Chapter 3: Alert! Alert!

Jasmine's POV 

"Thank you." He'd said to me. 

Have you ever had that feeling where you feel like you're back in high school and your dreams were finally coming true because you were getting noticed by the popular guy, who also happens to be your crush? 

Well, that was what it felt like with Mr. Hollen; but I had to be very professional with and around him now that I was going to be working even closer to him and may have to accompany him to meetings and on business trips. I didn't know how I was going to contain and control myself, but I had to. Losing my job was not an option.

I arrived at my apartment. I pushed the key into the lock and opened the door to find my mother sitting at the couch, reading one of those gossip magazines. 

"Hi Mom," I greeted, shutting the door behind me and taking my handbag off my shoulder. 

"Hi Jassy, how was your day?" 

"It was great. My boss is promoting me to be his Personal Assistant. I'm starting on Monday. Someone else will take over my previous position," I explained with some excitement in my voice. 

"That's great. Congrats."

"Thanks Mom. Is Zenia home from school yet?" 

Zenia was my younger sister and my best friend. She attended a community college since I couldn't afford to put her through an Ivy League college and still pay the bills and put groceries on the table and take care of Mom. It wasn't a burden to me, but, at times, we did not have enough, especially when Mom's lungs started acting up. I was still paying the medical bills from the last treatments.

I went to my bedroom and sat down on the bed, exhausted and hungry. I had walked all the way home from work to budget on cab fare; however, I was so grateful Hollen Tower was approximately one mile away from my home. 

I changed from my work attire and went to the kitchen to get dinner started. I was going to make lasagna, potato salad, green vegetables, and rice with red beans in it.

______________

"Hi Mommy." 

I heard Zenia's voice greet our mother when she walked through the front door.

"Hey baby. How was school?" 

"It was all good. I have an assignment I need to complete. Is Jassy home yet?"

"In here!" I called to her. 

"Hi sis," she said to me as she came up and hugged me from behind. "What you're cooking already smells delicious. I'll get changed and come back to help you."

"Don't you have an assignment to do?"

"Yeah, but I already completed most of it between classes. I took your advice."

"Always advance when you can," we said together with a laugh. 

Zenia was twenty years old, four years younger than me. It was easy to tell that we were sisters because she looked like me. We both possessed long black 4a type hair, dark brown eyes with naturally long lashes, and a chocolate complexion. Our mother was African American but she told us that our father was from Mexico. That bastard.

When dinner was finished, I set the table and Zenia poured us some drinks. We sat down around the three seat dinner table and started eating.

"Mommy, how are you feeling?" Zenia asked her. 

Mom looked pale and flushed like she hadn't been eating properly. 

"I'm fine," she replied in very low whisper. 

"You don't look fine," I said, studying her.

Sweat was pouring down her face and she made attempts to dry it off with a kitchen towel. 

"Zenia, Call 911."

"No! I'm fine. I don't want to go to a hospital again. I'm fine. It's just hot in here, that's all. Lets eat," she briskly responded and dismissed our concerns. 

Zenia got up, closed in the windows and doors and turned on the air conditioning unit. 

"That better mom?" she asked. 

"Thank you sweetheart." 

We ate in an awkward silence after that-- Zenia and I glancing, ever so often, at her. There had been occurrences where she fainted in front of us and that always scared the shit out of me. 

We finished dinner and I went to do the dishes while Zenia went to her room to complete her assignment. Mom went back to the couch and watched television, one of her favorite shows Sanford and Son. I heard her laughing and it made me smile. 

After the dishes, I was completely drained. I went and sat down next to my mother on the couch and watched the television with her. The comedy was almost over when suddenly she started gasping for oxygen and holding her throat as if something was caught in it. 

"Mom! MOM!" I yelled. 

She rolled off the couch and fell onto the floor with a crash. I retrieved my phone from my pocket, dialed 911 and relayed the situation to the dispatcher. 

"An ambulance is on its way, ma'am," he assured me. 

"Please hurry. She's not moving. She's... not... breathing!"

"Can you administer CPR?"

Zenia appeared and began screaming with fright. "Mom! Please, not again!"

"Zen, she'll be okay. She always pulls through. She'll pull through this one. She'll be ...alright," I said to my little sister, my voice already breaking.

"Ma'am?" the dispatcher's voice came again. 

"Yes, I'm here," I answered with tears streaming down my face like rain on a rooftop. 

 I hated seeing my mother like this, looking like she was close to her grave. 

I pushed Zenia aside and got to work. I tilted her head gently and lift her chin up with two fingers to open her airways. I quickly rolled her to her side to prevent her from choking in case something was lodged. 

When emergency help arrived, I pulled Zenia into my arms and comforted her as we looked on. They placed an oxygen mask on mom's face, which was connected to an air cylinder to put air to her lungs until she managed to fully breathe on her own again. They placed her on a stretcher and carried her out to the back of the ambulance. We went with her. 

She was rushed into an Intensive Care Unit, but my sister and I were not allowed into the room. We sat down on the chairs in the waiting area, lingering until a doctor would see us about her condition. We knew she had end stage COPD but Mom never smoked or did drugs. Her lungs should have been healthy, but they just weren't.

I hugged my little sister tightly.

After two long hours and a half, a doctor came up to us.

 

It was Doctor Summers. We recognized him from previous admittance and he recognized us . 

"Miss Blackman's daughters, I'm afraid I have some bad news," he began. 

My heart stopped. My body went numb and I couldn't even stand on my own two feet. His facial expression was sad and full of pity as he looked down at us. 

Zenia looked up at him, tears flowing down her face. 

"Oh God, what's wrong with our mother?" I asked, fearing the worst but hoping that it wasn't. 

His mouth trembled to let the words fall out.