EXPLOSION

I mostly just stayed in my bedroom. I didn't care to spend any more time with anyone here than I had to, and I wanted to unpack. Right now, the room was completely empty, not counting the five pieces of furniture. It looked like more like a college dorm room than a bedroom, even with the finished rug and painted walls.

"Hey there, kiddo," Gregory knocked on the door around 6:00 PM. He briefly knocked and walked in, as I was in my room listening to music and didn't hear him the first time.

"Don't call me kiddo," I mumbled under my breath. "What's up?" I asked.

"You have a phone call," he smiled. "It sounds like someone who is really looking forward to talking to you," he winked. "When you're done you should come on out. The boys want to watch a movie."

"I might just go to bed early, if that's okay," I told him. "I didn't get much sleep last night, and I'm really tired." It wasn't a lie.

"Whatever floats your boat, kiddo," he nodded, handing me the phone and walking away. "No technology behind closed doors!" He yelled on his way out as a reminder. I rolled my eyes and shut the door as much as possible without actually breaking the rule.

"Hello?" I answered, praying the other voice on the line was my little sister.

"Livvy!" She cheered before coughing. She sounded worse.

"Hey, buggy," I smiled, wiping a tear away. "How are you? Is Drew taking care of you?"

"Yeah!" She answered. "Drew is great. Guess what? He got me Turkish Delight! Can you believe that? He said that I had to wait for him to eat it though, which is stupid, but I guess I can do that."

"Patience was never something you were good at," I smiled. "How long until he lets you eat it?"

"He said I could have some after my percussion therapy," Bri groaned. I chuckled. Drew already knew how to work my little sister.

"He's right," I told her. "You can afford to wait a little while. Why is your percussion therapy so late, though?"

"I don't know," Brianna complained. "Probably because I live here now and we don't have health insurance."

"How do you know about health insurance?" I groaned. This was not something she needed to be worrying about. In fact, this was an Avery problem, which meant it was a me problem now. Liz had already told me earlier that I was meeting with our lawyer tomorrow to figure out Avery's will and funeral stuff. That was going to suck.

"I heard the nurses talking about it," Bri admitted sheepishly.

"Don't worry yourself over that," I comforted. "You're going to get what you need, and that's what matters."

"Oh! Okay, guess where I am right now?" Bri asked, referring to an old game we used to play while she was on her nebulizer. She would get bored and my parents would tell me to entertain her. We started this game where we would picture ourselves somewhere else in the world, and the other person would have to guess where we were. She was probably going to say Narnia, she was always in Narnia, but I played along anyways. It was better than picturing her hooked up to oxygen and wires in a hospital room.

"The Eiffel Tower," I threw out there as a wild guess. I could hear the disgust in Brianna's response.

"God, no," she coughed some more before continuing. "I'm where the sun shines."

"The desert?" I guessed. She lost me.

"I'm outside, dummy!" She teased me. "Drew took me out for a walk!"

"That was very nice of him," I commented, shocked that he would do that. Was that why she sounded so bad? She didn't sound that way earlier. "I hope you said thank you," I directed her.

"Thank you," I heard her whisper to him. I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, Livvy!" Liz knocked and interrupted, poking her head in. I fought the urge to snap back at her. "We're going to get started on the movie. Two more minutes, okay?"

I nodded. I was not going to last long with these people. My sister was way more important than whatever dumb movie Liz and Gregory were making their kids watch.

"Do you need to go?" Bri asked sadly from the other end.

"Is this Drew's phone?" I asked her, ignoring her question.

"Yeah, he let me use it. You're in his phone as a contact now! He let me put a special ringtone on it and everything!" Bri said excitedly. Of course he did.

"Let me guess, 'Harlem Shake?'" I asked her, laughing. She laughed too – in between coughs.

"Naturally," she answered. "Can I call you tomorrow?"

"You can call me whenever you want to," I told her. "I may not always be able to answer – my foster parents are weird about technology and that stuff – but you can always call. You have my number now."

"Okay," Bri sighed. My heart broke for her. As hard as being apart was for me, I wasn't the one stuck by myself in a hospital.

"Can you put me on with Drew real quick, Bri?" I heard the shuffling of the phone, and then Drew's voice.

"Hey, Liv, what's up?" He asked.

"Thank you," I told him, the tears running down my face now. "I just…" I shook my head. There were no words to explain how grateful I was that he was taking care of her when I couldn't. How grateful I was that he was making her happy when I couldn't. "Just…thank you."

"Don't worry about it, Liv," Drew comforted. "I got her. You take care of you. Get some sleep, don't forget to eat, and we'll see you soon."

"Okay," I nodded. I could do this. Okay.

"Do you want to talk to Bri again?" He asked. I nodded, then realized he couldn't see me.

"Yes, please," I said out loud.

"Here you go," he put her back on the line.

"You're such a sap," Brianna tsked, probably overhearing us on the phone.

"Shut up," I mumbled. "Hey, I love you okay? Each day apart is another day we get closer to being together, right?"

"Right," Brianna affirmed.

"Okay, go get ready for the rest of your treatments, and I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Talk to you tomorrow! I love you!" Brianna made kissy noises into the phone.

"I love you, too," I smiled, and waited for her to hang up the phone. When she did, I took a deep breath, and walked out to the bathroom.

I quickly wiped my face and composed myself before heading downstairs. It couldn't have been more than ten minutes between when I hung up the phone and when I made it down to the basement.

"There she is," Gregory smiled. The two boys were already elbows deep into their bowls of popcorn. It looked like they were watching the news while waiting for me.

"That was Brianna, right?" Liz asked me. I nodded and she handed me a bowl of popcorn.

"I'm glad you got to talk to her," Gregory smiled.

"When will I get to see her?" I asked. Liz and Gregory looked at each other.

"I think Nina is coming to get you tomorrow when she comes to take you to talk to the lawyer," Liz answered, but there was something else she wasn't telling me.

"Mom, look!" The older of the two boys pointed to the TV screen where footage of a hospital emergency room exploding filled the screen. My heart began beating faster than I ever knew it to beat, and it took everything in me not to run upstairs and hit redial on the phone.

"Is that…?" Gregory began to ask.

"It's San Antonio Memorial," I paled. "That's where my sister is."

"Okay, but you were just talking to her, right? You didn't hear any explosions, right?" Liz tried to rationalize.

"It's been fifteen maybe even twenty minutes since I hung up with her, it's possible," I shuddered. I was fairly confident Brianna had been moved out of the ER by now, but if Drew had taken her outside, then she could have been right in the line of fire.

"I know I already used my phone time, but please, please, can I just call Drew back and make sure they're okay?" I begged. Gregory and Liz nodded, and I raced upstairs.

"Please pick up, please pick up," I whispered into the phone. It went to voicemail and I groaned. "Drew!" I yelled, knowing that it wouldn't make a difference. I hit redial again.

"Liv?" Drew answered. I could hear the yelling and chaos in the background. I shrank, realizing that as much as I needed him to tell me everyone was okay, there were plenty of people who weren't okay that needed him.

"Is Bri okay?" I asked. That was all I needed to know.

"She's fine, she's back up in her room. Everyone's fine, Liv," Drew assured. I nodded.

"Okay, go save lives," I knew we needed to keep this conversation short.

"I meant what I said, Liv. Take care of yourself. I've got Bri."

"I'll do my best," I sighed. I would never stop worrying about her. Not after everything we had been through together.

"Good night, Liv," Drew said before hanging up the phone.

"Good night," I told him, even though he couldn't hear me. I had to trust him, and that was the hardest part of all of this.

I walked back downstairs, where they had given up on waiting for me to watch the movie.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Gregory asked, seeing me come down the stairs. I grabbed my bowl of popcorn and nodded.

"Everyone is safe," I reported. "Now let's watch a movie."