Abel Ladd - The Crying Child | Day 10 : 1598 words

Esme’s pda lit up with an incoming call and she picked it up to see a hospital calling. She answered with an uneasy, “hello?”
“Mrs Ladd?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Mrs. Ladd your husband has been seriously injured and is in our emergency center right now. You will need to come down soon.”
“What?! What happened?!” Esme screamed at the pda.
“There was an accident at his work and you just need to come down as soon as possible ma’am.”
The terror and panic began to grip her and she was barely able to ask, “which hospital?”
“General Mercy North, and go to the emergency entrance when you get here, there will be people to bring you in.”
Esme got a sharp pain shooting through her chest and she had to lean on the counter to steady herself. The sudden rush of shock that washed over her flooded her system and her vision began to narrow. She fought to remain conscious while her body fought to pass out. Slowly the wobbly feeling began to subside and her vision began to return enough that she was able to walk to Abel’s room. She quickly gathered him up with a bag of anything she could grab that was nearby and went to find her wallet and keys. As fast as she could she hurried them to the elevator and once at the bottom floor rushed out to the street.
Standing on the street with Abel in her arms and a haphazardly stuffed bag she searched up and down for a cab that was available but found none. She tried to walk but ended up staggering down the block and around the corner where she found a cab sitting running and unoccupied. She scanned all around and tried to see if anyone was nearby. Her blood was pumping so hard that her ears were throbbing as she fought back the crashing waves of panic. She steeled herself and walked towards the drivers door but before she could reach the cab a man was suddenly walking around it towards her asking, “you need ride?”
Her heart lept as much as roadkill can given her current state but she nodded in acknowledgment and quickly climbed into the back seat holding Abel tightly against her.
“Where to?” the man asked as he closed the door and put the car in drive.
“General Mercy North, Emergency entrance. Please go now, my husband is hurt, just go,” Esme pleaded with him.
“Alright lady, I’ll get you there in no time.” The cab suddenly lurched forward and they were careening through the city at breakneck speeds with the cab driver alternating between yelling and cursing out the window and laying on the horn full blast for what seemed like minutes on end. All the commotion helped Esme forget about her crisis as this one was a lot more in her face.
Three sharp alternating turns tossed her and Abel from one side of the cab to the other and back before soon stopping abruptly next to the emergency entrance for the hospital. Esme looked out the windows and saw the glowing sign of the hospital and she began to thank god she was still alive. The cab driver said matter-of-factly, “make it twenty and we’re good. I hope your husband is okay.”
Esme found her wallet and feeling numb by this point she fumbled around her wallet until she found some cash which she dropped over the edge of the drivers seat and climbed out of the cab. She grabbed her bag and with Abel tightly held and to her utter surprise had not made a peep the whole ride, she walked into the hospital.

He was a mess of tubes and wires and there were machines all around him showing various diagnostics and vital signs. Esme shrunk in on herself and Abel as they sat amongst the cacophony of sound and machines. Neal looked unhurt except for the gauze bandages covering his eyes and the large intubation tubes running into his throat. The machine pumped long slow breaths into his lungs and his body naturally pushed out the air.
A shorter woman walked into the room and as Esme looked over at her the woman said, “Mrs. Ladd I’m Doctor Rowland. It’s good that you were able to get here soon enough as he is stable for now.”
Esme turned in her seat and the grief beginning to take over the shock she had been in then overwhelmed her and she began to sob deep throbbing sobs. Abel clutched in her arms she could only look down at his face as she gave into the intense emotions, her tears splashing across his tiny cheeks. Barely able to squeeze the words out she asked, “what happened to him?”
“From what we know it seems that there was an equipment malfunction in the hydrogen fluoride system which unfortunately enveloped him. The emergency crews did what they could but his lungs were filled with the vapor. I’m very sorry Mrs. Ladd but he is in a medically induced coma to try and stall the destruction to his lungs.” The Doctor tried to be comforting but with Neal in such a bad condition she could only be direct.
Esme’s head began to spin and she felt the waves of blackness intruding again, she felt herself begin to lose consciousness and she fought to remain awake. Her arms trying to keep hold of Abel as he squirmed. Soon she felt the weight of Abel lifting from her arms and her body drifting into blackness.
The fog cleared and as her vision came back to her she began to clutch at the air and around her in search of Abel who was not in her arms at that moment. She soon began to hear the sounds of the emergency room again and as her head began to clear she looked around her to see Abel in the Doctors arms and Neal in a coma behind.
“Mrs Ladd, please, try to stay calm. You’re going to be okay, we have you, your son is right here,” the Doctor said gently to her.
Her body had slumped back in the chair and she shakingly sat up right and reached her arms for Abel. Doctor Rowland looked her over and hesitated before asking, “are you sure you’re strong enough?”
Esme instantly responded, “yes, of course,” as her arms remained held out for Abel.
Abel had finally had enough of being held by the Doctor and drew in a deep breath and began to scream a wailing scream that pierced the air of the emergency room and the entire building. The sound carried beyond the cacophony of machines beeping and whirring and over the din of the voices. The singular cry that is the Crying Child’s continued for a sustained length and the Doctor had winced and closed her eyes as she held Abel, her hands holding him beneath his arms she quickly handed him over to Esme who cradled him close and began to hush and shoosh him trying to calm him. Slowly his scream fell to a whimper as he nestled into Esme’s arms.
“So it’s true, he is the Crying Child,” Doctor Rowland’s newly reverential tone struck through Esme’s focus and she found herself staring at the Doctor.
“What?” Esme asked.
“It makes sense now. You are his mother, no wonder. How are you…?” Doctor Rowland trailed off as she became lost in her thoughts.
Esme switched her gaze to Neal in the bed and she again began to weep seeing him hooked up to the machines that are the only way he could breath. “How bad is it?” she asked.
Doctor Rowland shook her head as she said, “it’s really bad. He has very little chance now with the amount of the gas he inhaled. His eyes were a casualty of the gas and there is irreversible damage to his internal organs.”
“There’s nothing?” Esme asked in a near whisper.
“I’m sorry Mrs Ladd but the gas did too much damage to his lungs and other vital organs that there is little we can do now,” the Doctor replied.
“Little means there is something you can do, right?” Esme implored.
“Mrs. Ladd, the only remote possibility would be organ transplant but that doesn’t happen on such short notice. There are protocols and and long waiting lists for many organs. I’m sorry but there would be no quality of life after all the surgeries,” the Doctor explained.
Esme’s head dropped with her eyes clamped shut as tight as she could muster. It felt like the world was falling in on her and she just wanted to get off the ride. Abel burped a wet sounding bubble and she opened her eyes to see him covered in a coating of breast milk spit up and she couldn’t help but smile through her tears.

The hospital provided her a room in the nearby center for families which gave them a small room with an equally small bathroom, but it was private and it allowed Esme to alternate between abject fear and terror for the future and deep sorrow and grief for Neal and the loss of the love of her life and Abel’s father. The single thought that she came back around to every time was Abel and she felt herself solidify around him in her mind and heart. Her instinct to protect was at an extremely heighten state and her resolve became rock solid as she watched Abel sleeping in the bed next to her.