S2W21:”Needing Answers”

© 2022 Phylicia Joannis

Zinnia dialed Miracle’s number again, but got her voicemail. She let out a frustrated breath and dialed Ryan’s number. No answer there, either. If she didn’t hear from one of them soon, she was going back to that house for answers. After everything they’d been through, Zinnia owed her that much.

“Earth to Zinnia?” Her coworker snapped her fingers in front of her face, a habit she hated.

“What, Rima?” Zinnia spoke through clenched teeth. She’d just finished her rounds in the ER and was headed back to the nurse’s station.

“So you gonna take the extra shift, or not?” Rima asked. “You know I’ll take it if you don’t want it, but you gotta let me know something. Zinnia? Hello? I’ve asked you, like three times in the last minute, but you keep staring at your phone. You waiting on a call?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Help! I need help over here!”

Rima and Zinnia looked through the slowly closing security doors of the ER. A young man had rushed into the waiting room. He carried a limp body over his shoulders as he shouted for help. One of the triage nurses intercepted him.

“What the–” Rima tilted her head as the triage nurse coaxed the body from his arms and into a chair. She turned towards Rima and Zinnia, waving them forward as she began checking for vitals.

A moment later, the two women jumped into action. Rima grabbed a bed, and Zinnia opened the security doors. The triage nurse paged the floor doctor as Rima and Zinnia approached. When they reached the young man, Zinnia’s heart all but stopped.

“What happened to her?” Zinnia gave the young man a piercing look as she helped Rima get the girl onto the bed.

He looked away, unable to hold her gaze. “I don’t know. I found her like this.”

Zinnia sucked in a breath, along with a string of expletives, before continuing her interrogation. “She’s barely breathing, what do you mean you found her like this?”

The doctor rushed over, asking the triage nurse a series of questions before heading back to the ER with the girl.

“I’ll catch up.” Zinnia replied to Rima’s questioning look. Rima and the triage nurse followed the doctor, and Zinnia returned her attention to the young man. “I need answers from you.” She pointed her finger at his face. If she found out that he hurt her, she’d scratch his eyes out.

He frowned and shifted his body as she glared.

“I’m going to ask you again.” Zinnia spoke with all the force of a grizzly bear. “What happened to Miracle?”

He shook his head again. “I don’t know. Wait. You know her?”