I stood and walked just as slowly toward the door. She wasn’t going to get the drop on me, no matter who she brought with her. I knew I had to take her out quickly, and hopefully, that would give me enough time to get Angel and make it out the window. I had no idea how many people were out there.
My heart began to race, and I stood ready by the door waiting for them to come in. As the door began to swing open slowly and I watched as Jazmine entered, and someone followed behind her.
“You lying, bitch!” I roared as I barreled into Jazmine, my momentum picking her up and knocking her hard into the corner onto a table.
“What in all the fuck, this is what I don’t understand, motherfucking no good, no common sense having, shit-eating, dumbassed always got to mess up a fucking gift. I don’t fucking get it. Why….”
I held Jazmine down on the table but turned toward the other person in the room. It was an older woman; her long grey hair swung down to her butt in a tight braid. Her skin was weathered and full of wisdom, but it was the intense flow of expletives spewing out of her mouth that caught my attention. I had never heard someone curse so much in my life.
A small stinging pain in my side brought my attention back to Jazmine, who I was subduing on the desk. I looked toward the pain, and sure enough, she had a small knife pressed right between my ribs. All she had to do was push, and it would be lights out.
"How about you back off? " Jazmin demanded, her eyes never leaving my face.
"Fuck that! Jam that shit in, there’s no way I’m letting you leave with Angel."
"Hey, crazy man, no one is going anywhere with the little girl." The older woman was still standing behind me, and she dropped the bags she was holding down to the floor.
"Ink, I told you that you could trust me. When the hell are you going to start?" Jazmine muttered as she dropped the knife from my side.
"Who is this woman?" I backed up a pace, never letting either of them get closer to Angel.
"Hey cockstain, this woman is over here. You can talk to me. Let that girl up." I backed up a little more, and Jazmine stood, her eyes soft, but the knife still firmly placed in her palm.
"Fine, who the hell are you, hag?"
The woman squinted as she moved in my direction. "I would be careful who you insult. The last thing you need right now is more enemies. This woman." she pointed to herself "is Catori, but you can call me Tori if you wish. Jazmine came to me in a panic, saying there was an emergency at her house. She didn't tell me who was here only that they needed medicine she didn't have access to. I brought what I could. Is that a sufficient explanation, or do you need to threaten us some more? "
"Inkpop? What's going on?" Angel struggled to sit up on the bed.
"Hey, relax, kid." I rushed over to her with the older woman at my side.
"Why are you arguing? Is it safe?" Angel croaked another round of coughs wracking her frail body.
"Child, don't you worry about anything. We are going to take good care of you." Tori smiled sweetly at Angel as she rubbed her hair.
Angel smiled as she laid back down and tried to go to sleep.
"What the hell happened to this little girl? She has pneumonia for sure; you are lucky she doesn't need a ventilator. Yet." She pulled out a big plastic bag of clear fluid and a few tubes; there were some alcohol pads and other liquids. None of which I was familiar with. I felt almost useless, and I wasn't used to not playing the leading role in taking care of her. My eyes honed in on the small package the old woman was pulling apart, and the tiny needle she took out. My body lurched forward, but Jazmine was behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder, keeping me from grabbing the old woman's hand
"Ink, Angel needs fluids, that’s what this is, okay? It'll hurt for a second, but it's for the best." Jazmine spoke softly by my ear.
I nodded, "Angel, baby? This lady is going to give you some medicine, okay? She needs to give you a needle, and it's going to hurt but only a little. "
"Okay, Inkpop.” The little girl looked at the needle as Tori carefully pressed it to her skin. She hissed in a breath before she turned her head to me and buried it into my arm.
"Almost done, little one." Tori cooed.
The entire process was twenty seconds at most, but it was almost excruciating to watch. I felt my body relax when Tori taped the needle in place and moved onto the plastic tubing it was attached to.
"What is that? Water?" I looked up at the big bag Tori had hung on the wall using a wire hanger.
"Yeah, it's saline."
"Tori, I would ask you to stay, but I know you have to get back. Tell me what we need to watch out for." Jazmine asked from where she was standing.
"Here, this is an antibiotic, and this one is an expectorant, this one is for pain." The woman shoved medicine after medicine into Jazmine's hands and told her what each one was. "If her temperature reaches 104 or higher at any point, you need to find a way to get her to the hospital. She won't make it if you can't keep her temperature down. I’ve already set up the IV, so the one bag should last about twelve hours. After that, you can disconnect
