June 15^th. 5:30 am. Abel wakes up from his clock’s alarm. He turns it off and gets out of his bed. He takes his phone and slowly walks into his bathroom, turns on the light and looks at himself in the mirror. Hair wild and a tired looking face.

“Hmm…” He groaned at the sight of himself.

As he did, he turns on the shower head that was behind him, takes off his pajama pants leaving him naked, and gets in the shower with the warmth of the water now waking him up. As he was taking his shower, he hears his phone ringing on the counter. Since he was close to the counter, he opens the shower door, dries his right hand with a nearby towel, and taps the speaker button on his phone.

“Speak.” Abel answers.

“It’s Erika.” She responds over the phone. “I’m informing you that our plane will be leaving at 7:30. Have you informed Autumn and Vance?”

“I haven’t yet. I’m getting myself ready first, so you might as well call them to wake them up.”

“Do you have everything packed and ready?”

He looks at his phone with an annoyed look.

“Is that a rhetorical question? Could you call Autumn and Vance and get off the line? I’m busy.”

He hangs up the phone so he could continue his shower for a couple of minutes. After his shower, he dries himself off, and went to brushing his teeth. At 6:00 am, Abel was in his room getting his clothes on. Just as he gets his shirt on, there was a knock at his bedroom door. He opens the door, and sees Autumn in her red night gown, rubbing her amber eyes, raven long hair over her face; looking at him annoyed.

“You really told Erika to call me?” She asks sleepily in a light and smooth voice. “You know I don’t like hearing her voice as much as you do.”

“Apologies, but I had to find a way to get her off the phone.”

Autumn sighed at his answer.

“You’re an ass for that. You need to tell her you’re not interested in her anymore after this. The feeling between you and her is frustrating my soul.”

She turns from Abel and walks to the first door next to his bedroom and knocks on it.

“Vance! Are you awake?” She calls.

“No shit!” He answers in a rough, but deep voice. “Ms. Uppity called me! I’m getting my clothes on and my stuff together!”

“Okay. Well, I’m going to do the same.” Autumn responds, looking at Abel.

As Autumn walks away from Abel to her bedroom, Abel goes back into his room to gather documents that is needed for his and Erika’s proposal and puts it in his briefcase. He grabs his suitcase of clothes and his briefcase and goes downstairs to the foyer. He sets the cases down and goes down the hallway into his office, getting his laptop and his USB drive that has important information on it. After getting his items, he closes and locks his office door. He puts his laptop and the drive in his briefcase and sits on a couch in his living room, waiting for Autumn and Vance. At 6:30, Vance comes downstairs with a backpack and suitcase in hand; Abel uses a remote to start his car outside.

“Now we’re just waiting for Wade?” Abel asks him.

“Pretty much.” Vance replies.

Abel scoffs.

“How much she loves getting herself ready.”

Vance chuckles at Abel’s comment.

“Yeah, and loves wasting time doing it.” He adds.

Moments later, Autumn comes down the stairs with duffle bags in hand, looking at the men.

“If I was wasting time painting my face, I would be Erika by now.” She informs them. “I don’t have time for that. This hair is enough time for me to waste.”

Vance looks at Autumn; sarcastically shocked. Abel rolls his eyes and gets up from the couch, grabbing his suitcase and briefcase.

“Let’s go. Vance, you get the door.” Abel instructs.

Vance gets to the door and opens it with his free hand. Autumn goes out first, then Abel, and then Vance. Abel walks up to his car first, puts his suitcase down, and uses his car remote to open the trunk. Autumn puts her duffle bags in the back of the trunk, Abel puts his suitcase in on the left, and Vance takes the last two spots in the trunk. With their stuff packed, Autumn and Vance get in the car. Abel put his briefcase in the backseat next to Vance, takes his phone and taps a button to lock up his house; even closing the front door and locking it. He gets into the driver side of the car and drives out of the driveway onto the road to reach the airport.

.   .   .   .   .

6:45 a.m., Marlene wakes up from the alarm on her phone; she moves closer to it to turn it off. As she did, she slowly gets out of bed. She then takes her phone and heads for the bathroom. Before she could even open the bathroom door, the door opens revealing the sixth born sister, Lukani, covered in a towel; both sisters startled the other.

“Oh! Marlene. Morning.” She greets in surprise. “I’m just now getting out.”

“Good morning, Lukani. It’s okay.” Marlene responds. “Did anything happen last night when I was gone?”

Lukani’s smile fades to pure anger as her gray eyes glowed.

That asshole of a donor put his hands on Dina and Ilena again. He was slapping them because they didn’t want to talk to him when he got in the house. K.C., Nikita, and I had to get him off them. He punched me in my jaw, I got him in his eye. K.C. had to lock him in his room and we told him we would call the cops if he didn’t act right. An hour later, Nikita unlocked his door and she and I dragged him out. K.C. went into his room and found his stash of alcohol and trashed it. Afterwards, he sat down in the living room; didn’t say anything. Completely quiet. Rika came by and took the girls with her.”

“Well, last night, I came in and saw him with a bottle of whiskey in his hand in the living room.”

“…Damn. We might have to frisk him next time.”

“Where was Asa?”

“At the Recreation Center. She volunteered to help them clean up for the night.”

Marlene begins to think about what they need to do with Marcus.

“Where is he now?” She asks.

“Asleep in the living room.” Lukani replies.

“Not surprised. Also, last night, he threw the whiskey bottle at me, and he missed.”

“Dammit... We need to take him to a rehabilitation center, or else he’ll really be going to jail.”

“Agreed. We tried as much as we could to keep him here, but everyone’s wellbeing matters. The eight of us need to sit him down and have a talk. I’m thinking we could do it on the 18^th. I’ll have a half day at work by then.”

“Good idea. Also, I heard you went on a date. That’s a first for you.”

Lukani smiles making Marlene blush.

“Uh… Yeah, I did.”

Lukani laughs at Marlene’s embarrassed expression.

“Don’t worry, I won’t ask any further. Tell us later when you come back. Now, get ready for work. I’m going back to my room and make some beats.”

As Lukani walks back to her room, Marlene goes in the bathroom. She turns on the shower head, takes off her nightgown, puts on a shower cap over the scarf on her head, and gets in the shower where the warmth of the water begins to wake her up. After her shower, she begins to brush her teeth, thinking about Abel.

‘Hmm, I wish I could call him, but I’d rather not disturb him. If I must wait, I’ll wait. Right now, think about what’s going to happen today. Clear head. Sound mind.’

7:15 am. After Marlene was done in the bathroom, she goes back into her room, puts on her undergarments, and her uniform. She took her scarf off, combed her hair, and tied it into a bun. She grabs her phone, her bag, her jacket, and her keys and proceeds to go downstairs. As Marlene went down to the first floor, she sees Marcus on the couch, passed out. She was disappointed as she looked at the state he was in. She puts on her jacket and leaves out the front door. She unlocks the door to her Dodge and gets in. She starts the car and backs out of the driveway onto the road to the hospital.

.   .   .   .   .

7:20 am. Abel, Autumn, and Vance arrive at the airport, and they all get out of his car; Abel gets his briefcase out of the backseat. Abel opened the trunk, gets his suitcase out, Vance gets his backpack and suitcase out, and Autumn gets out her two duffle bags. Abel uses the remote on his keys to close the trunk and lock his car. A man from valet comes outside from a booth which made Abel throw his car keys to the man; the man catches the keys.

“Keep it in a parking space until the 18^th. Don’t do anything stupid with my car.” Abel instructs the valet.

“Y-Yes sir. No harm will come to it. Promise.” The man replies uneasily.

Abel, Autumn, and Vance begin walking to the building. Once they got into the building to find their terminal, Autumn begins squinting her eyes, having a premonition. Abel and Vance noticed this and stopped walking to face her.

“What’s wrong?” Vance asks.

“Terminal 9. Second to last terminal on the right. Erika is there waiting.” She replies.

“Hmm. Not surprised.” Abel comments.

As they start walking again, Abel felt slight annoyance about who he was going to see when they reached the terminal. Just as Autumn said, Terminal 9. As they turn into the terminal, the three spot Erika with her hands on her hips; upset. Just as Erika spots them, Autumn rolls her eyes, Vance groaned in annoyance not wanting to hear her voice, and Abel had an expressionless face.

“Well, it’s about time you three showed up!” Erika exclaims crudely. “I thought I would’ve had to go on my own and handle this business deal.”

“Well, that’s the problem, you thought.” Abel retorts sternly. “I made it here with 10 minutes to spare. It doesn’t take me long to get here, Erika. Next time, don’t talk to me like I’m in the wrong. It’s too early in the morning for your bullshit.”

Erika became quiet, making Autumn and Vance snicker behind Abel.

“Now get your stuff so we can leave. You’re about to make us late, Erika.” Abel orders her sternly.

Erika picks up her bags and walks to the ticket booth in a huff. She puts in her plane ticket first, then Abel, Autumn, and Vance. The four put the cases they wanted in the plane’s storage, all four took out their CCW permits and other information, and they went into the plane and took their seats; Erika was next to Abel and on the other side, Vance sat next to Autumn. The part of the plane they were on was first class. Several minutes before they took off, Abel begins to text and send Marlene a message and turns on airplane mode afterwards.

.   .   .   .   .

At 7:40 am, Marlene is in Hope Hospital in a break room before her shift starts and was eating her breakfast. She gets a text message from Abel and feels excited inside. The text read:

Just so you’re not kept in the dark, I’ll let you call me during the night if I’m not busy. I’ll give you the word to call me. Have a good day, Marlene.

‘I see he’s cryptic.’ She thinks to herself.

One of Marlene’s co-workers, Zeina, comes into the break room trying to find her. Marlene was caught off guard.

“Marlene.” She speaks. “I knew I’d find you here. Did you see your schedule today?”

“Oh. Hey, Zeina. No, I didn’t see my schedule yet.” Marlene replies. “What am I doing today?”

“Today, you’re helping out Dr. Oden with a 7-year-old boy. The child is getting a checkup due to his heart.”

“Adam Incano? The one with the weak heart?”

“Yes. His heart’s not pumping enough blood for him and it’s failing him. He was admitted here ever since the 11^th of this month. So today, they’re going to see what to do and how soon they’re going to do it. Also, the boy has a twin sister, and she didn’t want to be far from him. So that means you’re on babysitting duty until your shift is over.”

“Are we understaffed with nurses today?”

“Sadly yes…”

“I’m not surprised.”

Marlene looks at her watch and saw the time was 7:55 am. She stands and throws away what she ate in the trash and walks to the breakroom door.

“Okay. Well, let me get this day started. See you at lunch, Zeina?” She asks.

“Sure thing. See you then.” Zeina replies.

Marlene leaves out of the breakroom and goes to the hallway of the hospital’s fourth floor; she went to the desk to report into work. A moment later, Marlow Oden, the doctor she’s assigned with today, came in from another hallway to meet with Marlene.

“Rosa. How are you doing this morning?” Marlow asks.

“I’m fine, Oden.” She replies smiling. “How’s your morning?”

“Hectic as always. Let’s go and see the patient.”

He walks to the patient’s room along with Marlene following him.

.   .   .

They reach Room 436 where the little boy, Adam, resides and goes in the room. They saw the boy awake in the hospital bed with a pace maker hooked to his chest, an IV drip in his arm, and a breathing tube hooked to his nose. His twin sister was sitting in a chair next to the bed looking at Marlow and Marlene.

“Hello Adam.” Marlow greets. “How are you doing this morning?”

“I still don’t feel well, but I’m awake.” Adam replies weakly.

Marlow takes a look at Adam’s chart sheet.

“Well, that’s better than nothing. And how are you today, little lady?” He asked the boy’s sister.

The girl did not answer him but stares at Marlene most of the time, making Marlow slightly unsettled about how long she stared at Marlene; He decides to ignore it.

“Okay, Marlene. I’m going to look over Adam’s sheet and discuss this with the others. I’ll be right back.”

Marlow leaves out of the room, leaving Marlene with the children. Marlene wonders why the girl continued staring at her and decided to start a conversation.

“So little lady, what’s your name?” Marlene asks the girl with a smile.

“Eve. Eve Incano.” The girl replies. “Your name is Marlene? Marlene Rosa?”

Marlene was taken by surprise that Eve knew her full name. She couldn’t have been able to know Marlene’s last name because her I.D. badge only shows her first name.

“Yes… that’s my name.” She replies. “But you can call me Nurse Rosa.”

“Okay, Nurse Rosa. You have a pretty name.”

“Aww, thank you. You have a pretty name as well, little lady.”

Marlene then looks to Adam.

“Did you need me to get you anything, dear?” She asks.

“Can you get me some water, Nurse Rosa?” He responds.

“Sure thing. You want something, little lady?”

“Apple juice.” Eve replies.

“Okay. I’ll be right back, you two.”

Marlene leaves out the room.