It was 8 am and the couple were having breakfast. Oliver grabbed the remote to watch his favorite show. He past the channels, one of them being the local news network. The television screen displayed a headline. A shooting that was on the Palomine District that Jennifer read for a split second before channel changed for a sports channel.
"Wait! What was that on the news?" Jennifer asked.
"What was what?" Oliver asked her, he felt a pat on the shoulder.
"Go back to the previous channel." She requested while he changed the channel to the news network.
"Yes, but it's gone now. Didn't you see it?" Oliver showed while the anchorwoman on the channel announced a brief segment about a hooded burglar.
"No. What was it?" Oliver asked her before putting the remote on the coffee table.
"No. It can't be. I must have misread it." Jennifer said as she tried to figure what it was about.
"What did you see?" Oliver prodded.
"Let me think."
"I don't understand what..." he tried to ask but she interrupted.
"Will you shut up for a minute? Let me think... give me the phone."
"Why?" Oliver passed the phone to her.
"I'm gonna call Andy. I don't like this one bit." Jennifer surmised that something went wrong in Andy's neighborhood.

The phone rang, and rang, and rang but there was no response, by the fifth call someone else picked up Andy's phone. "Hello?"

"Who is this?" Jennifer asked.

"This is Merwin, I hate to tell you this but Andy is at the hospital."

Her eyes turned pale when she heard that Andy was in the emergency room.

"What?"

Oliver looked at her as he ate his oatmeal. She stood up from the table while she took the phone to the bedroom.
"Which hospital is he in?" Jennifer asked, taking out a fucshia shirt and pair of denim jeans.

"He's at Monserrat Hospital." Merwin replied before she put the phone on speaker.
"I'm on my way." She replied as she took out a C sized cup brassier from the drawer.

"Jennifer, you know that he is in the emergency room. The surgeons are operating him to get the bullet out of his body even as we speak. The best that we can do right now is to pray for him." Merwin advised her while Jennifer got dressed.

"I understand Merwin, but-"

"Listen to me! This is important! Andy is in a critical state. Once you show up at the hospital, you'll be anxious pacing back and forth. Waiting! An operation takes hours! Long hours. I know how impulsive you and Andy are but this is not the time to panic!" Merwin reminded her, though she was alreasy dressed, her hair was a mess.

"You're right." She slumped at the edge of the bed as she heard Merwin on the phone.

"The best that we can do is pray at the moment." Merwin insisted.

Jennifer had her hand against her forehead, rubbing it as an indicator to relieve stress. "We should." She admitted aloud.

"I'll see you at the hospital, Lord willing." Merwin responded before hanging up.

Jennifer was against the wall, she was not exactly the most religious nor Oliver, her husband, but she loved Andy as if he were his big brother. They used to hang out a lot in the streets long before social media became a staple of their daily lives.

So she got down on her knees and prayed, begging to God to heal Andy, to save him. To not turn away from him when they were rooting for him to recover. To not take away another life that has been lost because of a stray bullet or a street gang or another crime that is constantly reported on the news.

When she poured her heart and she felt that a weight has been lifted from her shoulders.

Oliver stood up from the couch and put the plate on the kitchen sink, it got awfully quiet. He tiptoed his way into the bedroom when he heard sobbing and sniffling.

"Jen... are you alright?" He asked, opening the door as he watched her dry her tears.

"I'm fine... it's just-"

"I heard you crying." Oliver interjected.
"I was praying for Andy." She said, barely above a whisper. He hugged her.

"Have a little faith, honey. You know how much of a rascal he was. Andy won't go down without a fight. You know that." Oliver reassured before he took her out of the bedroom. "Now c'mon, you barely touched your toast."