Fang
The nurse leads us into the room where Ms. Monroe lies. She's pale and half-asleep when we walk in.
"Hi Fang." She says with a smile.
I stare at her, unable to speak for a moment. She almost died protecting me…and I didn't even know what was happening. That's not fair.
"Hi Mom." I whisper.
She breaks into a grin and tears drip down her cheeks. "Hi son." She says softly.
I want to cry but I can't. I need to be strong for her. "How are you feeling?" I ask.
"They said I got lucky and no internal organs were hit. I should be out really soon." She says.
"That's good." I tell her.
"Are you okay Max?" Mom asks.
Max nods with a wet smile. "Yeah. Um, if you were worried about where Fang's staying while you're in here, Iggy's mom offered to take him 'til you're better. I already checked."
"Thank you dear. What's wrong?" Mom asks.
"My dad was behind this-the one who broke out of prison-not the cop. I'm sorry." Max says.
"It's not your fault Max. I'm sure Fang's been telling you the same thing." Mom says with a compassionate smile. "I'm just glad it was me instead of one of you kids."
Max and I nod, both of us fighting tears.
The nurse comes in and says, "Okay, she needs to rest now."
"I'll visit during visiting hours!" I call as we're ushered out.
"Okay Fang. I love you dear."
"I love you too Mom."
…
Max
Fang keeps his promise. Every spare moment he has that isn't spent on going to school is spent at visiting hours with Ms. Monroe. He lets me come too usually. He made her a get-well card and he sits with her and reads. He's a good son. She's in good spirits despite her wound. She shooed us out one Saturday and demanded that we go to the movies. So we went on a movie date and came back telling her the book was better than the movie but we were glad she made us go. Fang doesn't blame me for what happened and neither does Ms. Monroe.
When she gets out of the hospital, we have a party welcoming her home and the next week she and I orchestrate a late birthday party for Fang.
Everything's back to normal…except for my dad being out of jail, the cops not catching whoever tried to kill Ms. Monroe and Sam being on the news missing. Yes… everything's totally normal.
