“I’m here to see my grandmother,” Gabi stated.
The Minders’ faces remained impassive as the male one, whose shaved head flowed seamlessly into a trunk-like neck, made a rumbling noise. Gabi quailed at the barricade of muscle before her, but the alternative—not seeing Gram before whatever was about to happen to her, happened—was too horrible to consider. She drew herself up to her full five feet, squaring her bony shoulders. “I’m Brother Lowell’s daughter. He asked me to come and check on Gram. He gave me his passcard to show you that I’m here with his permission.” Gabi peeled the stolen card away from the skin beneath her waistband, taking care to keep the folded whale photo concealed under her shirt.
“Oh, let her in already,” a nurse exclaimed, bustling over to where Gabi stood. The nurse looked to be only a few years older than Mathew, her lips slicked a violent shade of purple. Everything about her was pointy, from the bleached tips of her short hair to the studs in her earlobes and the jut of her jaw. She planted her fists on her hips and glared up at the Minders. “She’s got the passcard, hasn’t she? Let the girl pass. We were about to notify Brother Lowell that we’ve got her stabilized anyway. She’s clear for visits from immediate family.”
The Minders remained motionless, but the nurse, whose nametag read, “Jyoti Mehta, RN,” shoved Gabi through the narrow crevice between the two hulks with an encouraging smile. “Go on, then. If you wait for signs of life from these two, you’ll be here till the Rapture.”
Gabi turned to thank Nurse Mehta, but the wall of flesh closed behind her, blocking the corridor.
The muted hums, beeps, whirs, and ticks of various pieces of equipment clamored for dominance in the room. Gabi wondered how anyone could be expected to recover in such a place. Her grandmother was little more than a ripple between the raised railings of the bed, pallid features barely distinguishable from the sheet pulled up to her slack chin. The signature of Gram hovered just over where she lay, as if she were deliberating about whether to settle back into her body or move off like a spent storm cloud.
“Stay,” Gabi whispered, lingering just inside the door. “Please stay.”
Gram’s eyelids fluttered open. “Gabriela?” she rasped.
Gabi approached the bed, searching for a place on Gram’s arms that was clear of needles and tubes to place her hand.
“Gram?” Gram’s lips stretched across her teeth in the approximation of a smile, and a sigh escaped her. “Gram, I’m here.” Gabi’s lips tasted of salt, and her face felt itchy and tight. She eased her hand between two patches of medical tape affixed to Gram’s arm and stroked her parchment skin. The mist in Gram’s eyes cleared as she responded to the touch.
“Some water, maybe?” she croaked, her lips sticking to her teeth. Gabi poured water from a plastic pitcher into a cup and held it to Gram’s lips. Gram gave a satisfied sigh, and some of the animation returned to her face. “Gabriela, you look… have you taken your pills?”
“No, Gram. Not since breakfast.” Her grandmother nodded, gazing intently at Gabi’s face.
“Perhaps you might wait a bit longer, if you feel all right. Try that, okay? Just see.”
“Gram, don’t worry about me!” Gabi swiped at her runny nose with the back of her free hand. She felt irrationally angry at Gram for being so selfless when Gabi had thought of nothing but herself from the moment she woke up that morning. Gram’s arm twitched under Gabi’s hand.
“Listen to me, dear. We don’t have much time, and there’s something I have to—”
“No!” Gabi choked out. “You’re going to be fine, okay? I’ll make sure of it. This is all my fault.” She slid her palm under Gram’s.
“What do you mean, your fault?” her grandmother prompted.
Gabi gritted her teeth and forced herself to stop blubbering. Gram deserved the truth, and this was her chance to tell it.
“I set off the alarm.” Gabi pulled the crumpled whale-dissection photo and passcard out of the waistband of her skirt.
“No, child, you didn’t,” Gram said, struggling to sit up, but Gabi held up her hand.
“Please, I need to say it.” She unfolded the photo and held it up for Gram to see. “I wanted to look at the books in the Corrections Facility. For school and… and for me too. I found this photo.” For a moment Gabi forgot she was in the midst of a confession and got swept up in the wonder of her discovery once more. If anyone could appreciate it, Gram could. “Look, see, this is a dissected whale flipper. Those bones are finger bones! All the books say that whales used to live on land, and this is proof. They have toes too!”
Gram shook her head. “Gabriela, you have to listen to me.” She was gasping, and one of the beeping noises in the room sped up.
“I took Dad’s passcard, Gram. I stole it, left the service, and snuck into the Corrections Facility, then I tore this page out of a big book, and that’s what made the alarm go off!” The room spun as Gabi paused to inhale. Gram collapsed back into the pillows and tried to reach a hand up to touch Gabi’s face, but she was tethered by the tubes running from her arms to the bags of medicine.
“Gabriela—”
“It’s my fault you had a heart attack! I’m so sorry. I don’t know how to make it better. I’m going to tell everyone, I swear, but I wanted to tell you first. I wanted to see you. Please forgive me, Gram, please.” Gabi was sobbing now, snot and tears streaming down her face as she dropped the photo and passcard onto the bed and braced her hands on the railing. Raised voices reached them from the hallway. Gabi looked back at the broad, molded backs of the two Minders, but they remained cemented in
