Chapter 19: Care For Her
\[Leo’s POV\]
“Hey!”
My voice erupts from me as I move forward and quickly grab Rue’s wrist so I can pull the scalpel she holds away from her throat.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
As I speak, she slowly turns her gaze to mine, and when our eyes meet, I don’t see any sign of the woman I knew in them.
“It’s my fault,” she whispers, her voice hoarse. “It’s my fault she died.”
Her fault?
Her fault?
How could she stand here and try to claim that her mother's death was her fault?
What happened to Darlene was unavoidable. She had a quickly spreading disease.
“It’s my fault,” Rue repeats, fighting against me. “It’s my fault, so I should go and join her!”
As she speaks, she attempts to fight the scalpel I still hold away from me.
“Stop that!” I growl, throwing it to the side and pulling Rue against me.
Instantly, she starts to fight, clearly wanting to break free and get away from me, but I don’t let her. I can’t let her, not when she was acting like this.
“What is going on in here?”
I lift my gaze and find that the doctor has returned with a few nurses.
“Do you have anything to calm her down?” I demand as Rue continues to try to break free.
“Nurse,” the doctor hisses, turning to the woman to his left. “Please go and grab a sedative.”
Nodding, the woman hurries away while the doctor and the other nurse move forward and try to help me stop Rue from her attempt at self-harm, and when the nurse instructed to grab a sedative returns, she doesn’t waste any time administering it to Rue.
For a moment, Rue continues to fight, her voice shrill, her hands and legs lashing out in every direction, but soon her attempts calm, and I cradle her against me.
“Shit,” I hiss, looking down at the unmoving woman in my arms.
“We should admit her,” the doctor murmurs. “And put her on suicide watch.”
“Admit,” I repeat, unable to believe what I was hearing. “How can you suggest such a thing?”
“It is common practice,” the doctor explains. “When a patient makes it clear that they want to harm themselves, we usually keep a close eye on them, and after seventy-two hours, we send them to a mental facility to further evaluate.”
“She just lost her mother,” I point out. “I think that this is pretty common behavior for someone dealing with grief.”
Of course, I wasn’t completely certain if it was absolutely normal, but there was no way that I was going to let them lock away Rue.
“I’ll take care of her,” I tell him, pulling her closer. “However, if you could prescribe her something in the meantime, then…”
“We can’t without proper evaluation.” The doctor tells me. “If you choose to take her home and care for her, then you will have to do it without the help of medication.”
“Then I guess that will be the way that I do this.” I say. “Thank you for answering my questions.”
I looked like I was going to have to handle things on my own, but in the end this was what I at least owed Darlene and Rue.
Maybe this was the reason that Darlene and I crossed paths from the very beginning, because the universe already intended to take Darlene and leave Rue alone.
“Are you sure you will be able to handle that?” The doctor asks, snapping me out of my reverie. “You will have to take care of all the funeral preparations while caring for your mentally unstable daughter. I don’t mean to sound like I’m saying you’re incapable, but it is quite a lot.”
“I’ll be fine,” I assure him.
I had to be alright because right now I was all that Rue had, and I was the only one who could lay Darlene to rest.
“I won’t be alone in all this,” I continue, remembering that Mykel was still here. “My brother will help me.”
Growing quiet, I wait while the doctor considers what I have said, and when he gives a nod, I know he isn’t going to push any further.
“Alright, then, would you like to at least lay her in a spare bed while we discuss what is to be done from this point on with your wife?”
Opening my mouth, I prepare to say no, but when I look down at Rue, I find that she seems to be fast asleep.
“Alright,” I sigh. “Please lead the way.”
Nodding, the doctor leads me to an empty room, and after I make sure that Rue is in bed and tucked in, I follow him to his office so that he can go over the procedures for Darlene’s funeral preparations.
The discussion takes up to an hour, maybe even longer than that, but time almost ceases to exist for me as I go through the motions of dealing with something I never thought I would be.
Of course, I knew that there was a chance Darlene would pass before me since she was older, but she wasn’t older by much, and for her to die within the year after we married was so hard to believe.
Well, believe it. The small voice in the back of my head says. It has happened, and since it has, you now have a mourning child to take care of.
Child.
That most certainly was not the word I would use to describe Rue since she was well into her twenties, but even as I tell myself this, I can’t help but remember her as a teenager who was constantly getting bullied.
Sighing, I push my useless thoughts aside and finish my discussion with the doctor, and once we finish, I stand and head to the room that I left Rue in, but when I arrive, I find that it is empty.
Eyes widening, I look around the hall, half expecting to find her there looking for me, but when I’m met with nothing, I feel my panic beginning to grow.
“Fuck!” I hiss, heading toward the front desk, and when I arrive, I don’t wait for the woman sitting there to greet me. “Did you see a woman come by here? Short, curvy, curly blonde hair, blue eyes?”
Growing quiet, I wait while the woman stares at me, considering my request, and when she nods, I feel my heart drop.
“She headed out about twenty minutes ago.” She tells me. “She looked a bit dazed.”
“AND YOU LET HER LEAVE?” I roar.
“Sir, it is not my responsibility to stop people. It is illegal to detain.”
Opening my mouth, I prepare to argue with her, but I know that it would be useless and I shouldn’t be spending my time doing it anyway.
“Thanks for your help.” I huff, rushing forward and then out of the building and into the rain.