Dark Side

Chapter 22

"Oh, great. She's going into shock.. Demi, I need you to stay with me. Don't close your eyes, okay? Look right up at me," the paramedic instructs.

I flutter my closed eyes open as try to concentrate on him; it was hard. My body kept telling me to fall asleep, but my mind told me I couldn't. It was a back and forth battle, but I couldn't seem to convince myself it was worth it to stay awake.

"Demi, you need to listen to him. We need you to stay awake, okay?" Joe says, standing by my side.

"We're almost there. Just stay with us for a couple more minutes and we'll let you sleep. I need you to stay awake. Keep staring at Joe."

I look up into the chocolate-brown eyes of Joe and concentrate deeply. "Focus. Stay awake. Just focus," I kept telling myself. I tried with all my might to concentrate solely on him. I couldn't give up, not now.

Just then, the car stops and the back doors of the ambulance fly open. The paramedic seated in the back of the car with me lifts the stretcher up from behind my head, while the driver takes the other end.

"Clear the halls! We have a 16 year old girl! Bullet wound victim. She's showing signs of head trauma. We're gonna need an MRI immediately," one of the paramedics calls out as they rush me through the halls. We run into a doctor and nurse, who then take over and begin pushing the stretcher. One started jotting the stuff down on a clipboard as we made our way trough the halls.

"Joe," I croak out, unable to see him.

"I'm right here, don't worry," he says, jogging to the side of my stretcher.

I look up at him, like I was told before. He's all I could think about. "Look at Joe. Look at Joe. Stay awake and look at Joe," I kept telling myself.

With the turn of a sharp corner, we ended up in some sort of testing room.

"We need to do a scan immediately. 16 year old girl. She's been shot in the thigh and we believe she is experiencing head trauma," the doctor explains to the MRI technician.

The lady then transfers me into the machine and sets me up, injecting some sort of liquid into my arm. Then, the machine begins to swallow me in as the projector circles around my body. It's dark, and I can't see a thing. How am I supposed to concentrate on Joe?

The machine continues to make cycles around me, slowly progressing up my body until it reaches my head. After what seemed like forever, the noise stops and the machine shuts down.

However, it appears she wasnt done. Next, the technician placed a steel vest on top of me and centered another piece of machinery over my head. She left the room real quick, and was back not much later to take the vest back off of me. An x-ray, I suppose it was.

"Her skull has been fractured and there could be some internal bleeding. We won't be sure of the extent of trauma until the test results come back in, which could take days, which is time we don't have. We're gonna need to operate right away," the technician says to the doctor.

Once again, my body is transferred from the machine to the stretcher. I look for the serene face of Joe, but all I see are worried faces.

"Is she gonna be okay?"

It's Joe. I can tell by his voice. He's worried; his voice is shaky. Just like this stretcher that's being raced through the halls of the hospital.

"I don't know. We need to operate. Even then, nothing is certain. I'm going to need you to wait outside. Someone will be out to speak with you once the surgery is over."

I'm wheeled into a bright room and the door is slammed shut. My body is transferred once more onto a cold, steel bed. I can hear the doctor shouting orders, but I don't understand any of it because his voice becomes muffled. I become colder and colder as my clothing is ripped off and I'm left bare. Nurses begin to surround me and I'm being poked and prodded. One of them puts an IV in my hand, another puts up blue tarp just below my neck. Finally, someone slips a breathing mask onto my face. That's the last thing I remember.

Sorry for the short chapter, I just wanted to get something out to you guys. I hope y'all have enjoyed Dark Side so far. With it coming to an end, what are your thoughts on it? Let me know in the comments; I need 10 before I continue 💜