Ahead of the Darkness (27 page)

The last thought I have as Drew lifts my limp body in his ar
m
s is, Thank God, he’s real.

––––––––

“I
need a doctor, now.”

I run through the emergency waiting room with Mia’s limp body in my hands, her gasping breaths the only sign she is still alive.

“Don’t ye die on me, ye hear me? Don’t ye leave me again.”

“What? Oh, God.”

The nurse on-duty took one look at Mia’s mangled body and ran off in the other direction, returning with a gurney a moment later.

“Here, put her on this.”

I lay her down as gently as I can, desperate not to knock the blade still protruding from under her ribs...

“I’m sorry, sir, you need to stay here. We need to get the blade out and stop the bleeding immediately. She’ll be in good hands.”

I took her hand, gripping it tightly in mine. “I’m nae leaving her.”

“You must.”

She pries my shaking hands from Mia’s, and pushes the gurney through the double doors. I stand there, staring after her. She cannae leave me; not again.

“Sir?”

I turn behind me and frown at the woman behind the reception desk. “What?”

“We need you to fill in some paperwork for the victim.”

“Her name is Mia.”

She smiles sympathetically at me while pushing the clip-folder and form across the desk towards me and my eyes narrow.

“And no, I’m afraid it won’t wait. It will give you something to do while you wait. You can take a seat over there, if you like.”

I look to where she’d pointing at the spars waiting area. I take the form, muttering to myself as I take a seat on the far side, away from the other sorry saps waiting for their fates and fill in her damn paperwork. I dinnae know half the things, but make them up as best I can. Barely aware of what I wrote on the blasted thing, I thrust the paperwork back at the nurse and stalk off back to my chair.

I sat for hours with no sign of news, berating myself for not getting there sooner and, for that matter, for letting her out of my sight in the first place. I got up and began to pace. Dinnae she trust me to keep her safe? I would have kept her safe from the devil himself if I had to. I should have kept her safe.

Finally, a doctor emerges, breaking my anguished thoughts. Removing his mask, and I stalk to towards him.

“Doc, ye best be having good news to tell me?” I cannae bare anything else.

“You would be the young chap who brought the victim in?”

“Mia. Aye.”

“It’s against protocol to be telling you anything—”

I cut the doctor off. “Ye best be telling me, or I’ll—”

“But.” He cuts me off. “... cases such as this, where there seems to be no immediate family, I will. She’s suffered substantial damage to her body. She has a fractured skull, and we had to put her in an induced coma to allow for swelling to diminish.”

“That dinnae sound good.”

“She also has two broken ribs, and her left hand has multiple fractures and will need further surgery to repair. We won’t know until she wakes the exact extent of the damage. The flesh wound was repairable, but will need monitoring, but that is of least concern. For now, she is stable, but still in a critical condition.”

“Can, I see her? Please?” I add on as an afterthought. My voice cracks on the last word.

“She’s still in intensive care, post-surgery, but as soon as she’s moved I will have a nurse come and fetch you. You will only have five minutes with her I’m afraid.”

“Thank ye.”

The doctor nods once and walks off. I begin to pace again. Each second feels like an agonising hour waiting till I can finally be with her, even if it is only for a few minutes. I need to see her.

“Sir?” My head snaps up to the double doors. “You can see her now.”

I follow the nurse through the double doors; my heart racing at the thought of wait awaited me. I dinnae know how I will handle seeing Mia with tubes coming out of her.

The nurse directs me through the door of Mia’s room and I gasp. It is as brutal as I’d feared.

Her head is wrapped in thick white bandages, tubes coming out of her arms, and a heart monitor is beating slowly in the corner, one for every six of mine.

“You can have twenty minutes with her.” I look at the nurse confused and she smiles sadly at me. “I won’t be back to check on her until then. Okay?” Ah.

I nod with a weak smile too chocked up to thank her and pull a chair up to her bed. I sit, gingerly take her good hand.

It looks so weak and fragile in mine.

“Mia, can ye hear me?” My voice cracking.

What if she cannae recover fro
m
this? A weight crushes my chest at the thought. She has to; I cannae live without her. I hold on to her hand a little tighter.

“I’ve got ye, love ... I’ll pull ye out of the darkness.”