Chapter 82

ALEX

I don't know when I fell asleep and when I woke up, I have no idea where I am until I remember stayed at Carlos' house so as not to leave Gabriela alone.

In those seconds when I have a hard time remembering everything that happened yesterday and waking up completely, I turn around to see if Gabriela is still asleep, but I don't see her anywhere, which makes me get up quickly and go look at the kitchen, but the one I meet is Carlos.

"Do you know where Gabriela is?" I asked my best friend when I saw Gabriela wasn't where she had been a couple of hours ago. "I have no idea; I haven't seen her with you either. Where has she gone?" Carlos asked, more to himself. "I have no idea, but I have to look for her." I said, getting up from the couch, "Leave her for a while, she'll be fine, I think she walked around all night, I doubt she slept at all. Maybe she went to Ana's room and fell asleep there, it wouldn't be the first time."

"I shouldn't have fallen asleep. I had to be there for her." I mumbled the last part "And you have been, you have not left her side at any time since you found out what happened, she will appreciate it, but now Gabriela is not the same as always, she will keep things to herself and she needs a moment to collect her thoughts, she will be back soon, don't worry and have a coffee, it will be a long day." He noted, "She has me worried."

"I know, she has us all worried, but she'll get over it, she always overcomes whatever comes at her, so don't worry so much about her, she's strong." Carlos assured and I nodded, because that's already more than clear to me. "I know, and I admire her for that, but that doesn't mean I don't care about her."

"I know. Man, I know I tell you this often, but you're lucky to have Gabriela in your life, being with her has done you good and you can say being in love with her has helped you." He said with a smile on his face. "She did it, even though there were times when I thought I would die if I never saw her or talked to her again."

"Well now you have her all to yourself, take care of her, she's special." He informed me and I nodded again, because that was already clear to me from the beginning. "I will take care of her." I confirmed, "Well, I have to go, don't hesitate to call me if you need anything."

"I will, see you later." I said "See you later." With that he walked out the door and I was left alone in the kitchen for I don't know how long, thinking about where Gabriela could be, and when I realized it, Marcos appeared in my field of vision.

"You're not planning on going to college, are you?" Marcos asked with a small smile on his face. "No, I have to stay with Gabriela, but first I have to find her." I said, "She's in my sister's room, she spent the whole night there. It seems she's ill." reported "Gabriela?" I asked, starting to worry, "No, Ana, she's vomiting most of the night and from what she told me she also had a fever. Didn't move from there all night."

Just then Gabriela appears with a worried face and starts looking for something in the kitchen. "Marcos, could you leave me the car keys? Go home and take mine to go to college." Gabriela said without looking at either of us. "What do you need it for?" Marcos asked with a frown. "To take Ana to the emergency room, she's still terrible."

"Do you want me to accompany you?" He asked in a worried tone. "No, I can go alone, I just need the keys." My girlfriend asked, "I can take you, beautiful." I informed him, "You have to go to college." She answered quickly and I denied, "I already told you I'm not going to go, I'll stay with you." I informed again "Okay, but you don't have the car here, we still need the keys."

"They're in the hall closet." Marcos said, "I'm going to get the car, you go get Ana, beautiful." With that, she quickly left the kitchen and headed upstairs to go get Ana, while I headed towards the closet where Marcos's car keys were, I left the house and headed towards the car. It doesn't take long for Gabriela to appear with Ana in her arms and gets into the back of the car with the girl.

It took us about fifteen minutes to get to the emergency room and within it we spent about another quarter of an hour waiting for Ana to be treated and I could see how Gabriela is getting desperate waiting, there's a moment in which she got up and walked from one side to the other inside the waiting room.

When Ana was finally called to be checked, Gabriela left me the phone and told me to answer any call she received from her family, which she had no intention of doing, but thinking it could be something important like when she I would bury Rebeca, I decided it's the best solution. Also, I have no idea how long the consultation will take, so it was better to respond so she wouldn't worry something might be happening to Gabriela. Just at that moment Gabriela's phone starts ringing, and when I see the screen, is her mother who's calling.

"Gabriela, how come you didn't say goodbye to us yesterday? And why didn't you stay home?" Lara asked on the other end of the line. "She'll have to answer those questions herself later." I responded "Alex? Where's Gabriela? Why isn't she answering her phone? And what are you doing with her at this time of the morning?" She questioned "Right now we're in the emergency room…" I began "Is Gabriela, okay? Has something happened to her?" Lara began to ask, "Lara, relax, it's not because of her. Ana got sick during the night and she's worse, Gabriela wanted to bring her to the emergency room so they could give her something."

"But I still don't understand what you're doing with her so early, you should be at college." She pointed out and I denied, because even though is where I should be, I wasn't going to leave Gabriela right now. "That's the least important thing, but why were you calling? Apart from answering your questions of course." I asked, trying to distract her a little. "It was to tell her Rebeca will be buried tomorrow, but I will tell her later."

"I can tell her; it won't bother me." I assured her, "Well, I think he'll take it better if you tell her, so I'd appreciate it if you do it." Lara responded and I nodded even though she couldn't see me. "I'll tell her, don't worry." I confirmed, "Tell her I'll call her later to see how Ana is."

"I'll tell her, don't worry." I assured "Thank you, until next time Alex." Lara said goodbye. As soon as I hung the door where Ana and Gabriela had entered a while ago, it opens and I see a Gabriela more worried than before. A few seconds later, some paramedics enter the room and leave with Ana on a stretcher, and it is at that moment I approach Gabriela to find out what's happening with Ana.

"Is everything okay my queen?" I asked calmly "No, can you go to the guy's house and call them?" She asked and I denied, because I'm not going to leave her alone at this moment. "I'm not going to leave without you at all, what's wrong with Ana?" I asked, "It seems she has poisoning and that's what makes her so ill. They take her to the hospital and I plan to go with her."

"I'm going with you; I'm not going to leave you there alone with all this." I assured, knowing Gabriela didn't like hospitals at all. "Alex, someone has to call the guys." She noted, "And I plan to do it, but I can call you from the hospital, so I plan to go with you to the hospital." I assured, "As you wish, but I have to go."

"You're going to go to the hospital we were at for Christmas, right?" I asked and she nodded. "I'll call you when I get there." I handed her cell phone and she bolted in the direction where a couple of seconds ago the paramedics came out with Ana. It didn't take long for me to leave the emergency room and head to the car to go to the hospital.

The road seemed a little long, but as soon as I arrived, I parked the car in the first place I found and left with my cell phone in hand to call Gabriela. As soon as she answers me, I notice she's subdued, not wanting to do anything, which tells me she's not good at all. She just tells me she's in the emergency waiting room, and I run there.

As soon as I arrive, I see her walking from one side to the other in the room and when I get next to her, I hug her causing her to start crying. I stayed hugging her and putting my hand on her back to make her relax.

"Don't worry about Ana my queen, she will be fine." I tried to console her even though I know it would be difficult to do so at this moment. "This has to happen right now." my girlfriend murmured, "This didn't have to happen, but you'll see how soon they'll find out what's wrong with her and she'll get out of here in no time."

At that moment her cell phone starts to ring and when she sees the screen she becomes more tense than she already was if that was possible. "Marcos… No, we are in the hospital… I don't know… They only told me it was poisoning and they should bring her here… They are doing tests… They didn't tell me anything else Marcos, I'm only telling you what I know …Okay, see you in a while… yes, the one where we were with your brother… bye Marcos."

With that she hangs up and hugs me again. I don't know what's wrong with Ana, I just hope she gets well soon because I'm more than sure Gabriela would go crazy.

It didn't take long for Marcos to arrive at the hospital and as soon as he sees us, he squats down in front of Gabriela, since we had been sitting down for a couple of minutes Gabriela was shaking from anxiety probably. "Do you know anything about my sister?" He asked out of breath, probably from running from the car to here. "The last time I asked they told me they were finishing up testing."

"Didn't they tell you anything?" He questioned and she denied "No, and that's what stresses me out, not knowing anything." She whispered and I hugged her a little tighter to try to calm her down. "Well, don't worry, I'm sure she'll be fine." said her best friend "Marcos, she was great yesterday, tired, but fine. How do you explain out of nowhere she was so ill?" My girlfriend asked and he shrugged. "I don't know, maybe yesterday when we were in the park, she got cold or something."

"Yesterday it wasn't cold enough for me to get cold." Gabriela informed "I don't know, but they will tell us what happens to her. Don't worry, she'll be fine soon." He assured, "I'll stop worrying when they tell me she's okay and I'll get out of here." She answered and I know she's serious "Relatives of Ana López García?"

"What's wrong with my girl?" Gabriela asked, probably not aware of how she had referred to Ana. "Well, from the looks of it, the girl has suffered fertilizer poisoning." The doctor informed us and we all frowned. "Fertilizers? We don't have any of that at home."

"I don't know, the only thing I know is that we had to call the authorities to investigate what happened here." continued the doctor "Investigate what?" Marcos asked, probably trying to understand what he meant. "If this is an attempted murder or just an accident."

"What? Are you saying that someone tried to murder my sister?" Marcos asked in an annoyed tone "We don't know, the authorities will take care of that. In the meantime, the girl will be with social services." He reported and it is at this moment Gabriela seems to come back to life "What? They can't take my daughter away from me." She said, "I'm sorry, ma'am, but these are rules we must follow."

"Are we now suspects for what may have happened to my sister?" asked my girlfriend's best friend without believing what he's hearing. "I'm sorry, really, but as I told you, these are rules and I can't break them. Have a nice day." I said, starting to walk towards wherever he's going. "Can I at least come in and see my daughter?"

"In a few minutes you will be able to. I will tell someone to come and tell you." With that the doctor left and Gabriela became worse than she already was a couple of minutes ago. I still couldn't believe they were going to investigate us for attempted murder or whatever the hell, none of this made sense, but what I had to focus on now is Gabriela, I don't want her to get bad.

"I don't understand what the hell this doctor is talking about. We don't have fertilizer at home and there isn't in yours either. Where the hell did that fertilizer come from?" Marcos asked, trying to find logic in everything happening "I DON'T KNOW MARCOS. THE ONLY THING I KNOW IS THAT ANA IS HERE BECAUSE SOMEONE POSSIBLY TRIED TO POISON HER OR SOMETHING, BUT I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE."

"Hey Gabriela, calm down, this is not good for you." Marcos asked, "HOW DO YOU PRETEND ME TO CALM OUT BEING WITH ANA IN THE HOSPITAL." She shouted, completely frustrated with the situation. "Beautiful, we better go get some air for a while." I said softly "I'm not going to move from here for a second Alex." She assured, "But…" I started, but she denied, "I'm not going to leave here. This is all my fault."

"No, this isn't your fault." I said sincerely, "Of course it is, if I were more aware this wouldn't be happening." He whispered, "Gabriela, don't blame yourself for something you don't have. I don't know what happened to my sister, but the only thing I'm most sure of is that you do everything and more for my sister, you take better care of her than I and Carlos would, don't blame yourself for you are a great mother."

"Everything I do isn't enough; this shouldn't be happening…" At that moment Gabriela began to hyperventilate and pace back and forth in the waiting room. I approached her and made her stop. "Beautiful, relax, this isn't good for you. They will discover what happened to Ana." I said, thinking of a way to calm her down. "I don't care if it doesn't do me any good, I have to see Ana."

Just at that moment a nurse appears asking about Ana's mother and Gabriela quickly goes out to her. "Alex, you should go to her, she's not right." Marcos said, looking in the direction of his best friend. "You go, you're dying to see your sister, I'll call your brother."

"Okay, I'll do everything I can to make her calm down." She assured and I nodded, because I knew she would. "Thank you, Marcos." With that she leaves in the direction where Gabriela had left a couple of seconds ago and I grab my cell phone to call Carlos and tell him what happened with his sister. When I tell him everything, he gets angry and I think he even throws something, but he tells me it won't take him long to come to the hospital, he hangs up on me and I go out into the hallway to wait for Gabriela.

I don't know exactly how much time passed, but I see how the two approaches where I was, so I separate myself from the wall and start walking towards them when Gabriela stops and out of nowhere, falls flat in the middle of the hallway. "GABRIELAAA!"