“Call 911,” he whispered and then he collapsed, face down on the floor.
Everything happened in a wild blur. The night manager called for help, law enforcement arrived and at some point Shari brought Tamara’s purse and red hoodie. Tamara pillowed Wulfric’s head against her knees and his blood stained her jeans. She talked to him although he remained unconscious and told him everything she’d held back for too long.
When the ambulance came, she rode with him, his hand clutched in hers. Through her worried fear, she heard the EMTs talking. “He’s got a fair chance.”
Fair wasn’t good enough.
“You’ve gotta make it,” she whispered in his ear. “I know how much I love you – now.”
Chapter Three
Red dominated the night. The bright red of Tamara’s hood, the faded cherry of her work smock, and the crimson of Wulfric’s blood mingled in her mind with the ruby-hued emergency vehicle lights casting a scarlet shadow over everything. Her favorite color became the hue of fear, of injury, danger and possibly death. Red represented anger, and behind her other emotions, rage stirred. If she could’ve, Tamara might have strangled the man who tried to rob the store and shot Wulfric. But beyond the negative, past the anxiety, and more powerful than fear––red still meant love, somewhere down deep inside.
Red became not just the blood Wulfric shed to protect Tamara, but the vivid scarlet of heart’s blood, of Valentines and beautiful roses. And so she clung to the red of hope.
At the medical center the staff banished her from the trauma center to a waiting room, a sterile place with beige walls and a tan floor. Rows of chairs held people who clutched their stomachs or held their heads or linked hands. Most of them had someone but Tamara, a loner too long, sat solitary. Somewhere she’d shed the store smock and wore her own red hood, familiar and still scented with the laundry soap fragrance. She’d washed Wulfric’s blood from her hands but her jeans remained stained. No one offered her fresh garments and she couldn’t think of anyone to call. By now, her parents would be drunk or stoned, out of it and unable to function. Her grandmother, bless her heart, no longer drove and Tamara’d run off any friends she once claimed. No one but Wulfric risked her wrath or believed in her despite her actions.
Alone, Tamara kept vigil, her heart aching for Wulfric and filled with fear. Never much of a church goer, not a spiritual person, something within yearned toward a higher power. She didn’t feel any kinship with God or the unknown Jesus so Tamara sought intercession with someone closer, her brother Anthony. If he could, the big brother she once worshipped and adored would help. He always had in life, so maybe he would from the other side, in death.
An hour passed, then another before it occurred to Tamara she should let Wulfric’s mother know he got hurt. Unlike her, he had family: a mother, two sisters who cared about him. His dad, now deceased, had too. A phone hung on the wall of the waiting room but although she eyed it, she couldn’t summon up enough courage to use it. Wulfric’s Mutti might be mad, blame Tamara for what happened and besides, unless some doctor or nurse told her something, she didn’t have anything to say except, “Hey, your son got shot, bled a whole bunch and now he’s at the hospital.” Wulfric’s mother used to like her just fine, but she hadn’t seen the woman since she tried to break everything off with him. Maybe Mutti hated her now. She didn’t know, and right now she lacked the emotional fortitude to find out. Besides, for all Tamara knew someone in authority might’ve contacted her anyway, so she’d just wait.
Four hours after arriving at the medical center someone called her name and Tamara glanced up to find a doctor in scrubs standing at the entrance door. “I’m Tamara,” she said, standing up. Her heart crawled up her throat and lodged in her mouth. At the same time her stomach dropped down to somewhere around her knees. “How’s Wulfric?”
“He’s stable,” the unknown doctor said. “He’s out of surgery, the bullet’s been removed and there’s no major damage. He suffered a major blood loss and he’s very weak but we’ve listed him in fair condition. In about fifteen minutes, he’ll be moved to a standard room and you can see him there.”