Sidelined For Now

It had been nearly 24 hours since the hostage crisis that gripped the campus. Corinna was in jail awaiting her sentence while Michelle, the brave woman who sustained a gunshot wound in her right arm, was in the hospital recovering from emergency surgery.

Inside Michelle's room, Francesca, Karina, Charissa and I looked on as she slowly opened her eyes. Morning finally dawned on her as she glimpsed on the world around her.

"You're wide awake Michelle," Karina joyfully greeted her daughter. "I'm glad you're all right."

Mother and daughter were the first to embrace at the hospital bed. For Michelle, seeing her mom relieved and ecstatic was totally gratifying.

"Mother, I'm so lucky right now," Michelle commented, her tears flowing from her eyes.

"So how do you feel?" Karina inquired her daughter.

"Other than my bum right arm, I'm totally okay," Michelle answered soberly. "Although I feel a little nauseous with all the needles on my veins."

"That's okay kid," Karina smilingly assured to Michelle. "Sooner or later you will be out of here. Just get some rest and recover."

"Thank you mother," Michelle concluded. "And to my two best friends in the world..."

Michelle called me out for a hug, with Francesca following suit.

"...I didn't want to let you down," Michelle said. "But I'm happy you're also safe."

"You too girl," I replied.

Michelle was blessed to see her closest companions inside her room. Except there were two noticeable absentees.

"Did Ella come in too?" Michelle humbly asked.

"Allow me to call her," I answered promptly. "Just wait."

I hurriedly went out of the room to call Ella. However, she could not answer.

Returning to Michelle's room, I reluctantly delivered the sobering news.

"So what happened?" Michelle inquired.

"Unfortunately I couldn't reach Ella at all," I responded. "Either her cellphone ran out of batteries, or she was at an undisclosed location."

"Oh well," Michelle accepted. "She has a lot of explaining to do once I get discharged."

After Michelle consumed her first meal since the shooting, she lied down and dozed off. For all of us, watching her wake up and smile was the loveliest moment we ever experienced.

Four days later, Michelle was discharged from the hospital and attended Corinna's trial, her right arm still in a sling. As she tried in vain to defend herself, Francesca, Michelle and I truthfully convinced the audience that she was indeed the culprit for taking Francesca hostage.

"It was Corinna who tried to kill me," she admitted to the jury. "The first time she did, I was taken by her mercenaries and assaulted me on the parking lot. Then came last Thursday when Corinna took me hostage."

Francesca openly sobbed as she continued her testimony.

"Corinna deserves punishment for what she did to me. A psychopath like her does not deserve a second chance. And that's the truth. Just look at me now if you want to."

Francesca walked back to her chairs in tears. Michelle and I came out comforting her.

"You should be proud of yourself," Michelle told Francesca. "Sooner or later that Corinna will rot behind bars, and justice will be served."

Moments later, the court judge reached a verdict. They unanimously found Corinna guilty of hostage taking and attempted murder and sentenced her to 16 years in prison.

As soon as the verdict was announced, Francesca, Michelle and I embraced triumphantly. A few tears were shed but other than that we felt at ease with the decision.

Tuesday morning, Michelle and I made our way to school. Because of her injury, Michelle could not drive her car, so Karina decided to take us both to campus.

At practice, she informed her coach that she would be sidelined for a few months due to the severity of her injury. Upon realizing that she would not have her best player on the court, Michelle's coach wept inconsolably.

"How can our team win it all without you?" the coach tearfully said. "This is not going to be easy for us. You're our best player, and now that you're out for a while, which of my players can I turn to next?"

"Coach, don't be so hard on yourself," Michelle advised her. "We have somebody who can fill my shoes for the time being."

Michelle pointed eagerly at her teammate who turned out sharing an uncanny resemblance to me. With chinky eyes, a broad nose and chubby cheeks, she definitely passes as my doppelganger.

"Kyla," Michelle called her out.

Kyla walked towards her and was promptly given a short pep talk.

"You're the second leading scorer on the team last year," Michelle described Kyla. "Now that I'm out for a few weeks, you should take over as leader of the team while my right arm recovers."

"But I'm not ready to lead yet," Kyla unconvincingly said.

"Trust me, you'll grow into it," Michelle positively assured her. "You're already a junior and should have learned a lot from me. Now go out there and show them what you got."

After thinking carefully about it for a few moments, Kyla finally agreed to Michelle's decision.

"I will, dear captain," she proclaimed. "We'll win it all for you."

"Don't worry about me," Michelle concluded. "Just play and do your job."

As the rest of the basketball team opened practice, Michelle and I left the gym and went straight to Ella's condominium. Upon glancing at her injured right arm, Ella felt a sense of shock and worry.

"Michelle what happened?" Ella asked her. "I wasn't aware of it."

"My right arm was shot while trying to save Christine and her friend Francesca from Corinna," Michelle uttered. "But I'm fine now."

"Francesca?" Ella wondered. "I recognized her name somewhere. She was my classmate in history class a few years ago. That was it."

"By the way, where were you when the hostage crisis took place?" Michelle carefully questioned Ella.

"I was at the library diligently studying for a test in economics," Ella responded politely. "My mind was extremely focused on the test that I essentially forgot about you. Sorry if I did not contact you then."

"That's okay," Michelle gratefully accepted Ella's logical explanation. "I appreciate your predicament."

Still waiting for the subsequent class, we engaged in some chess to exercise our creative minds. Then the clock struck 9:30 in the morning, and we promptly walked straight to campus.