Chapter 122 - Dead And Alive.

Chapter 122: Dead and Alive.

Mckenna stirred. Her eyes fluttered severally before she opened her eyes. She was in pain but she couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. The pain was all over her body. 

Slowly, everything became less blurry.

She could focus but Mckenna couldn't make out where she was. She was confused and again, with the pain.

Her mouth was dry…too dry and she would give anything for a glass of water. She tried not to panic as she accessed her environment. She could hear beepings. Mckenna tried to place where she had heard the beeping from before and she remembered.

It was the same sound coming from Kara's room when she was hospitalized.

Wait! Was she lying in a hospital bed? Mckenna tried to sit upright but she felt dizzy and she heard a voice. 

"Don't strain yourself. Take it easy" 

The voice belonged to Tamara.

It made Mckenna remember.

She saw flashes at first then a clearer picture. They had been shot at while exiting from the supermarket but that wasn't the only thing she remembered. She remembered Jason, the man she loved and was currently married to protecting another woman and she was left defenseless.

Mckenna paid heed to Tamara's advice and she didn't strain herself further.

Slowly she sat upright and she didn't object when Tamara placed an extra pillow behind her to make her more comfortable. What was the point of objecting? She lost and Tamara won. And she was too tired to place an extra pillow herself.

"Are you here to gloat?" 

McKenna's voice held no malice. She wasn't going to give Tamara the luxury of seeing her pain.

Mckenna felt no huge emotions. She felt numb…too numb. She started trying to envision a future without Jason but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't and she was thirsty as hell now.

She return her attention to the hospital room. She was probably in the same hospital her daughter was. She tried to searched her body for an injury but she was interrupted by Tamara's voice.

"Gloat about what?"

"About Jason, of course. He loves you and he protected you instead of me. Congratulations, you won" McKenna told her, her voice contained a hint of anger now.

She ran her tongue on her lips twice to wet them. Then she looked away, so she doesn't lock gaze with Tamara.

"What do you remember of the shooting?" Tamara asked her.

"I remember seeing my husband push you out of harm's way, leaving me totally defenseless and not that I needed defending. Afterall, he is a man and those were bullets. It's a unfortunate fight" McKenna ran her tongue on her lips again.

Taking a clue, Tamara poured a glass of water for Mckenna and handed it over to her.

Mckenna took it.

"I didn't win anything. There was never a race between us, McKenna. Jason made his choice. He chose you. He told me you were his greatest love story or something. I don't know" Tamara answered.

"I know what I saw" McKenna insisted.

"Allow me fill in the blanks, McKenna. Yes, Jason pushed me first but…but he used his body as shield to protect you. Don't you know this by now. You are the woman he is willing to die for. He didn't think, he simply placed his body between you and a…bullet" Tamara smiled sadly.

"He did?" Mckenna sounded surprised.

"Huh-huh" Tamara nodded " he is crazy about you. He told me that on the playground. And now, I have to tell you something and you have to promise that you won't panic"

Mckenna panicked alright. Everyone panicks even when warned not to panic.

Her hand went to her stomach.

She was pregnant, she remembered. Wait! Did she lose the baby? 

No! No!

The door opened and Elixir entered. Mckenna was still clutching her tummy.

She started hyperventilating and was over the razor's edge of panic. She gasped for air but couldn't get enough.

She glanced furtively over Elxir's shoulders like something was out to get her. Her heart hammered in her chest and adrenaline rushed through her veins.

Elixir moved closer to her.

"Your baby is fine, McKenna. Breathe, sweetheart" Elixir told her.

"You…know…about …the…baby?" Mckenna asked in-between catching her breath.

"The doctor ran some test while you were unconscious. Your baby is fine. Mckenna, I need you to breath because I have something to tell you. And I need you to breathe even after I tell you because the alternative is not breathing and…I need you to breathe. During the the shooting, hmm…Jason…"

"No! Where is Jason?" Mckenna asked her.

Mckenna fought the urge to run out but where to? Tears rushed down her cheek and it worsened her respiration.

Jason what?

Mckenna didn't want to hear anymore but Elixir won't give up.

"During the shooting, Jason was caught in the cross fire. And because of the position he was occupying, one bullet grazed his spine and the other barely missed the back of his head. Come on, you need to breathe now" 

Mckenna felt the tightness in her throat and her hands trembled. She couldn't differentiate if the fluids all over her body were tears or sweat but she couldn't get dry.

The chest pain surged through her leaving her even more breathless.

"Get the doctor, Tamara! This strained breathing can't be good for the baby!" Tamara opened the door and she left. 

Elixir looked at Mckenna still struggling and she touched her cheek. Tears streamed down her eyes.

"You were supposed to breathe while I told you. Come on, breathe properly" Elixir wrapped her arms around.

"I... can't....breathe.... Mom" McKenna was wriggling in Elixir's arm.

"You are okay.... everything's just fine...breathe for me....come on, slow breathe. Jason is a fighter. My boy has always pulled through but he needs you to keep breathing, McKenna. I need you to keep breathing. Listen to the sound of my voice and breathe" Elixir continued to sooth her and she whispered reassuring words to Mckenna.

Elixir looked at her and they heard each other's gaze. 

"Breathe in….out….in…hold the air…breath out"

Slowly, McKenna calmed down. When Tamara appeared with the doctor, she was already calm.

"They are going to sedate you now. When you wake up, you will see I am right. Jason is fine" Elixir gestured with her head for the doctor to go ahead and he did.

Slowly, McKenna slipped back into empty blackness.

Elixir wiped her face. This was all her fault. If she had stayed away from politics like her son asked her to the first time, he wouldn't be fighting for his life in an operating room.

She should have listened!

Why didn't she listened? She wasn't super or special like she thought she was. She wasn't a exception to the rule. She might have good intentions for her constituents but right now, she didn't even care about becoming the governor anymore.

She just wanted her son to be okay. Elixir knew she couldn't be those type of mothers, she couldn't be the mother that got her child killed.

She wiped her face again. And stood up.

"I am going to check on Kara and then check for an update. Can you stay with her for a few minutes?" She asked Tamara.

"Yes…of course"

"Thanks"

Elixir checked on Kara, she was with Naya. She slowly backed away from the room and she almost bumped into her son's doctor.

"How is my baby? He pulled through. I am very sure of it. So just tell me that" Elixir told him.

"Yes, he did. He is in the ICU. But about his spine….we won't know for sure whether he is paralyzed or not. We have to wake him up at some point to check" 

Elixir nodded. "Can I see him?"

"Yes but only briefly. I will take you"

Elixir and the doctor walked along the hallway into Jason's room.

Elixir exhaled shakily when she saw him.

"May I have a minute alone with my son?"

The doctor left them alone.

Elixir sat in the chair in the room and held his hand.

"This is all my fault, Jason. I am so sorry. This happened because you are my son…." Elixir placed both hands on her face and she felt the pain.

"Please wake up…Jason. I was supposed to keep you safe not be the cause of your pain. Please stay alive" 

Elixir brought his hand to her mouth and she kissed it.

"I take it back! If I could, I would take it back. If I knew I would end up hurting you this badly, I would take it back. I wouldn't have adopted you. I would have let you be with your mother and be safe. If I knew I was going to fail miserably at being your mother, I would give you back. Because…you are better off without me, Son" Elixir told him.

Jason heard her in his unconscious state and his mind tried to imagine a life where he wasn't Jason Ekoh-Yagazie, where he wasn't Elixir's son.

Jason imagined an alternate world where he was simply ordinary and went by name - Jayden Ekoh.