Chapter 2: Devastation

I always waited up until Normie got home.  For the first time in weeks I fell asleep before he was home only to be awoken by the phone ringing.  I picked up the phone and heard someone on the other line saying “your child has been shot”.  What do you do at that moment?  It seemed like a dream.  I frantically yelled at the person on the other end of the phone.  He calmed me down telling me my son was shot in the arm and gave me directions where to go. 

I woke my husband and told him Normie sustained a non-life threatening shot to the arm.  He did not believe me.  Since he had to be at work in a few hours we decided that my son Richie would go with me.  So off to the hospital we went.  Even though I felt Normie was going to be alright I was shaking at the shock of the news.  I was scared for my son. 

We arrived at the hospital and we were told to sit in the waiting room for someone to come speak with us.  It seemed like we waited hours but in reality it was only minutes.  I saw my son’s friends across the hall that were with him that night. I stood up and approached them.  A police officer was with them.  I asked “What the hell happened?”  Normie’s friend Ken responded, “We just went for gas.”  His friend Dave was not saying a word; he just rocked back and forth in his chair. 

Finally the silence was broken by a nurse who came in to the room.  I shouted “Where is my son, I want to see him?  The nurse said “This is a very serious situation.”  I told her that I was told on the phone that my son was shot in the arm which is serious but not life threatening.

She said “I’m sorry but your son was shot in the head and I don’t think that he is going to make it.   “What do you mean I asked, are you saying he is going to die?”  I started screaming, “NO, NO!”  This was not happening to us.  Things were going good for Normie.  Richie and I grabbed each other and he told me it would be alright.  I kept saying “I have to call your father.”  The nurse escorted me to a phone so I could call my husband.  He came to the hospital immediately.