Chapter 2 - The Neighbor at the Gate
Beatriz didn't answer. She looked at the blood, then at the open bedroom door, as if measuring how much trouble could escape through it.
"I'll get towels," she said.
"Ambulance." My mouth barely formed the word.
"Let's not embarrass ourselves before we know what's wrong."
She hurried away. Water ran in the hallway bathroom. Downstairs, a cabinet slammed. I heard the familiar clink of her keys. For a moment I believed she was going for the car. Then the front gate rang.
"Mrs. Hernández?" a woman called. "Your grocery delivery's outside."
It was Ruth Calder, our neighbor, picking up a misdelivered box. Ruth worked night shifts as a respiratory therapist. She'd told me more than once to knock on her door if I needed anything. I'd always thanked her and never done it. Beatriz hated outsiders knowing our business.
"Leave it there," Beatriz called sharply.
"Is Mariana okay? Her window's open. I heard shouting."
"She's being difficult."
I pulled air into my chest. "Ruth!"
I didn't recognize my own voice. It sounded like a chair scraping stone. There was silence below, then fast footsteps on the stairs.
"You can't come up here," Beatriz said.
"Move."
Ruth appeared at the door wearing work scrubs under a rain jacket. She looked from my face to the bed. She called 911.
"Pregnant patient, heavy bleeding, altered level of consciousness," she told the dispatcher. "Thirty-one weeks. We need an ambulance now."
Beatriz reached for her arm. "Maybe it isn't necessary."
Ruth pulled free. "It was necessary hours ago."
She knelt beside me and kept her voice even. "Mariana, stay with me. Do you know where your phone is?"
I shook my head. Ruth saw the bare charger cable hanging from the nightstand. Her jaw tightened.
Downstairs, the front door opened. Beatriz had disappeared. I heard a drawer slide shut in the kitchen, followed by a metallic click. Ruth heard it too.
"What is she hiding?" she murmured.
May you like
Then the dispatcher asked when the bleeding began, and I lifted two trembling fingers. Ruth's expression changed when she understood I didn't mean two minutes.
I meant two o'clock in the morning.
