Robbin

8. EMT

The rise and fall of a deep whine filled the frequency of the room. The images came in blurs.

She felt a plastic mask being applied over her mouth and nose. Someone rolled her from her side onto her back. A hand lightly slapped her left cheek.

"Terra? Terra, can you hear me?" It was an unfamiliar woman's voice. "Terra?" It sounded middle aged.

She blinked, breathing heavily.

"Terra? My name is Susan. I'm a Paramedic from Stoneview Hospital. Can you hear me?"

Terra blinked again. "Yes," she answered feebly.

"Do you know where you are, Terra?"

Terra looked around at the ceiling above her. It was white stucco. She could hear the fridge buzzing to her right. "In the kitchen."

The woman nodded. She was very small with gray hair and a pumpkin shaped face. "How are you feeling, Terra? Do you think you can sit up for me?"

Terra moved to sit, feeling light headed.

"Easy there," the woman said.

Terra was standing within fifteen minutes. The kitchen was empty except for Terra, the EMT-P Susan, and Sarah who stood timidly in the corner and didn't say a word. The whine of the ambulance siren could be heard from across the room outside the opened front door.

After that, the woman had Terra make her way outside where she then sat in the trunk of the EMS truck for about another thirty minutes while three EMTs including Susan did a number of simple tests involving flashlights, stethoscopes and blood pressure machines, only to determine that Terra had a clean bill of health. They labeled the black out to be caused by "exhaustion".

As this whole scene was unfolding, it was pitch black except for the street lights of Terra's neighborhood and lights adorning the back of the ambulance. When Terra was allowed to check a clock, she found that it was about four in the morning.

Just as Susan and the other medics had finished up with their tests, another ambulance rolled by, stopping right before the bed of the first ambulance. The man driving it wore a white lab coat.

"The other EMTs and I have it handled, we aren't ingrates," the woman, Susan, began whispering loudly through the opened window after the man in the second ambulance communicated something to her in an undertone. "We never called for your services, Doctor Frank; there was no need for you to drive another ambulance down. It's just a regular case of exhaustion. I know you're new, but get back to the hospital. Ambulance services are carried out by EMTs, not hospital staff."

The man in the white lab coat eyed Terra. He stared at her for a long time only looking away it seemed when Terra began to squirm in discomfort from the back of Susan's EMS Truck.

The doctor then nodded to the frustrated older woman and drove away. It was slightly odd, though Terra didn't think anything of it. She figured she would never see the pale, young doctor again.

After the clean bill of health it took another ten minutes for the first ambulance to pack up and leave.

"Stay healthy you two," the nice Paramedic, Susan, said as they left.

And then it was just Terra and Sarah standing alone before the dark porch of their house.

Sarah hadn't said much of anything the entire ordeal. In fact, all she had done, Terra realized, was watch from the porch. It didn't take too much longer for Terra to find out why.

When they got in the kitchen Sarah threw up all over the tile. She was wasted.

"Don't faint like that again. Get some sleep, damn it—making me call 911 and our parents... Good thing I got back from my party when I did. Good thing I didn't drive either." Sarah's words slurred slightly at parts and she chuckled afterward.

Terra closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers. Of course, Sarah had called 911 and their parents. Terra was lucky Sarah had even been sober enough to dial numbers in the phone at all, let alone assess the situation herself.

"Did you really have to call our parents?!" Terra didn't even care anymore, she had lost her composure. She was pissed. And overwhelmed.

Sarah inverted her chin in annoyance. "What's got your panties in a bun?" And then Sarah was lumbering up the stairs to her room, leaving Terra to clean up the puke.

As she mopped up the mess, she found her first opportunity to think alone.

What the heck was wrong with her necklace?

She couldn't believe she had passed out. And it was called Carynthia. It was real. It was really a place. And she had gone there again last night.

After finishing the floor, Terra headed upstairs to her room with a definitive air.

She took her necklace off her neck once more, but instead of stuffing it in her sock drawer, she zipped it up tightly in her favorite satchel. It was only the size of her fist and had a long shoulder strap that extended all the way down to her hip.

As she stuffed the silver chain and ring in her satchel, she also reached onto her dresser to retrieve Gran's letter, folding it up harshly and stuffing that in as well.

Maybe if she kept her necklace a little closer this time, it wouldn't disappear without her knowing.

She threw the satchel over her shoulder, then she breathed a sigh of relief and headed back downstairs.

After making sure the kitchen and her satchel were in order, Terra reluctantly picked up the kitchen phone and dialed the number for her mother's cell.

Her mom picked up almost immediately. The next half hour was spent by Terra trying to assuage her parents' concern and explain to them how she had been suffering from "exhaustion."

Her mother only replied by insisting she and Terra's dad would be home first thing in the morning.

a/n: She called the PARENTS? really? Doesn't she know that's, like, against sister code?

Let me know what you think:) Comments, Votes and Reads greatly appreciated:)

Chay