Page 15 of Ghetto Heartstrings
“I’m all in,” she said.
Brook’Lynn couldn’t believe this shit.
Bunk! Bunk! Bunk! Bunk!
The sounds of Brook’Lynn’s alarm scared the shit out of her, causing her to jump out of her sleep and throw the pillow over her head. “Nooo, it’s too early,” she mumbled with her eyes closed, using one hand hit the snooze button. She had an hour before she had to be to work and kill another twelve-hour shift, and she seriously wasn’t in the mood. She was so glad she was going to have the next three days off after her shift was over.
After another ten minutes of dodging the alarm clock, she finally got up with her scarf tightly tied around her head, wearing one of Perfect’s wifebeaters with no panties. Her feet sunk into the plush rug on the side of her bed as she stretched her arms and yawned, dragging over to the bathroom so she could hop in the shower. She checked her track phone to see if Perfect had called again, and he hadn’t, which made her annoyed as fuck. She missed him so much.
After brushing her teeth, she hopped out with the towel tightly wrapped around her body, so she could unwrap her hair and brush it up in a bun. When she was finished, she reluctantly dressed in her scrubs, grabbed her lunch bag, and ran out of there to get to McDonald’s in time to grab a caramel frappé and egg white delight.
“Yes, please! A small caramel frappé with extra caramel and an egg white delight without the ham! Don’t put no pork on my sandwich… I’m serious!” she warned cause they always seemed to fuck her order up.
“Got it ma’am,” the guy who was taking her order responded.
After making sure her meal was on point, she pulled off in time to get to the hospital. She was trying to eat and drive at the same time and was forced to stop and answer her phone. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw that it was Brody calling; he hadn’t called her in months, nor did he try to come to her graduation, nor had he tried to congratulate her or anything.
“Hello?” She finally picked up, swallowing the last piece of her sandwich while quickly downing it with a swallow of orange juice.
“Well, damn. I guess my baby girl done got to Miami and forgot she has a daddy. A nigga can make you do it, huh?” he asked without even saying hello.
Brook’Lynn had to really hold herself together from going off on the man that helped to procreate her. “Well hello, hi, how are you? Is everything okay with you, daddy? I mean, me, myself, I’m doing fine, I graduated. I passed my state board; I got hired as a nurse… I did it all without you by my side.”
The line got quiet for a minute before he responded. “I’ll be in town tomorrow and I want to talk to you about that and some other stuff. Make sure you answer your phone. I love you, got to go,” he said, hanging up.
Needless to say, Brook’Lynn was pissed. She grabbed her stuff and rushed inside, making it just in time to clock in and make it to shift briefing.
She stood off to the side with her pad, scribbling down everything that she would need to know with all of Doctor Richards’ notes on it, since that’s whom she was going to be working closely with until she was fully on her own. Marley walked up late as hell and rushing while catching only the last little bit, causing Brook’Lynn to give her a disapproving look. “What happen?” Brook’Lynn leaned over, whispering to her.
“Long story, we’ll talk about it.” She scurried off to her own area.
Brook’Lynn found Doctor Richards and asked him, “Are those the charts?”
He was an older man with salt and pepper hair, and he didn’t really like to talk much. Passing her half of the charts, he told her where he wanted her to go first. “Room 308 is ready; I’m right behind you,” he said.
Grabbing the charts, she shuffled through the one for 308 and nearly fell right there in the middle of the floor. She knew her eyes were playing tricks on her when she read the name, Dashawn Burkes. She quickly shuffled through the paperwork to see that he’d been admitted in the wee hours of the morning for ongoing epilepsy.Seizures?she asked herself.
She knew it was no way that she could get out of this, so she did what she was supposed to do… her job. Holding her breath, she lightly knocked on the door before walking in. Shaw laid there lightly snoring but woke up when he saw her.
“I was hoping I got you. I don’t trust these muthafuckas in here,” he said, sitting up. “Make sure they release me after a twenty-four-hour observance, like they said. I got shit to do.”
Taking slow, steady breaths, Brook’Lynn checked his vitals as she spoke to him, “I didn’t know you had seizures.”
“That’s because something has to happen to trigger that shit. I got hit over the head after some niggas ran up in my spot last night when I was shutting shit down. That was my fault though. I knew better than to be caught slipping by myself.”
Brook’Lynn looked at his head and noticed the protruding knot on his head, while feeling a knot in the pit of her own stomach as well. “Damn Shaw, you didn’t see who did it?” she asked, checking his blood pressure.
“Nah, it was more than one though. When I got hit, shit just went black and I guess that’s when I had a seizure. It’s all good though. I’m on top of that shit when I get out of here.”
Removing the cuff from his arm, she told him. “Well, you be careful out there. Doctor Richards should be in soon.”
“Aiight shawty, tell him to come on. Shit, I lost forty bands last night, and right now, this ain’t the place for me to be.”
“I got it. I’ll tell him right away.”
“Cool. I’ve been meaning to ask you, where them niggas at? I heard they was running from the big boys,” he said.
Brook’Lynn knew better. No matter what, you didn’t tell the family business. “I’ll come back and check on you later Shaw.” She smiled before walking out; she couldn’t wait to run back into Marley’s ass.
