August 4th, 2007, 4:27 am

"She's dying!"

Michael Horde fell apart inside when he heard those words. He couldn't believe it. He was about to lose his daughter, and she was only eight. A million thoughts started running through his head. She'll never get her first kiss. She'll never have her first dance. She'll never go to prom. She'll never make a best friend. She'll never get married. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something turning on, and the doctor saying "Clear!" He looked over to see the doctor and nurses trying to revive Bridget. They did this numerous times, and nothing seemed to happen. The way Bridget's limp body jerked around was horrific. Suddenly the doctors stopped.

"Alright, I'll call it." The doctor said sadly as everyone looked down. "Time of death, 4:27 am."

Michael began to get very dizzy. He couldn't think straight, and he thought he was going to pass out. He stumbled over to the bed and fell by its side, breaking out into tears. The whole thing was like a scene from a movie, only it was real. He just lost his daughter.

"Bridget!!!!" He yelled. Suddenly everything started spinning. His vision went blurry. Then it just, stopped.

Michael jerked up. He found himself sitting in a chair in Bridget's room. He ran over to the bed half-asleep, to find Bridget perfectly fine. The machine was beeping at a steady rate. All seemed to be normal. He had been dreaming. None of that happened. He sighed in relief, and the went back to the chair he sat in before. Within minutes, he was asleep again.
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Delaney sat wide awake in her mothers arms. Most would think that being and eight year old, she'd be driving her mother crazy, and be asking a million questions. You'd also be thinking that she wouldn't understand what's happening to her sister. But thats where you're wrong. This eight year old was far more intelligent than others of her age. And frankly, one would say she's handling this situation particularly well.

She remained in her mothers arms for quite some time. It was a while before her father returned. Something seemed to be bugging him. Delaney, being as small and skinny as she was, slid out of her mothers arms with ease, clearly not causing a disturbance to her slumber. She went over to him and hugged him. They hugged in the middle of the waiting room for a very long time. What did they care? There was no one around to see. Even if there were, they still wouldn't care.

"Daddy, will Bridget be okay?" Delaney asked, her sweet, innocent eyes sparkling.

"I'm sure she will." Michael lied. He had an awful feeling deep down in his gut that something would happen, and it wouldn't be good.
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August 4th, 2007, 10:00 am

The hospital was now filled with people. Kathleen hated it. She preferred peace and quiet, because she was very easily irritated. Even as a child the slightest thing aggravated her. She watched as nurses ran through the building, and more people came in and crowded the waiting room. She was so aggravated by the commotion that she started thinking awful things about the other people. One person had a strangely big nose. Another was obese. She kept thinking until her thoughts were interrupted by a nurse who had walked over.

"Weren't you here last night miss?" The nurse asked politely.

"Yes. I have no intentions of leaving for a while." Kathleen replied.

"Well, you might not have a choice. Now, I don't mean to be rude, but as I'm sure you've noticed it has gotten quite crowded, and we just don't have room for visitors. I'm sorry. So, unless you're dying-"

"I get it, you want to kick out a worried mother who has an eight year old daughter staying here because she has a heart tumor. Fine. Just leave me to my sanity-what's left of it, that is." Kathleen stood up and left in a huff. The nurse felt awful, and solemnly went back to work.

"Michael, get up. We're leaving." Kathleen said as she walked up to her sleeping husband. He could tell by the tone of her voice that she was very upset, and talking against her would be pointless. He lightly shook Delaney, who woke with ease.

"Daddy...?" She said sleepily. Michael just shushed her.

"We're going home now." He said. She nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck as he stood up and followed his wife to the car. Kathleen immediately went to the passenger seat without a word while Michael strapped Delany to her booster seat. The second Michael opened to door to the drivers seat, Kathleen burst out numerous hate-filled words.

"I mean, who does she think she is?! She has no right to kick me out! Only a police officer or some high class authority should be allowed to do that. Besides, it's not she like she has a child who's dying of a fucking tumor in her heart!! She doesn't know what it feels like at all!" Kathleen raged as they drove home. It scared Michael, for he'd never heard his wife swear before. He sat in silence as Kathleen continued nonstop.

"She was just being selfish, like every other goddamn nurse in this town. No respect for anyone else. She has no idea what I'm going through right now. If anyone, she should have the tumor, not my daughter."

Now, of course Kathleen didn't mean these words. She was just too upset and heartbroken and offended. But what she didn't know was that the nurse was going through the same thing Kathleen was, only it was her husband, and he was taken off life support that night.