Marvin’s Room

10/27/17 5AM Grady hospital ATL

Before he arrived I heard a nurse say. "Trauma incident we have to move fast he was shot in the face."

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1:00 AM

I arrived at my boyfriend's house to spend the weekend there as usual. His friend/frat brother had just left after a long 2K session. I unloaded my belongings, and sat on the couch to check my social media. About 10 mins later his friend called him. The conversation was brief, and when he hung up he asked me if I could drive his car to pick up his friend, he just got into an accident, and doesn't want to use an ambulance. I reluctantly said yes, and we went out in the cold night to his car.

1:35 AM

After warming up the car and driving through barren side roads, we finally reached his friend. He was ex-military so he acted tough, but we can visibly tell by his posture he was in pain. As we were driving to the hospital, hunger struck us all, luckily there was a food truck outside the hospital. We ate and finally made our way into the hospital.

2:05 AM

We had only been there 10 minutes, and could tell it would be a long night. Both my boyfriend and his friend grew agitated, and insisted he should be seen sooner. Apparently being ex military comes with more benefits than I thought, so after 45 minutes he was able to be seen. We were listed as his brother and sister in law, so we accompanied him to the back.

3:00 AM

This is around the time I wish I had stayed home. I wasn't sure how long we would be there, and how long we were obligated to stay. The room my new "brother in law" was in was fairly small so my "husband" and I sat in the hallway outside of his curtain.

4:45 AM

I must have taken a power nap to pass time. I wasn't supposed to be there that night. And as the time passed, I wished I hadn't been. Thats when it happened. A nurse cried out," Trauma incident we have to move fast he was shot in the face." My ears perked up, and I was sickeningly excited to see what would happen due to the many seasons of Grey's Anatomy I watched. When I saw him for the first time it seemed like time was in slow motion.

There was a boy. Tall and lanky his limp, but still breathing body was sprawled across the gurney. He had to be around my age, maybe 20-21 I could tell he was still waiting for his life to get started. His feet and body were motionless like he was paralyzed by the cold. His skin was dark and smooth with a tint of purple. His body was already dead. No visible tattoos and his hair was locked.

The doctor asked," What side of town you from son?" He didn't respond, or maybe he couldn't respond. I gazed at his face and he was foaming at the mouth, creating spit bubbles like little kids, but not for fun, he struggling to breath. I turned to my boyfriend to see his reaction, and he was in as much disbelief as I was. Despite the boy's battle for air, a doctor asked him, "What's your name man?" He gasped, swallowed, dripped an ounce of spit and said, "Marvin."