"You'll be alright,
No one can hurt you now.
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound."
—Safe and Sound/ Taylor Swift

*******

"Heart attack. It's a heart attack, or it can be cardiac arrest, if she loses consciousness. In that case, there's no time in hand."

Brittney had never felt so helpless in her life.

But she continued following the instructions the Emergency Medical Service personnel was giving her over the phone.

She went inside Katherine's room and grabbed her medicine box out, then crushed some aspirin inside Katherine's mouth, who was now looking like would faint anytime and was sweating badly.

She first laid Katherine against the floor carpet and loosened her clothing, just as the personnel was directing her to do. Then she placed the heel of one of her hands over the center of the woman's chest and settled the other hand over the first, and started pushing straight down on her chest. She had to do this at least 100 times per minute, the man was saying, until they arrived.

The responsibility was huge. If she stopped, Katherine could die.

If she stopped, Katherine would die. The man on the phone was quite clear about his words.

When the ambulance arrived, Brittney's hands had gotten numb, and she could not do it anymore. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying and she was quite sure she would not be able to save Katherine.

"You've given her aspirin, right?" The personnel asked her.

Her voice had become so feeble, she could not even say anything. She just nodded.

On the way to the hospital, she could hear voices of the ambulance staff administering medicines, instructing things to each other. She was not in a state to hear anything. She could break out crying any moment, but stopped the urge seeing the number of staff present. Plus she had to stay strong in front of Katherine.

"Her oxygen level is too low."

"We've to give oxygen to her blood."

"Connect her to ECG, right now. "

At whiles they would shout at Katherine, making sure she was conscious. "Madam, are you okay? Can you hear us? Do you feel any pain? Are you alright?"

Katherine would make occasional moans through her voice and stare at them blankly.

"We'll give you some GTN," one said politely to her, spraying GTN under her tongue. "Her blood pressure is very low, we need to give her saline too."

Then more injections, salines, and whatnots.

Minutes later Brittney looked out of the window to finally realize they had left Erthington already. She shouted in panic, "Wait up, we left the town! We left the hospital on the way. Hello!"

Someone turned to her and replied annoyingly, "We know what we're doing. It's an emergency, she can't be treated in the Community Hospital. We have to take her to the city."

"But that would take too much time!" She yelled.

"We've talked to the hospital authority. Don't worry, we're doing our best here."

When they reached the hospital, they took her to the CCU immediately. And Brittney just waited outside.

She called her parents and asked them to hurry up and arrive at the hospital as soon as possible. Then she sat on a bench, staring at the white hospital walls; feeling all broken and drained out.

She could not remember when was the last time she had cried this bad. Maybe the morning she had woke up in Michael Haywood's bed in sophomore year. No, maybe when she had narrated everything to Annabel at lunch after three days.

There was guilt last time, and heartbreak. This time it was different. It was grief, it was shock.

At that moment she felt nothing was of much worth. Life, death, happiness, pain— everything seemed to float on the same line.

And it was not until she got the time to think quite clearly that she realized why a certain boy named Michael Adams had not tried talking to her in the past few days. Even earlier when he would be angry at her, his phone would not be switched off. But this time it was.

Why?

No, no. He is fine. He is fine. He just needs privacy. I would not disturb him this time. I already have enough tension going on here, she thought to herself.

But she could not avoid the funny sensation going on at the pit of her stomach. Every time the sensation appeared, it only indicated one thing.

Disaster.

*******

Disaster milady! *evil grin*. Okay I'd keep my mouth shut.

Vote, comment and share. Add it to your reading lists and libraries!

Keep expecting the unexpected. Let's see what you guys can guess.

Also, I'd be accepting one-shot contest entries till 10th June, 2016. Results shall be out by 19th.

Lots of love to each of my readers.