~ Chapter 19 ~
Howie woke up in a room full of strangers. He looked around and wondered where he was. The shot they had given him was strong and he was groggy. He sat up slowly and his eyes fell on a woman who was sitting across from him. She looked to be in her mid-20's. Her clothes were dirty and torn. She looked as lost as he felt.
"Why are you staring at me?" Howie asked. "Where am I?"
"S-sorry." She looked away for a moment then looked back at him. "You were sleeping for an awful long time. Did you get hurt in the quake?"
"Quake?" Howie's face registered confusion for a minute than the horror came rushing back to him.
"Mya…" he whimpered and seemed on the verge of fainting.
The woman sprang off her chair and knelt down in front of him. "Hey, do you need a doctor?"
Howie managed to look up and her brown eyes pierced through his. "Mya?" He shuddered violently.
"No, my name's Julia," she corrected.
"Mya," Howie repeated.
"Is Mya your girlfriend? Sister? Wife?" When Howie didn't answer, she stood up and went to get a doctor.
The doctor took a silent Howie into an examining room. He looked at Howie's record and saw that he had been treated for shock. He had Howie lie down and went to get AJ McLean, who's name appeared on the sheet the EMT had filled out.
AJ and Nick followed the doctor into the room. "Your friend won't talk to me, but I gather he's still in shock. I'm going to prescribe a sedative for you to give him, if he's unable to sleep over the next few days."
"How long will he be like this?" Nick asked.
"Depends on how affected he is by what he saw. I don't have all the details."
"His girlfriend died in the earthquake," AJ whispered
"I'm sorry," the doctor said. "In cases like that, it could take some time. All you can do is talk to him and of course, be there for him. It's never easy to lose loved ones and some of us have a harder time dealing with death."
"I don't think he believes that she's dead," AJ said.
"He may say that, but he knows that she is."
"Mya?" They heard Howie say from the bed.
"You can take him home," the doctor told them and handed AJ the prescription.
"Mya's not here," Nick told Howie.
"Mya…" Howie said again.
Nick looked at AJ in despair.
"Howie, we're going back to the house," AJ said and with Nick's help, they helped him off the bed and into the waiting room.
Brian and Kevin were back from the cafeteria. Kevin started to say something, but AJ shook his head in warning. AJ pulled him away from the others. "He's still in shock and keeps repeating Mya's name. The doc gave me a prescription for some sedatives. Lisel and I are gonna take him back to the house."
"Alright. Stacy's gonna be discharged in a couple of hours so I'll see you later at the house."
AJ saw the look in Kevin's eyes and hugged him. "Kev, everything's gonna be ok."
Kevin sniffled. "I know. But right now it hurts right here." He fisted a hand to his chest.
Lisel came up to them, one arm around Howie. "I think we should get him home," she said. "He doesn't look too good."
After making Nick promise to call with news on Kiri, AJ and Lisel left with a silent Howie.
"How's Kiri doing?" Stacy asked when Kevin walked into her room.
"They don't know anything definite yet. Right now, she can't feel her legs." His lower lip trembled as he spoke. "The doctor thinks she may be paralyzed, but they don't know if it's temporary or permanent. She passed some tests earlier but the results won't be back until tomorrow or the next day."
"That poor girl," Stacy commiserated. "How's Nick handling it?"
"He's not, but he's pretending that he is."
"Same thing you're doing," Stacy commented quietly.
Kevin's eyes widened. "What help would I be to you if I fell apart?"
"We'd help each other," Stacy replied, holding out her arms to him.
Kevin crawled into them and let his tears fall.
"I'm sorry," Stacy cried. "I know you loved our baby just as much as I did."
Kevin's body wracked with sobs. "Sometimes I wanna scream at God and ask him why he did this to us -- not just you and me, but Mya, Howie, Kiri and Nick. Why do the good die young? Why does a life that hasn't even begun to live get taken away?"
"I wish I had the answers, sweetie." She rubbed his back consolingly. "A therapist came to talk to me while I was in recovery. She told me that 80% of women miscarry at least once in their life. I never realized how high the number was."
"That's a high number," Kevin said, astounded. "Can we try again?"
"She said I should give my body time to heal." She wiped Kevin's tear-streaked face. "At least three months."
"I guess we have no choice," Kevin said, his shoulders slumped dejectedly.
"We don't, but we can have fun practicing so when I'm ready, we can make a baby right away."
Kevin smiled through his tears, but his smile was quickly replaced by a frown as he thought about the child he had had with Mya.
My son, he thought and a strange sensation washed over him.
He had a son and Stacy had just lost her child. How would she react when he told her that he planned to take a trip to Milwaukee to claim the son he had never seen?
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