“Nate,” she whispers between deep, struggled breaths and looks at me. His head whips towards me and anger looms in his eyes. I know he can’t believe it probably even more than she can’t. Her gasping starts to get out of control and she moves her hand to her chest. “I can’t breathe,” she tells him.
“It’s okay, baby, everything is going to be okay,” he tells her holding on to her shoulders and looking into her eyes. Then all the color drains from Arion’s face. Her eyes roll back into her head and she collapses. My instincts move me and I try to catch her, but my crutches slip on the milk and I hit the floor. I keep my eyes on her and Bain has her. I couldn’t care less about me. I only watch her head, making sure it doesn’t hit anything.
Holding it gracefully, Bain lays her down gently, cradling her head in his lap and shouts, “Baby? Baby, wake up.” She doesn’t respond and he looks at me and asks, “What the fuck happened, motherfucker?”
I shake my head, unsure how to answer his question. This is not something that I ever imagined in a million years. Leaning over her, he caresses her face and talks to her, coaxing her to wake up. “Come on, baby, wake up.” She doesn’t move, except for the slow breaths moving in and out of her. “Call 911,” he orders.
“I don’t have a phone,” I respond, embarrassed, and scoot away to collect my crutches.
“How do you not have a phone?” he snarls at me angrily and calls himself. As I go to stand, he looks at my pants where the fabric is bunched at the spot where I lost the lower half of my leg.
Right away, I can tell that the wheels in his head are spinning. Then Arion begins to move and I can’t stop myself from crawling to her. Looking at her, I want to touch her, to see if I can soothe her pain in any way. But Bain stares at me like a protective animal that’s about to take his prey down, all the while giving the dispatcher her symptoms. While I just sit and shake my head, wanting to run my hand over her soft skin, wanting to be the one on the phone, wanting to be the one she reached for. But I’m not.
He hangs up and looks at me without saying anything. I mean, in a moment like this, what is there to say? Taking his eyes off of mine, he looks down and we both watch her. A lonely tear of his lands on her neck. He wipes it away and shakes his head. Being this close to her and not able to do anything kills me. Glancing up, I catch sight at the way he’s looking at her and I know he loves her just as much as I do. I never dreamt of having competition for the woman I love when I was rescued. All I thought about was finally being able to be with Arion. I survived for one reason. One – her. Now, all of that is in jeopardy and I just don’t know what to do.
The paramedics arrive rushing down the hall. Right away Bain stands up and moves out of their way, and I myself struggle a little more trying to get up. Surprisingly, Bain helps me up, then he hands me my crutches as I balance on my one leg. The paramedics begin to work on her, checking vitals and asking us what happened. Bain speaks, and I let him. Once they finally get her awake, they talk to her, asking all sorts of questions, but she is dazed and still really out of it. Her eyes are glazed over as she turns and looks at me. They move her onto a body board and start to strap her down, the sound of the Velcro instantly triggers a flashback…
“He’s alive,” a man shouts.
Slowly I move my head, trying to open my eyes. It’s the first time I’ve heard the voice of another person in almost two weeks. Why won’t my eyes open? I can’t see anything. I try to lift my arm to wipe away the dirt and grime that covers them and I remember how bad it hurts when I move.
I freeze from the pain. I should have been dead days ago, but…I’m not. I know the only reason is because of the small water leak coming from the ceiling. It drips a few drops here and there, and up until I couldn’t see, I could catch them in my mouth.
“Man, you’re fucking mental. He’s dead,” another man says.
I know this is my last chance at survival. Since I was left for dead, these are the first people I’ve encountered. I moan and try to move with every ounce of strength I have. It’s excruciating, but I have to. They both stop talking as they catch my movement, then shout, “We’ve got a live one!”
“Stay still,” one of them says and touches my shoulder. Then I feel a hand on my wrist.
“His pulse is weak and by the look of him, we’ll need to airlift him out of here.”
“Just hang in there, man, you’re going to be okay.”
I don’t respond, I just lie still.
“I’m going to pour some water over your eyes, okay?”
I nod my head and then almost cry from the burning sensation. They keep pouring water over and over, but still I can’t see. Fuck, I’m blind.
“We’re gonna get you out of here.” They lift my weakened, emaciated body and the movement causes me to scream out in pain. My body trembles and my breathing is beginning to get so fast I fear I might pass out. But before darkness takes over, the last thing I remember loud and clear is the sound of Velcro as my body is tied down to a bodyboard…