A Part of Me Read Free

You guys need to get her now.”  I couldn’t contain my tears. Damn it, I really needed to get it together.
    “What the hell are you talking about?” Her voice was instantly alarmed.  I could hear her mumbling to Trevor right before I heard his voice.
    “Talia, what’s this about Tom?  Where are you?”  He asked.
    “Trevor, he was in an accident. It’s bad.  Get here as soon as you can.”  The phone went dead without a response, but I knew they were on their way.
    “Talia, go change your scrubs and wait for your friends.”  Sara placed her hand on my shoulder.  I nodded and headed to the locker room.  I stood in front of the mirror, staring at the reflection in front of me.  I was covered with Tom’s blood.  I tore the scrubs off of me, trying to get away from the images of him lying on that table.
    Moments later I was in fresh scrubs and at the entrance of the ER waiting for my friends. The moment I saw Ava running with Nick and Trevor I started crying again.
    “Come on.”  I grabbed her hand, pulling her as we all headed up to the surgical waiting room.
    “Talia, what happened?”  Trevor asked as we walked into the empty waiting area.  I held up my hand for a minute and walked over to the volunteer desk to let them know that Tom’s family was here.
    I took a deep breath as I sat down, three pairs of eyes staring at me—waiting. “He was in a car accident.  It was bad—he’s in bad shape.”  I shuddered, pausing before I went on , not sure how much I should share with them.
    “How bad Talia?”  Nick asked, his voice strained.
    “Bad. He is in surgery.   His left arm is broken badly.  He had some internal bleeding, and his left leg was so mangled that I hardly recognized it as a leg.”  I shuddered again, wrapping my arms around myself.
    “Oh God!”  Ava put her hands over her face and cried as Trevor rubbed her back, clearly in shock. 
    “Was he conscious?  Did he see you?”  Trevor asked finally.
    “No.”  I closed my eyes.  “I didn’t even know it was him the whole time we worked on him.  Not until I saw his ID when I went back down.”
    “How could you not know Talia?” Nick asked accusingly. Oh hell no!
    I stood up quickly, glaring at him.  “Don’t start with me Nick.” I warned.  “You weren’t there, you didn’t see him.”  I shook my head. “I didn’t even recognize him.”  I whispered as I sat back down on the cold seat.  How could I begin to explain what he looked like?  There was no way I could.  I couldn’t do that to them.  It was bad enough that I couldn’t get it out of my own head.
    “Shit.”  Nick shook his head.  “For real?”  I couldn’t do more than just nod.
    “Do you know how to get in touch with his family?”  I turned to Trevor.
    “He has no family.”  He answered simply.
    “What do you mean?”  How did I not know that?
    “His parents died a few years back. He is an only child.  Both of his parents were only children also.  There is no family. His grandparents are gone too.” He explained.
    “ We are his family.”  Nick stated, pointing between himself and Trevor.
    I nodded.  “Okay. We can let them know.  Shit guys, I hate to ask this, but to either of you have power of attorney for him?” I looked at the two men who were trying so hard to hold it together.
    “Trevor does.  It was actually something we discussed right after graduation.”  Nick nodded.
    I let out an audible breath.  “Good.”  I said, thankful that these guys were smart enough to talk about something like that.  Not many twenty-something men would even broach that subject.
    ***
    “Crawford family?”  An older doctor stood in the doorway for the waiting room looking tired and disheveled. We all jumped at the sound of his voice.  It had been several hours and we had all long since stopped talking, just trying to get through the waiting.
    “Yes. We are his family.”  Trevor and Nick walked forward and Ava and