“Did you say there’s blood on your head?”
“N-no,” I swallow hard on the bile pushing up my throat. “My boyfriend. There’s blood on the side of his head.”
“Help is on the way. Okay?”
I shake my head as my worry quickly morphs into ice-cold terror. “H-he’s not moving,” I stammer through the distress I’m feeling.
“Emergency services should be there any minute now,” the operator assures me, but it does nothing to calm me.
Lifting my right arm, I press my fingers to Kao’s pulse, and when I feel a beat, I let out a breath of relief. “He’s alive.”
“That’s good. Ma’am, what’s your name?”
“F-Fallon. Fallon Reyes.” I move a little closer to Kao, my eyes frantically scanning over his body. Fear shudders through me when I see more blood staining his shirt on his left side. “There’s also blood on his left side.”
“Where, Ma’am?”
“On his side, a couple of inches above his hip. There’s more blood.” I suck in a desperate breath. “Oh, God.”
“Ma’am, help is on the way. Is anyone else hurt? Was another car involved?”
“I… I don’t know.”
“Okay, stay calm. Keep talking to me. What else do you see?”
Frantically, I glance around, taking in the crushed dashboard, the deflated airbags, the smoke rising from the front. My eyes snap back to Kao, and it’s only when I see the blood again that the realization settles hard in my chest.
We were in an accident.
Kao’s hurt.
“Hurry!” I cry. I bring a trembling hand to Kao’s face but stop an inch from touching him, scared I’ll hurt him more. “Kao? Baby?” A sob escapes my lips. “Kao?”
“You should hear the sirens any second now,” the operator says.
Oh, God.
Please.
Let him be okay.
I lean a little closer, wanting so badly to hold him. “Kao?”
Emergency sirens fill the air, and moments later, my world spins into chaos when I’m pulled from the car. “No! Please. I want to stay with him.”
The paramedic says something, but all I can hear are the different sirens from the emergency vehicles arriving at the scene. I’m placed on a stretcher, and my surroundings begin to blur as I’m rushed toward an ambulance.
No.
I need to stay with him.
When I get a glimpse of firemen moving around Kao’s car, that’s nothing but crumpled steel, horror washes all sense from me.
Noise fills the air, a mixture of urgent voices, sirens, and the firemen cutting through the metal of the vehicle, and then it’s shut out as the doors of the ambulance are pulled closed.
My body feels numb, and I manage to blink a couple of times before darkness drags me away from the nightmare.Feeling groggy, I open my eyes.
“Fallon? Honey?” I hear Mom’s voice. Sluggishly, I move my eyes in her direction. Her face is strained with worry. “Oh, baby. You’re going to be okay,” she says, relief and exhaustion coating her words. “Thank God.”
I open my mouth but first have to swallow hard on the dry lump stuck in my throat. “What happened?”
“You were in an accident.” I feel Mom’s tight hold on my hand.
Frowning, I sift through my jumbled memory until I latch onto one thing – Kao.
“Where’s Kao? Is he okay?”
“He’s still in surgery. Your dad went to check if there’s any news.” Mom brings a hand to my face and gently combs her fingers through my hair. “How do you feel?”
How do I feel?
Flashes from the accident ripple through me.
Kao smiling.
The deafening noise when we were hit.
The thick smell of oil.
The blood.
Kao not moving.
Agony builds in my chest until the pressure becomes too much, and it tears through me. “Kao,” I manage to whimper as sobs wreck me.
Mom moves from the chair to sit on the side of the bed, and leaning over me, she begins to murmur, “Kao’s strong. He’ll pull through. A couple of days from now, this will all seem like a bad dream. Okay? You’re both going to be fine.”
I want so badly to believe her words.
I hear someone come into the private hospital room, and when Mom pulls back, my eyes collide with my father’s.
He rushes forward to the other side of the bed, and I begin to struggle to sit up as more sobs wrack through me.
“Shh…” Daddy murmurs, and his movements are careful as he wraps his arms around me. “My beautiful girl, I’m here.”
My body is stiff and sore, but I manage to wrap my arms around him and hold on for dear life as I cry my fears out in my father’s strong hold.
“I just checked on Kao. He’s in recovery. He’s going to be okay. Leigh and Miss Sebastian assisted with the surgery. They’re with him, and they’ll make sure he gets the best care.”
Miss Sebastian is an emergency nurse and Kao’s godmother.
Mrs. West is Noah’s mom and a cardiothoracic surgeon.
If they assisted with the surgery…
“Why did Mrs. West assist with the surgery? Did Kao…?”