Page 14 of Only You

Fight Tay. Fight!

I didn’t know how long I’d lie there before I heard a voice.

“Over here, D. Shit, she’s lost a lot of blood. Do we have enough time to triage?

“Nah, we need to move now!” I faintly heard before I was scooped up from the ground. I figured I’d lost so much blood, I was hallucinating because it looked like Stephon and Devin had come to save me. Then, a crack of thunder rumbled through the sky before it opened up, with the heavy rain washing away my blood. I fell limp, looking into the sky, letting a lone tear fall for Brice and what I was leaving behind.

I’m sorry, Brice; I should have told you. I love you!

Then everything went black.

CHAPTER 9

Brice

“Ouch! It hurts so bad!” The small kid yelled in his tiny voice. I knew he was in pain because his nose had started to bleed around the rim. I was sure my mini-forceps weren’t helping the situation. His mother had brought him in because he had a Lego lodged inside his nasal cavity. I guess there was no avoiding this part of the job. Adults stuck things in their asses and kids their noses.

“I understand, Jeremiah, but we can’t stick things that don’t belong in our noses. You know you have the best name,” I calmly said on my final attempt to pull the block out. I wanted to distract him long enough to retrieve it.

“My middle name is Jeremiah.” He gave me a big smile as I told him, making his nostrils flare out enough for me to pull the Lego out.

“There we go, it’s out, Jeremi…..”

“Paging Dr. Washington, you are needed in trauma. Paging Dr. Washington, you are needed in trauma,” was the voice that came over the hospital intercom.

What in the hell?

Like the calls, I was ready to ignore the page before Nurse Newton came rushing in.

“I’m sorry for interrupting, but could you step outside a moment?” She asked, then looked at my patient apologetically. I stood and followed her out the door.

“Dr. Washington, they need you in surgery.”

“Surgery? Where’s Dr. Douglas?”

“He left thirty minutes ago with a stomach virus.”

“Dr. Clinton?”

“He called out, but they didn’t call anyone else because they knew you would be here with Douglas,” she said apologetically.

See, that’s that bullshit!

“Go now, hurry, it’s a female,” she said. Before I jogged off, I heard her enter the room behind me, apologizing to the patient and telling his mother that she would finish.

A woman?

I picked up the urgency in my jog and went into a light run as I went to the emergency department’s operating room. When I arrived, I handed my lab coat to the nurse and proceeded to the sink to begin my surgical scrub. As I washed up thoroughly to my elbows three times, a nurse helped me into my sterile medical attire, while another nurse rattled off the patient’s information and status.

“The patient is a woman, thirty-six years of age, with two gunshot wounds.”

“What’s her current status?”

“She coded once, but we were able to bring her back. She’s lost a lot of blood. We were hoping you could locate the source so that we can administer a transfusion. She’s a fighter.” I nodded and followed her into the operating room.

Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.

Tayla.

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