Those three little words (a Maylor fanfiction)

Part 55

Roger's POV
I woke up gasping for air and sat up to try and clear my airways but it didn't do anything. I smacked Brian on the arm frantically and he woke up with a jolt, "what's wrong!? Are you okay" he shouted and turned on the couch to face me. I was struggling to breathe and tried to do what the doctor told me and take deep breaths through my mouth but nothing was working.

Brian's face went pale and he shot off the couch and out to the telephone as I gripped the blanket with all my strength, there was a horrible burning in my chest and every time I tried to breathe it got worse. "Hello? Can I have a doctor or someone come down? My friend's struggling to breathe..." I heard Brian say into the phone then he popped his head around the corner to check on me.

"O-okay...an ambulance is fine" he said with a worried look then gave our address and hung up. He rushed over to me as soon as the line was dead and sat with me, holding my hands, and coached my breathing like Nancy had told him to do when I was in the hospital. "Calm down, you're okay...let's see if this works" he mumbled the last part and picked up the tube that I had taken off in the night.

"Alright, alright...does it hurt?" He asked and knelt up so we were face to face and I nodded, "in your chest or in your throat?" He looked me straight in the eye as I pointed at my chest, "Okay...I'll just do this and see if it gets any better" he explained and put the little tube under my nose and pushed the prongs in gently.

He quickly looped it over my ears and turned on the oxygen then grabbed my hands again, "alright, deep breath of that and out through your mouth...try and slow down a little" he said and I tried but ended up coughing and gasping again afterwards as he cooed a little and gripped my hands tighter.

Five long minutes passed and the ambulance crew turned up outside and Brian rushed off to get the door and bring them into me, it was clear he was freaking out inside. One man knelt in front of me and patted my knee gently, "you're in good hands, I promise you...can you talk or just have to concentrate?" He asked and I shook my head, trying my best to calm myself down.

"That's fine, that's fine...we're gonna get you up and into the ambulance and there we're gonna try to sort you out and get you up to the hospital" he explained and I nodded quickly as I clutched my chest to try and soothe the burning. Two arms slipped underneath mine and I was hauled off of the couch then carried shoulder to shoulder out the door and to the stairs.

One of them let go and went down the stairs quickly then the other shifted me a bit, "alright, I'm gonna put you on my shoulder and carry you down...you just concentrate on your breathing, okay?" He said and I nodded before he hauled me up with a grunt and put me over his shoulder before going down over the stairs.

Brian followed the two men and carried the tank of oxygen that I was still loosely connected to and kept muttering things that I couldn't hear over the sound of my heart in my ears. The ambulance man got me out of the building and into the ambulance then plopped me down on a bed and got Brian a seat before tending to me.

"I'm going to take your nasal cannula off and replace it with this mask which should help a bit" the man explained then took the tube from under my nose and placed a mask gently over my face, "can you hold it for me? Nice and tight" he said and I put my hand over the front as he got a little green bag-like thing and started squeezing it. I felt the air being forced into me and just let him do all the work, rubbing my chest where it was still burning.

The ride was pretty quick, only about ten minutes or so, and they soon unloaded me at the hospital and got me into a room. The ambulance crew left me alone in the room with a nurse (Brian had to wait outside for now) and she started flitting about and hooking me up to different machines. "Alright love, you're not claustrophobic or anything, are you?" She asked and I shook my head.