Lights | A Forever Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-Two: Perforation

I was beginning to hate hospitals. Not only did they smell like artificial chemicals and anaesthetics, but bad things tended to end up there.

"Push one of epi!" one of the trauma surgeons yelled as the piercing drone of the ECG monitor filled the air.

"He's going into v-tach!" the nurse shouted.

"Charge, one-twenty!" the same surgeon shouted.

"He can't die," I mumbled.

"Get them out of here!" another surgeon yelled, lifting an ultrasound in one hand. One of the interns took my arm and gently guided me out of the trauma room and sat me down on a bench. Dr. Morgan joined me moments later. I could hear the surgeons and the nurse yelling loudly, their voices muffled by the door.

"I swear to god," I said. "If that guy dies-"

"He won't," Dr. Morgan cut in, standing and looking through the glass. "His heart is beating again, but he's experiencing arrhythmias."

"Is that bad...?" I asked.

"Yes," Dr. Morgan sighed.

"Can a bullet travel?" I fretted. "I read somewhere that it could, in the bloodstream."

"In some cases."

"How quickly?"

"The speed is never the same."

I couldn't find words to explain the seething anger, the pain, the regret building up inside of me. I crossed my legs and closed my eyes, the throbbing darkness drowning me.

"He's-"

"Don't tell me what's happening."

Moments later, the door flew open, and surgeon number one strode out, tearing off his bloodstained gloves, grimness etched into his face.

"I'm so sorry," the surgeon said. "Lee Carter died during surgery."

For a moment, there was only silence, and then I doubled over in bitter laughter. Of course something would go wrong. The universe was determined to shield Adam from justice, it seemed.

"Haaah," I mumbled. "Hahaha." My mirth died suddenly.

"I'm so sorry," the surgeon repeated. "I'm so, so, sorry." He offered Dr. Morgan a clipboard full of consent forms and paperwork and then left to attend to the other trauma patients in the ER.

"It's already six o'clock," Dr. Morgan said distractedly. "He died at five fifty-eight, pm."

"Mmm," I replied.

"We need to initial this," Dr. Morgan continued. "Because we were here." He scratched a pen across a line and passed me the clipboard. I held the pen above the paper for a moment, and after a moment, I signed my initials. Dr. Morgan took the board back, as I stared into space. He began filling out the forms, and after a few minutes he glanced at me concernedly.

"Lights? Are you alright?" he asked. I shook my head absently. "What's wrong?"

"Jo," I said simply.

"What about Jo?"

"We should find her, and help her, because something doesn't seem right."

"What? Carter died, and we found Hadynski... Right?" Dr. Morgan queried as I gave him a strange look.

"So, you want to just sit here, filling out paperwork?" I grumbled. "That's boring. And, Jo might be in danger, because that woman sure wasn't Elaine Hadynski. I think I'd know my high school counsellor." I crossed my legs, propping myself up against the back of the bench.

"You go to- Isn't that school expensive?" Dr. Morgan enquired.

"Scholarship. Anyways- this has to be some sort of set-up. Something is off. What about the room in my apartment? What about all of these missing puzzle pieces, and the pieces we have that don't fit? We're missing something."

"We are not the police, Lights," Dr. Morgan replied.

"I'm not," I confirmed. "But, you are."

"I'm a medical examiner," he protested. "I work for the police, not as the police. I'm a consultant."

"Go help Jo," i insisted.

"Consultant," he reminded me.

"Jo," I said again. "Choose. Jo, or paperwork."

He glared at me, and I glared back.

"Jo, or paperwork," I repeated.

"Lights-"

"Choose!"

"Jo."

"Great!" I jumped to my feet, grabbing his arm and towing him out the door. I snatched the clipboard away, handing it off to a nurse as we passed.

"So where did Hanson go, again?"