca sighed heavily. "Yes, she is. Her heart stopped beating." 
                          
"No..." I repeated, my voice not louder than a whisper. 
                          
Molly was perfectly fine when Alex and I visited her yesterday. She was healing, recovering from the accident. Nothing indicated that her condition had gotten worse or that her body was shutting down. 
                          
The last time I saw her, she was okay. 
                          
She couldn't be dead. Alex and I had made plans which included her. We were going on a meeting with social services after the weekend, she was supposed to move in with us once she got released from the hospital. 
                          
This wasn't supposed to happen. She wasn't supposed to die. 
                          
"Perrie, I'm so sorry" Jade spoke, genuine sadness lacing her voice. 
                          
She grasped my hand, intertwined our fingers. This time I didn't pull away. I didn't have the energy to do that. It felt as if the world had crashed at my feet, like I'd lost a family member in the cruelest way possible. 
                          
Nothing seemed important anymore. Jade marrying someone else didn't bother me. In fact, I couldn't care less about it. 
                          
Someone I cared deeply for, someone I loved like my own daughter, had been taken away from me. I'd lost that one person who brought sunshine to my life. That one person who didn't cause me pain and misery was gone. And there was nothing I could do about it. 
                          
"I'll take you home." 
                          
Jade led me out of Molly's hospital room. She held my hand tightly, squeezed it every now and then. Neither of us said a word to each other, which I was grateful for. Because I knew I'd break down if I opened my mouth. And I couldn't risk that. I didn't want Jade to see me like that - weak, helpless. 
                          
The brunette unlocked the black Jeep Grand Cherokee on the car park. She opened the passenger door for me, helped me get inside. I put the seat-belt on while she walked around the vehicle to get to the driver's seat. 
                          
I avoided eye-contact at all costs. I couldn't stand the look in her eyes, I couldn't stand to see her feel sorry for me. I'd seen it so many times before and each time, it just seemed to get worse. 
                          
We sat in the car in complete silence. The radio was off. Neither of us talked. I stared out the window, watched as trees and cars flashed by. 
                          
Undesired tears welled up in my eyes, threatened to fall. I blinked them away as I buried my teeth in my lower lip and bit so hard that the metallic taste of blood spread in my mouth. I tried to keep myself together, but it was impossible. 
                          
"Please, pull over" I begged. 
                          
"Why? Do you need to throw up?" Jade asked worriedly. 
                          
"Please, Jade, just do it" I pleaded. 
                          
She did as she was told. I unbuckled the seat-belt, threw the car door open and ran as fast as I could into the woods. Tears were streaming uncontrollably down my face as it felt like someone stabbed me repeatedly in the heart. 
                          
A scream slipped from my lips when I fell over a fallen tree branch and scraped my legs and the palms of my hands. I remained on the ground and cried even harder as images of Molly flashed before my eyes. 
                          
"Oh my God, Perrie!" 
                          
In a matter of seconds, Jade grabbed ahold of my shaking body and took me into her arms. I buried my face in her chest as I cried. Jade rocked me back and forth, placed gentle kisses on top of my head as she tried to comfort me. 
                          
"I got you, Perrie, I got you." 
                          
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Yup, I'm sad. How are you? 😭
                          
xxMxx