Chapter 3

Everything was happening so fast for Booker. He wondered how Toby got involved in the shootout. For minutes he began to replay the conversation between Toby and himself on that morning while he sat at the waiting segment of the Emergency Unit. The palpitation of his heart increased by seconds. It was as though a part of him was dying on the inside, and he couldn’t help being stable at that point. Every minute that he spent in the waiting room, he shuffled between sitting and peeping into the window blinds of the operation room.

God, please, save him, please. Please! His mind stated as he worried every second. The sighs of worries would not let be too. 

“If only someone could talk to me about something, If onl…” He uttered aloud. There was so much emotion evident in the tone of his voice. There were just a few other people in the waiting room, but their unease was nothing compared with that of Booker. The two people in the waiting room looked at him like he was some sort of pitiable thing. 

Three hours had passed since Booker’s arrival at the hospital. He tried to speak with each of the doctors that paced in and out of the operation room. None of them wanted to speak with him. They brushed past him like he was some sort of ghost. “Can someone please talk to me?! What is happening with Toby! Talk to me, for crying out loud!” He exclaimed finally, holding on to one of the doctors who seemed like he was the most senior among the other doctors. He clung tightly to him and would not let go. The other doctors tried to separate his grip from the doctor’s medical apron, but he would not yield. 

“We have all been busy with your brother ever since he was brought in. He wasn’t stable when he was brought in. He was pretty much in a bad space, but he is getting better now. There were about seven bullets shut into respective sides of his body.” One of the other doctors explained. 

As soon as Booker heard the number of bullets that were taken out of his brother’s body, he took his grip off of the doctor’s apron. He knew that the shootout was not intended to kill Toby. It was apparently meant for him. He thought about the gangs that he had a rift within recent times. He tried as much as possible to place the incident with a group, but his brain was not thinking about any of the most notorious groups in Florida. “But would he be fine? Would he get better, please?” He inquired of the doctor that had eventually spoken to him. Shaking off the insane thoughts that made his mind disturbed at that time. 

“We can bet on that,” the doctor responded. For the first time since Booker got to the hospital, he was able to sit down for close to twenty minutes. He still had a disturbed mind, but he wasn’t ready to deal with it until his brother was in a much better space. That day was the first time that he began to consider all that Toby had been telling him. He so badly wished that he wasn’t a leader of his gang. 

“I am done with this life. I can’t let these fuckers hurt the ones that I love,” Booker stated to himself, standing from the chair that he was seated on. He stood behind the window blind of the operating room, and he saw his brother lying there. This time not with a ton of doctors all over him. He laid there like he was dead. Booker couldn’t help the tears that welled down both of his cheeks. “I am sorry little bro. I did this to you!” 

     *****************

“Where is Mr. Booker Rogers?” A random voice echoed while stepping out of the operating room. At first, Booker didn’t hear her speak. He was still engrossed with his passionate thought of Toby at the window of the operating room. 

“Mr. Booker, you are being called,” one of the other men in the waiting room called out at him, and it was only then that he shrugged out of his moment of deep thinking. 

“Yes, how can I help you?” Booker inquired curiously to the nurse. 

“Well, it seems as though your brother is in a coma as we speak. Do you want to go see him now?” Booker didn’t wait to give her a response when he dashed into the segment that his brother was in

Seeing Toby lying on that bed on that day made Booker cry all the more. He began to think about the reckless lifestyle that he had lived since he was a teenager. He thought about shootouts that he had had with his gang and numerous hits that he had personally gone on. “So, this is how it feels when people lose their loved ones?”

He sighed repeatedly. Seeing all of the medical equipment that was all around Toby made him feel bad all the more. Get better for me, Toby. I promise I will turn a new leaf if you get better for me. I would let go of my reckless life, and we could start afresh. Don’t leave me alone, brother. You know we have been through a lot together. 

Toby twitched his right hand in response to what Booker had said. In the midst of so many emotions at that point, Booker was glad that he could finally have his brother to himself. “We would pull through this brother, I love you, fam!”