The Hunt: The Oakmont Saga, Book 2

When we got to Alex’s school the next morning, Alex went to a nun as soon as we entered the building. “Sister Paulina?”

“Good morning, Alex,” the nun replied.

“I have an unusual request,” Alex said.

“And what is that?” Sister Paulina asked, looking over at me, knowing the question had to do with me.

“I have an extraordinary young lady with me that is staying with us for a week or so, and needs something to keep her occupied. We thought about homeschooling her, just to keep her moving forward, but we discovered she is much too far above our education level,” she said, bringing about a raised eyebrow from Sister Paulina.

“What do you have in mind then?”

“I was hoping you would be willing to let her tutor your calculus students.” With that request, the nun looked at Alex very hard, and then looked at me, just as intently.

“How old are you, child?”

“Almost thirteen, ma’am.”

“And you think you can tutor calculus?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, already knowing this was a losing battle. I could see it in the nun’s expression, which clearly doubted my abilities.

“Alex, I do not think we could have such a young girl teaching high school students.”

“Sister, she is a contributor on two different mathematical doctoral theses,” Alex said, trying to persuade her.

“I do not know her abilities, but that is not the issue. High school students will not take her seriously. She is simply too young,” she stated, and I knew it was true. Although I had been hopeful, she was right.

“May I at least sit in on your classes?”

“If you are that advanced in math, why do you want to sit in on a Calculus class?”

“I love math.”

“Come with me,” she then said, directing the command to both of us. She led us into what I assumed was the main office and then into a side office.

“Mother, we have a visitor that apparently has an exceptionally advanced understanding of math. She has requested to sit in on my calculus classes,” Sister Paulina said to the woman behind the desk.

“She’s obviously not a registered student, but I assume you’re alright with that since you’re bringing this to me,” the Mother replied. I didn’t understand the Mother title, but I wasn’t Catholic. What made it even more curious to me was that the Mother looked younger than Sister Paulina.

“I am, Mother.”

“She will need a uniform. I will not have a child in any class without one.”

“Yes, Mother,” Sister Paulina replied.

We then left and she led us to a large room, that looked like a store. There were clothes on racks and school books and supplies. Everything was on shelves and racks.

She looked at me and then pulled a shirt from the rack, followed by a jumper. I was fairly certain the jumpers were for the younger girls. I had endured worse in my life, so I could put up with it.

“Try this on. You are a bit smaller than most of the girls your age, but I think these might work,” she said, handing the items to me.

I went to the dressing room, and very slowly removed my extremely loose clothes and put the blouse and the jumper on. Then I put on the small belt she had also given me. I left it very loose, but tight enough to not be hanging. I knew very quickly that I was going to be hurting by the end of the day, but I was willing to try it rather than be bored.

When I returned a moment later, she looked me up and down. “Beautiful! I guessed right,” she exclaimed, with a clap of her hands. She then handed me a pair of black shoes and white socks. I was hoping for some leggings or tights, but I kind of knew better.

I sat on the bench that was there for trying on shoes. I wanted to bend over to put the socks and shoes on, but I knew I couldn’t, especially not with the somewhat tight jumper and belt on. “Mrs. Alex, could I please get help with my shoes and socks?” I asked, feeling ridiculous having to get help with something I’ve been doing since I was very young.

She knelt down and began putting my socks on. “What is this all about?” Sister Paulina asked.

“She has an abdominal injury that is healing, but she is limited in her mobility until it does,” Alex replied.

“How limited is she?”

“She was pierced through the abdomen, so I will have to bring her lunch to her. She needs to stay where she is until it is time to leave, with as little mobility as possible.”

“I will make sure she remains immobile then.”

“Thank you, Sister,” Alex replied.

“Now, let us see what you are capable of,” the nun said to me.

“I will take her from here. You can go to your class,” Sister Paulina told Alex with a friendly smile.

“I will see you this afternoon, Melanie,” Alex said.

“Thank you, ma’am,” I replied, receiving a smile in return.

When we got to the sister’s class, she handed me a packet of paper, a calculator and a pen. “I know what Alex said, but I want to get an idea of what you are capable of for myself. I want you to take this test. I suspect it will take half the day, but that is alright. Take whatever time you need.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You are very polite, Melanie, but address all nuns as Sister. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sister.”

“Very good,” she said with a kind smile. I liked her, even though I had just met her.

I looked at the test and knew this was going to be fast. Of course, I had no idea what was on the rest of the pages, but the beginning was basic algebra. I began and had the first page done before the class even started. The second page was only slightly more advanced and I had it done just as quickly. There were still many more pages to go, though.

The next page and the pages afterward definitely increased in complexity as I progressed. When the class ended, I had finished the test. It took longer than I had expected, but that was because I had trouble getting around the strange way some of the word problems were worded.

Once the class was gone, I looked at Sister Paulina. “Do you need help?” she asked.

“No, Sister. I’m done,” I replied, getting a surprised look from her. She came over, as a couple girls from the next class came in.

“You did not use the scratch paper. Did you decide not to do some problems?” she asked. This was a question and answer dialogue I’d been through many times.

“No, Sister. I did them all.”

“This class is a bit more self directed, so I should be able to get it graded,” she said. She returned to her desk with the test and sat down to grade it. The girls that were coming in all looked at me, and seemed surprised by me being there. I was pretty sure they were curious why a girl as young as I appeared to be was in this class with them. These girls all looked much older, like they were probably seniors. In addition, none of them wore the jumper like I was wearing, confirming my belief about it.

“Ladies, you have your assignments, so please get busy. If you need any assistance, ask and I will help. In the meantime, I’ll be working on the assessment I just gave young Melanie,” she told them.

About half way through the class, she walked over to me and put my test down in front of me, almost slamming it on the desk. There was no grade or score or any mark at all on it. “How did you get the answers? There are no calculations whatsoever,” she asked, although I was pretty sure it was a demand.

“I don’t write out my work.”

“I also did not see you use the calculator, not once, yet you have solved problems that should require its use.”

“I can do them in my head, Sister.”

“Really!?” she exclaimed.

“Yes, Sister.” The entire class was looking at us by that time, and I felt really uncomfortable. I hated being singled out and I hated being noticed.

“Go to the board and get a marker. I want you to show all of the work for this problem I will give you.”

“Yes, Sister.” This was not going well.

Pain flared in my middle as I got up, but it wasn’t that bad. I stiffly and slowly walked to the front of the class and to the whiteboard. Grabbing a marker when I got to the board, I readied myself. She followed me and put a calculator on the corner of a nearby table, making sure I knew it was for me.

Once she had reseated herself, she read off a word problem, yet another poorly worded one. “Would you repeat it for me, Sister?”

“You have been given the problem. Either solve it or don’t.” This was not the same person that seemed so nice earlier, and I had no idea what I had done to make her mad.

As I thought about the wording of the problem, I sorted it out and reworded it in my mind. Then I began.

As much as I hated to do it, I wrote every step of the problem out. This was one of those problems where I had to solve for several different variables and then use those variables to solve the actual problem. It also had some rather large logarithms, which I also solved on the board. The way I had learned to solve them involved a formula that most people in math didn’t like to see, but it worked. As I had to stretch in more than a few places to show everything, the pain in my stomach was getting worse.

When I was done, I stepped back, and looked at it a moment, then turned to look at her. By that point, my stomach was hurting pretty bad. “Child, go to the nurse.”

“I don’t know where the nurse is, Sister.” Then I looked down and the parts of my shirt that were visible on my sides were red. I hadn’t even known I was bleeding.

As I saw the blood, a jolt of pain shot through my stomach and I fell down. “I’m sorry,” I said, trying to get back up. One of the older girls ran over to me and helped me up.

“Sister, I’ll take her to the nurse,” the girl said.

“Thank you, Abigail,” the Sister replied.

Abigail almost had to carry me by the end, as I could barely stand up. The pain was really bad, but what was worse was that my muscles had simply quit doing what I told them. I had no energy.

“Thank you,” I said, when Abigail laid me on the exam table in the nurse’s office.

“You’re welcome. By the way, I think you got that problem right,” she said.

“It was,” I replied and closed my eyes.

When I opened them again, there were paramedics standing over me and I was on a gurney being rolled out of the school. “I can’t go to the hospital,” I said.

“You don’t have any choice, I’m afraid,” a female paramedic said.

“I can’t,” I said, a bit louder.

“You must. You have a wound that isn’t completely healed and the stitches have come out. You’re bleeding internally and that has to be fixed,” she told me.

“I can’t!” I cried out.

As the tears started pouring down my cheeks, I did the only thing I knew to do. I stopped the gurney. I simply didn’t allow it to move any further. The EMTs tried to move it, even trying to all get on one end and push. Of course, if they had succeeded, I’d probably have been hurt much worse.

“I told you, I can’t go to the hospital,” I said, when they finally stopped trying. They were all standing around the gurney, staring at it when I said that. Those words seemed to alter their perception of the situation. As one, they stepped back, looking at me with a bewildered look. It was a mix of disbelief to outright fear, and no small amount of confusion.

Very slowly, I stepped off of the gurney and just as slowly walked back into the school. Inside, I went to the nurse’s office, now that I knew where it was. “Ma’am, could you please bandage me?”

“The EMTs are taking you to the hospital. What are you doing back here?” she asked.

“I can’t go to the hospital.”

“You have to. You need your stitches redone, and I can’t do that.”

“I can’t go to the hospital.” My mind was a bit fuzzy, my thoughts getting disjointed, probably from blood loss, but I wasn’t sure.

“You don’t have a choice.”

Realizing that she wasn’t going to help me, I went to where the bandages were. Thankfully, the cabinets were nicely labelled. I pulled out what I thought I needed, ready to do the job myself.

“What are you doing?” she asked, then tried to stop me. I was done being stopped, though. As gently as I could, I lifted her up and moved her to the exam table, where I had been not that long ago. Placing her on it, I held her there and began the process of bandaging myself, the best that I could. In the state I was in, splitting my concentration was difficult.

She was absolutely frantic for a little while, not understanding how she was held, much less how she had been picked up. I would probably have been terrified if it had been me. After a little while, she calmed down and her gaze focused on me.

“If you’ll let me up, I’ll help you.” I knew I needed help, so I gambled that she’d truly help me. Thankfully, she did, because I didn’t think I had the energy left to hold her again. She removed the stuff that I had started with and then got some kind of liquid and cleaned the area. Once she was done with that, she got a brownish/orange liquid, that I suspected was iodine, and liberally applied that to the wound. She dried the entire area and then applied a new dressing.

“You really need those stitches fixed.”

“If I go to the hospital, they’ll get me and I’ll never see freedom again.”

“What!?” she kind of asked, and exclaimed. I was too tired at that point to really show her, but she wasn’t a threat to me right then anyway.

I needed to get away, and fast. The EMTs would definitely be reporting me, if they hadn’t already. The problem with that was, I was weak and in danger of bleeding a lot more.

“Tell Alex and Sister Paulina thank you for me,” I said, as I stood up and started my walk out of the office.

“You can’t walk like that.” She was right, but I didn’t have a choice. I also didn’t have any idea where I was going.

“I have to,” I said and walked out.

As I made it to the front door, two black SUVs were pulling up with eight men in military looking gear getting out. Instead of trying to fight them, I reinforced the shield around myself. I knew I had a very limited amount of energy and strength left.

“Stop there, Melanie Brager. We’ve been ordered to apprehend you. If you come along peacefully, we promise you won’t be hurt,” one of the men said.

“You can’t keep that promise,” I said softly, as I passed the man that spoke. I had no idea if he heard me.

Instead, I continued walking forward. As I did, a breeze began blowing, and I could feel my hair streaming behind me. If I was in a different situation, I would’ve thought it was really cool looking.

Two of the men moved to try and grab me. I knew my shield would stop bullets, but I didn’t know if it would stop people. Not taking any chances, I pushed them back to their vehicles. Not satisfied with that, I pushed them inside and closed and locked the doors, all with movements of my hands.

The rest of them stood motionless, unable to make their minds grasp what they had just seen. That gave me the time I needed to get away. Although I wasn’t moving fast, I was around a corner quickly. It was a bit of a surprise that they didn’t follow me.

There were a lot of buildings in that area, very close together. I managed to walk several blocks, not really paying attention to where I was going. What I did know was that I needed rest, so I went into the first building that looked remotely promising. I had no idea where I was, or what the building was. Once inside, I could tell it was an abandoned building, which I thought might be good, if no bad people were inside. At that point, I couldn’t have defended myself no matter how bad things got.

Struggling just to put one foot in front of the other, I stumbled up to the second floor and into what looked like an abandoned office before almost falling down in the corner and passing out. I was done.

“We found her and then lost her again,” Gabe said when he stormed in, very frustrated in his tone and actions.

“What!” Aliyah asked, almost shouting.

“She was at a Catholic Girls school this morning. Several guys were going to get her, but when they got there she was already gone. There were a couple of those black SUVs and a bunch of guys wandering around, along with an ambulance.” Aliyah’s heart sank. If they were there, then she was most likely caught.

“They didn’t get her, but my guys don’t know why,” Gabe said, seeing the worry in her face.

“Are you sure?”

“No, but they’re pretty sure.”

“Let’s go, then.”

“What about all those FBI guys in the area?”

“If they don’t see me, we’re safe. But if I can get close enough, I might be able to find her.”

“Okay, then. I guess we’ll go over there,” he agreed, but sounded doubtful.

A short time later, they were in the back of an old van. Some guy with a lot of tattoos was driving, and smoking. Aliyah didn’t like the looks of him, but Gabe insisted he was alright.

“We are close to the school,” the man said, with a strong hispanic accent.

Aliyah closed her eyes and sent her probes out, seeking. It was an amazingly short time before she found the faint signal that was Melanie, and she was certain of it. Opening her eyes, she looked around and pointed. “She’s in there,” she said, pointing at a building across the street.

“The old Heard building?” the tattooed man asked.

“I guess, if that’s what it’s called. I just know she’s in there.”

“You two stay here. I will find her,” the tattooed man said.

“She’s not on the ground, but she’s not very high. Maybe the second floor,” Aliyah suggested.

“I be right back,” he said, showing off his gold teeth as he smiled.

It wasn’t very long before the man came back out, cradling Melanie in his arms. She was unconscious and looked to be bleeding pretty bad.

When he got to the van, Gabe opened the side door and the man set her down very gently. “Your friend is not so good. She bled a lot.” Aliyah looked at Melanie with tears in her eyes.

“Do you know a doctor we can trust,” Gabe asked.

“I know the right man,” he replied, smiling widely and flashing his gold teeth again.

The man ran around to the driver’s side, climbed in and took off with his tires screaming. About fifteen minutes later, he was pulling into what looked like an auto shop. “Hey doc, we need some help,” he said before he was completely out of the van.

A middle aged man walked over as Gabe opened the side door. “Bring her in,” he said. The hispanic man lifted her up and followed the doc into a separate office looking area. “You boys wait outside,” he said, before he opened her clothes.

The first thing he did was put her index finger in a small clamp, which automatically started a machine to beeping. As soon as they were in there, he ripped the blouse open and put small disks on her chest. When Aliyah looked at it, she saw Melanie’s blood pressure. Of course, she had no idea what she was looking at.

Aliyah was about to leave but he stopped her. “You stay. I might need your help,” he told her. He cut off the jumper, putting its remains aside with the shirt. “She looks alright, but she needs her stitches replaced and I’m fairly sure she needs some blood. I don’t suppose you know what type she is?”

“No, sir,” she replied.

“I didn’t think so, but thought I would ask.”

He then proceeded to put an IV in her arm and also drew some blood. Done with the blood, he went to a medicine cabinet and pulled several things out. Using a large syringe, he drew something out of a medicine vial, then injected it into the IV.

Once he was done, he called out, “Luci, get this run for blood type, pronto. When you get the results, bring me four pints of whatever it is.” A young hispanic girl came running in and took the tube from him, barely pausing to grab it before running back out.

In the meantime, the man put on some of those thin medical gloves and pulled out a collection of different items. One of them looked a lot like a stapler to Aliyah, but she couldn’t figure out why he had a stapler. Then, he started using some tweezers and scissors to remove the stitches.

Although Aliyah was really curious what he was doing, she kept quiet. He seemed to know what he was doing, and was very focused on it. Finally, he was done removing the stitches and then used a couple of different devices to look inside the wound.

“It looks like your friend was very lucky. Although I can’t be certain, it appears that whatever did this missed all of her essential organs. Whoever did this stitch job should lose their medical license, though. That would leave a scar for the rest of her life, and she is too pretty for that,” he told her, still looking at his work.

Gently working on the wound, he picked up the stapler and then put it back down. He swathed the area with an orangish liquid and then dried it. Next, he picked up a tube and pulled a magnifying glass over the wound that had a very bright light under it. Very carefully, he pulled the skin together and gently applied whatever goo was in the tube to the wound. He blew on it for a few seconds and then placed some butterfly bandages spanning the two sides of the wound, holding them tightly together. The final step was to put a healthy stack of gauze over the wound, taped very securely.

“I have glued her wound closed on this side. It will heal faster and should have less of a scar. A pretty girl like her would not like a scar, I think,” he said with a smile, as he was finishing up.

“Maria,” he called, and a moment later, a different, but still young hispanic girl came in. “Find something nice for this girl to wear. Seeing her school uniform, I would say upper class, and conservative,” he instructed her. “Wait a moment,” he then said.

“What is her favorite color?” he asked Aliyah.

“Blue,” she replied.

“Try and get something in blues,” he told her.

“Si, Señor,” the girl replied.

A few minutes later, Maria and Aliyah were getting Melanie dressed in a nice, but loose fitting skirt and sweater outfit. Maria had brought tights, but the doctor stopped them from putting those on with a raised hand.

Finally, he was done with the repairs, but still looked concerned. “She has lost a good deal of blood. Luci needs to hurry,” he said, his face showing his concern.

Fifteen minutes later, the doctor was tapping the table, in a rapid staccato beat, and kept looking at the door. “What is taking that girl?” Luci finally arrived a few minutes later.

“Señor, she is O negative. We had trouble finding it, but here it is,” the girl said, out of breath as she came running back in. She handed four bags of blood to the doctor and then ran back out.

As Aliyah watched, the doctor attached each bag of blood to Melanie’s IV and watched until the bag was empty. He did that for three bags, not speaking a word during the entire process. The fourth was almost two thirds empty when he pulled the bag from the IV. “She needed three and a half pints,” he told Aliyah.

He cleaned everything up and sat in a chair, motioning for Aliyah to sit in another chair nearby. “She is lucky she did not go into hypovolemic shock, considering the amount of blood she lost. It would probably have killed her,” he said, then rubbed the bridge of his nose for a minute. When done, he looked back at Aliyah, his face very serious. “Why are two pretty girls in my clinic, with a rather nasty wound in one of you that required almost four pints of very rare blood?”

“She was badly injured not that long ago in an explosion. We lost her until today and found her like this,” Aliyah said.

“Why are you in my clinic and not in a regular hospital?” he asked.

“The man that drove us brought us here,” she replied, not sure what else to say.

“You do not understand the nature of my question. That is clear. You see, I treat the gang members in St. Louis. It does not matter what gang and none of them will bother me or my people, or each other when they come here. We are kept safe because of what we do for them and they make sure we have what we need. You are not in any of the gangs, that is obvious. So, why are you in my clinic?”

“The man driving the van brought us here,” she repeated her answer.

“He is in the South Posse. I know him. How did you get hooked up with him? You are two nice looking girls and do not belong with the gangs. Why are you here.”

“I don’t know,” she said, her voice and body motions expressing her frustration at him continuously asking the same question.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Aliyah and she’s Melanie.”

“I know those names, and although anyone could have them, the two together is somewhat unique. I think I heard the FBI is looking for two girls with those names. You are not gang, but the feds want you. Why?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“But you have to. You don’t have a choice. Your presence has put my entire operation in danger.”

“If you find out why, and they find out you know, they’ll lock you up forever,” she said. His eyebrows raised at that, but he stayed silent for a time.

“You two are wanted by the feds, and according to what you claim, whatever they want you for is worth a lot to them. It is important enough to bury anyone that knows about it.” Aliyah nodded.

“You are trying to keep me safe by not telling me anything, yet your very presence here already puts me in the same amount of danger. If they find out you are here, they will still bury us.” Aliyah looked shocked at that.

“You did not think of that and I’ll bet your friend did not either.”

“No, sir.”

“The damage is done, and not knowing might keep us a little safer, although I doubt it. Here is what you are going to do. You and your friend are going to leave in the morning. I don’t want to know where you are going. The boy that came with you will arrange it, if he is able. That is not my concern, but I want you gone by tomorrow morning. If you are not, I will deliver you to the FBI myself, and hope for a plea bargain. Do you understand?” Again, Aliyah nodded.

When he was done, he left and Gabe came back in, along with the guy that drove the van. Aliyah still had no idea who he was.

“We have to be gone by morning,” she told Gabe when he came in.

“Is she okay to move?” Gabe asked.

“The doctor said we’d better be gone. I guess he thinks she is, or he doesn’t really care,” she replied.

I opened my eyes, hearing Aliyah and a voice I thought was Gabriel’s. “What’s going on? What are you doing here? Where am I?” I asked, surprising them both. They obviously hadn’t realized I was awake.

“You lost a lot of blood and we took you to a doctor,” Gabe added.

“Where am I?” I asked, since neither of them had answered that question.

“You’re in St. Louis, but I don’t know where,” Gabe said.

“We need to leave,” I told them.

“We know,” Aliyah replies.

“No, they know we’re here,” I explained, trying to make them understand.

“We know,” Gabe said.

“No, you don’t. They saw me and they know what I can do, now,” I explained. Both of them were quiet that time. Gabe because he didn’t completely understand, Aliyah because she did understand.

“We’re afraid to move you too soon,” Aliyah said.

“We don’t have a choice. If we don’t leave now, they’ll find us. It doesn’t matter where we are,” I said.

“Mel, we can’t run like this forever,” Aliyah told me.

“I know. I have an idea, but the first thing we need to do is get our parents and the Stone’s,” I informed her. She stared at me, her mouth slightly open. Gabe had no idea what I was talking about, not really.

“Do you know where they are?”

“No, but we can find them, when we get close to where I think they are. That’ll also give me some time to heal.”

“We don’t have anyone that can drive, once we leave St. Louis,” Gabe informed us.

“I know,” I answered.

“Gabriel, are you certain you want to be mixed up with us? This is your last chance to save yourself. Once they connect you with us, there’s no backing out. They’ll be willing to kill you, or torture you, to get to us,” I told him.

He sat quiet for a long time, looking at the floor. “Even though it might be dangerous, what I’m leaving is just as dangerous. I’m staying with you,” he said, looking me in the eyes. I couldn’t help a few happy tears forming in my eyes and I smiled up at him.

“Okay, what we need is for you to buy five bus tickets to Whitefish, Montana, and then five tickets from Whitefish, Montana to Seattle, Washington. The entire way, we have to avoid cameras at all costs. If there are any in the loading areas for the buses, we’ll have to figure out how to stay out of their sight. If any camera sees us, we’ll be caught,” I instructed Gabriel.

He nodded and said, “I’ll have them today.”

“Aliyah, I need you to help me get out of here. I don’t know where we can go, but if this doctor wants us gone, let’s go. I don’t want him to have the opportunity to change his mind and rat us out.”

“Will you take us to where we’ve been staying,” Aliyah asked the man quietly standing in the background.

“I will take you.” With his big smile, I saw several gold teeth and also noticed a lot of tattoos.

Without waiting for further instructions, he lifted me up and carried me to a van in what looked like a mechanics shop. There were a lot of cars in various degrees of repair or disassembly. I wasn’t sure which and for some reason thought I probably didn’t want to know.

“I could have walked, but thank you,” I told the man.

“You do not need to walk right now. You might hurt yourself again, and you are welcome,” he said, with a very thick accent. Considering how close I was to him, I could tell he was actually very clean. That was a little bit of a surprise, considering how he was dressed.

Less than half an hour later, we were pulling into the driveway and then into the garage of a nice little house in a regular looking neighborhood. “Where are we?” I asked.

“You are home, for now. This house belongs to a friend and he has loaned it to you and your friends while you are in St. Louis,” the man informed me.

“Please tell him thank you,” I said.

“He will be happy to know you have been found and are now safe,” he replied, slightly inclining his head. That was a gesture that was somewhat out of character with how he looked, but it was very nice and I couldn’t help but smile at him.

“You have a very pretty smile. You should use it more often,” he said, smiling back.

When he carried me in, Eliana and Ben were almost jumping to see me. “Mel, I’ve missed you,” Ben exclaimed, as did Eliana.

“You need to be careful,” the Hispanic man told them, with a somewhat stern voice. It was the first time I had heard him sound anything but nice.

“What happened to her?” Ben asked, looking very worried.

“She was injured in the stomach and the doctor had to fix her, but she still needs time to heal. That includes not being jumped on by you,” he said, but with a little smile. It was almost how I could have pictured Dad handling it.

When he finally set me on the couch, Ben and Eliana both hugged me very gently. They were very careful not to touch my stomach.