A heart monitor beeped mournfully across from me as I watched, helpless, while my sister’s life slipped away. Nurses had come and gone, and a doctor had given me the, “it’s out of our hands now” speech hours before. So, the only thing left to do was sit quietly, holding Josie’s hand, and wonder where the hell everything had gone so wrong.
I had been sitting in my studio apartment, studying for a Criminal Law exam, when my cell phone rang, startling me. It was two in the morning, and no one ever called me this late. I was in my second year of law school, and everyone who knew me knew better than to bother me while I was studying. But I didn’t recognize the number, so I answered, half-asleep and immersed in a world of sentencing hearings and mens rea.
“Is this Ava Webber?” a gruff voice croaked out on the other end of the line.
“It is.”
“Miss Webber, this is Sergeant Johnson of the LAPD. I’m sorry about the late hour, but I’m afraid I need you to come to the hospital at once.”
I didn’t process anything he was saying. I was too tired, and somehow, I wasn’t convinced the conversation we were having was real. “What? Why would I come to the hospital? Who is this again?”
“Sergeant Al Johnson of Los Angeles Police Department. Miss Webber, your sister Josie has been in a terrible accident, and you are listed as her emergency contact. It is imperative that you come to the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai immediately. I will be waiting for you to discuss things further when you arrive.”
And with that, he hung up, and I sat in my desk chair, not processing what I had just been told. My sister Josie was my only family; our parents had died when I was just a teenager, and Josie had taken care of me until I turned eighteen. Since I left for college, and then law school, we hadn’t seen each other as much as I would have liked, but she would always call me when something was wrong. The idea that she was hurt… and scared… alone in the hospital?
I left my books and any thought of my test the next day and sped over to the hospital in my run-down old hatchback. As soon as I got to the hospital, an older, distinguished man in a gray suit walked up to me when he heard my name.
“Miss Webber?”
I nodded, a sick feeling building in my stomach.
“I’m Sergeant Johnson. Miss Webber, about four hours ago, your sister Josie was spotted driving erratically in the Hollywood Hills. A witness reported seeing her take one of the curves at around 70 mph, and her car flipped off the side of the road and into the canyon. Her car was wedged between a pair of trees and some rocks, and it took the rescue team considerable time to extract her. You will have to get an update on her condition from her doctor, but it doesn’t look good. I’m sorry, Ava.”
The world started to spin around me, and the Sergeant caught me before I could hit the floor. It took another hour before they would let me see Josie, and when they did, I thought I might pass out for real. She was barely breathing, her chest only rising and falling intermittently. Her face looked like she’d gone ten rounds with a prize fighter, and her arms were both secured in traction because it appeared they’d decided to cast her in her current state was premature. The only reason I didn’t burst into tears right away was that I was afraid Josie might hear me.
Hours passed until I could see the sun coming up through a tiny window in the back of Josie’s room. I felt my starting to doze off when a groan brought me back to consciousness. One of Josie’s eyes was open, looking around the room in a panic. When it rested on me, she seemed to calm for a second. I jumped up from my seat.
“Jo? Honey? Can you hear me? You were in an accident. Can you speak? Can you tell me what happened?”
She groaned again but took a deep breath. “Ava… He cheated on me. I loved him, and he…”
I got closer to her and tried to make sense of what she said. “Who cheated on you, honey? What are you talking about?”
“My boyfriend,” she whispered. “Zachary Graham. He cheated on me. He broke… my heart.”
Her eye closed again, and she let out a long sigh. Suddenly, the heart monitor stopped beeping and switched to a high-pitched squeal, which brought nurses and doctors running from all directions. A nurse shoved me out of the room and slammed a door in my face. All I could do was watching, powerlessly, as my sister’s heart stopped beating for good.
At that moment, I had no idea who Zachary Graham was, but one thing was for sure…
He was going to pay for what he did to my sister.