Chapter Fifty-Seven-2

"It's her mom." A pause. "She's..." The fading voice plummets my soul into the ground. She's gone. She's gone. Gone. Not gone like missing from my graduation, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Gone like the hope she could ever be at another one. Gone from this planet. Forever. My mother—my beautiful, talented, creative, warm, and loving mother is dead. I let out a blood curdling scream, yelling from all I have in me until my lungs feel like they're burning and my throat aches. Falling to my knees before people can hold me up, I let out another one, looking only at the ground. I begin to bang down on the floor and struggle out of arms trying to help me. My mother is dead. Dead. I pass out. When I wake up, the first thing I see are the colorful streets all blurring by. My head is leaning against the passenger side window, my breath coming out and fogging up a small area of glass. I begin to sit up, feeling my head blur and jolt in pain as I do. The car is going at least 50mph, despite the speed limit and other cars. I look over to the driver. Jet black suit and blue eyes. This scene feels all too familiar. "Lee?" I try to say but my voice comes out scratchy and my throat pulses in pain. What happened? As soon as I ask that question, it all comes flooding back in. The phone call. My breathing begins to quicken as sweat begins to form at my hairline and in the lines of my palm. "Oh god," I mutter. "Ohgodohgodohgod." Lee's hand reaches over and squeezes my hand. "Shhh. It's okay, it's okay. Deep breaths. I got you." He switches lanes, his eyes never leaving the road and his voice never wavering. "Just hang tight. I'll get you to the hospital in the next two minutes. I think you need to prepare for what you are about to walk in on." Though an large unspoken amount of drama has passed between us in the past couple of months, I find myself beginning to slow down in a good way. My breath relaxes as my hands unclench. I try to fizzle out the direct reason for my panic, flickering my eyes to each car that passes or stoplight instead. Thirty-three cars and two stoplights later, I am at the hospital. The tall building that I have passively entered and exited so many times before. I have almost been in this building as much as my own house. A flood of memories take over my mind. Back when I had originally been adjusting to my comatose mother, it had been prom season. I had taken a selfie with her, adamant in showing her when she woke up. The doubts of "if" had sulked around my head before, but my mind had never wandered and settled into the idea of her never waking up. I have no idea how do to deal with the reality of all of this. Men are waiting for me outside of the hospital. I recognize them as the security that sits perched outside my mother's door. A mixture of Madam Jin and Lee's men. "Sir." One of them comes up to Lee and I. "You," Lee says as he throws the car keys, "park this." His eyes turn over to the remaining man. "You. Walk with me. Brief me down." "Yes, sir," both of them respond. Lee's hand gently presses on my back, moving me along as I certainly would love to stay right in place and never walk in. He keeps me close, as if he's afraid I'll crump. He's right. I probably will. "Baby steps, take it easy," he whispers, his ears accidentally brushing the side of my head. For some reason, the action jolts a thought in my head. "Lee," I say, halting to a stop that even he abruptly pauses. "Where is Daniel?" His mouth opens slightly, in which way I don't know. Surprised? Hurt? Quickly, he removes his emotions from the situation. "He's getting your stuff, a change of clothes, and picking up Candy. Once we get up there, I'll call your brother." His eyes shift over to something behind me. "It seems Madam Jin is already here." I turn immediately. In the middle of gracefully taking off her gloves, she stands intimidatingly in a big fur coat that encompasses her entire upper body. She looks disheveled, a prospect I have never seen her in. I haven't seen her in weeks and yet she has the ability to just reappear in the right moments. Despite this, I have a strange urge to just find comfort in her, so I do. Without thinking, I run up to her and hug her. She holds me tight right away. "I'm so sorry, Ivory," she says, her voice wavering in a breathy tone. She soothes her hand up and down over my hair. "My team called me immediately and I came rushing. There was nothing modern medicine could do. I'm sorry." I begin to cry again in her arms. Hearing her say it feels so official. If Madam Jin, the epitome of power and wealth, cannot do anything, it really must be the end. Sometimes, power and wealth hold no weight in the fluid world of life and death. I desperately wish they did. Then, at least, there would be something that could control human life, superficial as the factors were. "I-I don't know what to do anymore," I tell her. My voice sounds like the aftermath of a raging rock concert. I am honest for once. "I will take care of you, step by step. Don't you worry for now," she tells me, pulling back and looking me in the eyes. I can tell she's strained, spread thin over the truth of today and the stressors that also dominate her life that I have no idea nor place in. For her, there is so much more beyond her potential granddaughter and the search for her missing son. She has an economic empire, her own mental health, and personal issues all at once. I wish I could help but I can barely hold myself up right now. "Thank you," I say for now. Lee emerges by my side, hugging and kissing Madam Jin on the cheeks. "Get Mark here," Madam Jin commands to which Lee barely hesitates to before making a call. "Come on, Ivory. We will all walk up together. You can see your mother...one last time." It feels foreign to hear names like Mark and Candy. I have been in my own personal demise the past few weeks, in complete isolation from the people that care the most. Tonight is the first time I went out and yet the night possesses darker turns than expected. I don't know if I will ever crawl out of this deep feeling of hopelessness, especially now. In the elevator, all of us are on the phone. "Thank you, Daniel," I say, pressing the phone to my ear. "You're doing more than enough." "It's no problem," he replies, the background noise a mixture of shuffling around and his voice wandering from the microphone of the phone. It sounds like he's packing me clothes and other necessities in an overnight bag. "Candy said she will be there soon. She doesn't want to waste time and will hail a taxi or something. I have your stuff and I'm going to speed. There shouldn't be traffic at this hour. Remember, you're going to be okay. I love you."