Finding a Family

Finding a Family(Chase Hunt) "You have one week to live. The cancer is literally shutting down every organ in your body." Sarah had just gone in for a regular check up. She had no idea that anything was wrong with her. She just went in because it had been a few years since she had been to any doctor.

Now she was going to die. She hadn't lived her life yet, she always just assumed that there would be more time later. The doctor left without saying anything. She could tell that the doctor was upset, but he didn't show it. He had other patients that needed helping.

Sarah was alone. She tried to think of who she could call. She had never known her dad, and her mom had passed away last year, ironically enough, from cancer. She was an only child. She could call some of her friends but what would that do? It would just make her friends feel bad for her, and Sarah hated being pitied. Her friends could wait a while, but for now she just had to get out of the hospital.

Sarah got out of her bed, she realized immediately that the little hospital night gown would not be appropriate for outside, especially since she could hear the intensity of the rain from inside the hospital. She quickly changed into what she had originally come to the hospital in. She had a blue blouse on with some dark blue jeans. She had a grey wool hat that floated on the top of her hair with ease. She let her dark brown hair fall to her shoulders.

She left her room and headed towards the elevator. She wondered why nobody bothered her or asked her to get back into her room. It could of been because they realized that she was going to die, and there was nothing they could do to stop her. Or for the fact that she wore street clothes so most doctors viewed her as a visitor of another patient.

Sarah got to the lobby of the hospital. She saw all of the sick people waiting to be treated, kids crying, and parents too tired to care. Nurses were running around getting charts and helping people into their rooms. She walked to one of the doors and pushed it open when she saw a car that was on in the emergency drive-through. The hazards were on, and nobody was coming to help. She wondered if anyone actually needed any help.

Sarah walked to the car and knocked on the window. The window rolled down and inside was an extremely pregnant woman in the drivers seat. She was crying and gasping for air. Sarah had seen enough movies to know that she was in labor. In the back of the car were 3 kids that were so young that they didn't know what was going on.

"Do you need any help?" Sarah asked the woman in labor.

"Yes!" She groaned in agony gripping the steering wheel intensly. "Get me help." Sarah ran into the hospital and yelled for some help. She ran back out to the car and helped the woman out of the car. With one hand around her waist and the other holding the womans hand on her shoulder they hobbled into the hospital where the nursing staff already had a wheel chair ready for her.

Sarah walked back outside thinking about the woman. She almost walked right past the car when she remembered that the kids were in the car. She got in the drivers seat and wondered what to do. What could she do? So without much thinking she put the car in drive and went to go park the car.

The oldest of the three kids awoke and started crying and screaming. Sarah didn't know the kids name, age, or anything about him. The car was parked in the lot next to the hospital. They had sat there for a couple hours, the kids sleeping in the back and Sarah wide awake in the front seat. The parking lot had a perfect view of the sunrise. Sarah remembered that this was one of her last.

Now the kids were all screaming not knowing what was going on. She got out of the car and unbuckled all of them, and herded them into the hospital. The littlest one couldn't walk, but the other two could walk. When she got back into the lobby she went to the front desk.

"Hi..." She started off, she didn't know quite what to ask, "There was a woman last night that went into labor, I helped her into the hospital. These are her kids, can you help me find that mom?"

The nurse smiled and said, "I just got here, I don't know anything about any of the people that were admited last night. There were however fifteen new births last night and they are all in the same part of the wing. Rooms 201 to Room 210 are all last night's births. Feel free to look for her there."

"Thank you" Sarah said and walked away down the hall, passing her room, and went to room 201. She didn't really know what the mom looked like. She was hoping that the kids would recognize her. They walked into each room looking for the mom. She was nowhere to be seen. When they got to the last room Sarah paused for a second and let herself think of what she could do if their mother was not in the room. She would have to keep looking for her right? What else could she be doing? Sitting in her bed and reading magazines while the cancer silently took over her body.

She opened the door, praying that the mom was in there. There was a curtain up and a woman was screaming. She walked into the room with the baby in her arms and the two kids by her side. She pushed the curtain aside. There she was the woman that was the mother of the other three children. The mom looked worried and angry, then she saw the kids. She looked relieved. She knew that her kids were okay now.

The doctors rushed into the room and asked them all to leave. Sarah didn't know what to do. The kids were hanging onto her leg and not letting go. She remembered the last time that she hugged her mom. It was the last thing her mom did. She realized right then and there that she wanted to have kids. And was never going to get the chance. Tears flooded her eyes.

She took the kids down to the waiting room and talked with them for hours. She found out that their names were Joey, Jessica, and Jake. They were five, three, and one years old. Their dad was in China, working. She talked with them about their fears, and about what they wanted to be when they grew up.

Sarah knew that she was having a very adult conversation with the kids, but the kids didn't seem to mind. After five or six hours she decided that it was time to go see the mom. She picked up the kids again and rushed them into room 210. Their mom was laying there sleeping. She looked like a mess, but that was expected.

The kids ran up to her and hugged her arms and she smiled. She awoke after a few minutes of letting the kids just hug her. Sarah couldn't help but cry a little. She wanted to be that mom.

"Your kids are wonderful" Sarah said to the mom.

The mom smiled "Thank you! Thank you for everything. And being a kind person to help anyone. My husband should be here in a few minutes to help with the kids."

"You're welcome, I would do it again in a heart beat." The mom smiled and the Dad came bursting through the door. The kids ran out of their mothers arms and into their dads arms. The baby in Sarah's arms reached for the Dad. The Dad smiled and took the baby.

"Thank you!" He said, the mom must of told him about her. Sarah smiled back. A nurse came in with a baby on a cart. The dad smiled and the mom smiled.

"Who wants to be the first one to hold her?" The nurse asked in a cheery voice. All the kids cheered and begged to be the first. But the Dad picked up the baby and held her in his arms. Sarah wanted to have a family. Be part of a family again. She tried to hold back tears but she couldn't.

She hugged the kids and said her goodbyes. The parents thanked her so much for everything that she did. She smiled at the baby wondering if that could of ever been her. She started to walk out the door when the Dad said something that Sarah was not expecting.

"Thank you for being there for my family. We wish that our kids will grow up to be just like you. Your family must be so proud." Sarah turned around and smiled and left the room.

Thinking of what the dad said, she had been a role model to those kids. All she wanted was a family, and thinking back to those kids, she had one.