Free A Soul's Kiss by Debra Chapoton

accelerator, watched the traffic, and lost Jessica again.
    She was still with me . . . somewhere. I couldn’t concentrate on two things at once, at least not this mind-boggling. I kept talking in case she could still hear me. I told her everything. As soon as I parked in the emergency room parking lot, I closed my eyes and thought hard about her. I heard her seat buckle unclasp and I popped open my eyes to see her hand reaching for mine. She squeezed me and I swear I could feel it.
    “Come on, let’s get you some help.”
    She stayed on my heels, but I lost my concentration again as I hurried past the nurses’ station.
    “Knock, knock, it’s Rashanda,” I said as I peeked around the curtain. Jessica’s mom and dad weren’t there. Jessica’s skin looked extra pale.
    “I look worse,” I heard her say. Jessica stood looking down at herself.
    We were alone in the cubicle. The machines were quietly beeping—too quietly. Someone had turned them down, but maybe they were warning of her blood loss. I opened the curtain all the way so she’d be exposed to every nurse and doctor who passed by. No one was around. What was this? Lunch time?
    “Hey! Can we have some help over here?” I stepped around the corner and waved down the first person I saw wearing scrubs.
    *  *  *
    There was a lot of hustle and bustle and searching for Jessica’s parents. I was sent to the waiting room by the only nurse who noticed me standing half in and half out of the ICU room.
    I sat down in the corner, put my head in my hands, and tried to make sense of things. It was like a religious experience because my thoughts got all calm and warm. I prayed for Jessica’s doctors, that they would fix her in time.

 
    Tyler
    Friday

     
    By noon I’d had enough of school and texted my mom. I told her I was sick and asked her to call the attendance office and get me excused for the rest of the day. She did. She probably thought I was upset about Keith.
    I didn’t go home though. I started walking south without thinking about it. I was headed to the hospital.
    I passed the frozen custard shop where last Friday I almost got up enough nerve to go in and talk to Jessica and Rashanda. Crap. I wish I had Keith’s confidence with girls.
    It took fifteen minutes to walk to the hospital. I should have gone straight to the information desk to see if they had moved Keith, but I went to where I last saw him. His cubicle was empty. I looked around and wondered what happened to everybody. The place was deserted. The info board at the nurses’ station didn’t have Keith’s or Hannah’s or Michael’s names, but Jessica Mitchell was still on the list with a special notation and two doctors’ names. I glanced toward the corresponding cubicle number but the curtain was open and the bed was gone. Wheeled to a private room? I asked a nurse’s aide and she told me that she’d just been taken into surgery.
    Crap. Double crap.
    I went down the hall toward the main entrance and passed the windows of a waiting room. Rashanda was there, camped across two chairs and trying to sleep. I opened the door quietly and snuck in. I was undecided whether to say something or just wait. I took the chair to my left and planted my elbows on my knees. I rested my head on my knuckles and stared at the floor.
    Someone came in even more quietly than I had. Barefoot. I could see her bare legs up to her knees where the bottom of a light green hospital gown started. I kept my head in my hands but lifted my eyes and followed her steps as she crossed the room and headed towards Rashanda.
    Too strange.
    From the back this patient had hair like Jessica’s. I closed my eyes and thought of the last time I saw Jessica. She was walking out of the school with my stepbrother and her hair looked exactly the same as this girl’s. A shot of adrenaline blasted my eyes open with an insane hope. Jessica?
    She stopped at Rashanda and bent over her until their foreheads touched. A beeper went off on the