ode to life | cameron dallas

Chapter 19 (2019)

**The science/medical terminology is entirely made up in this chapter. I don't want to give anything away, but I have no idea how [this stuff] really works. I am not educated in nursing, or this kind of science in any way. Enjoy! (:**

Roughly one year later, 2019

Denver

Ariel's fingers trembled on the steering wheel as sweat perspired her forehead and pressure blistered through her entire body. Her cheeks were wet of tears and her heart lurched so rapidly it frightened her. Worry overcame and possessed her body as she sped through Denver, dodging and cutting every vehicle in the way.

"Come on come on I need to fucking go I need to fucking be there I need to be there I need to be there fuck my fucking life," she babbled through threatening tears. She hit 80mph on a 55. It was almost dangerous. The state that Ariel was driving was far past safe but that didn't stop her. There was no time to make safety a priority. 90mph. She couldn't stop crying. She was crying since she heard the news that awoken her from her sleep. "Why couldn't I just stay there I should have stayed with them I should have stayed with them I'm so fucking stupid I hate myself I hate myself just let me fucking die." 100mph. There were honks coming from all sides of the street but Ariel didn't care. She had one goal. And it was to make it to her destination on time. 110mph. She entered the highway.

It was 10PM, and the traffic jam in highway I-225 was unbearable. She entered the traffic, causing her to brake instantly and go on the pace of the jam. The cars in front were hardly moving, causing Ariel to go lunatic.

"WILL THIS TRAFFIC FUCKING MOVE?!" Ariel bashed her palm against the steering wheel, the car honking as she cried. "MY BEST FRIEND IS FUCKING DYING RIGHT NOW AND I HAVE TO BE WITH HER!"

Ariel was sobbing pathetically. She was aware no one could hear her. It was just her, alone, in her vacant car.

She hugged the steering wheel, dug her face into her arms and weeped. "My best friend is fucking dying and I have to be with her right now," she repeated silently, this time to herself, weeping in the aching darkness.

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Forty minutes later

Ariel rushed into the hospital and ran to the nearest desk. "Hi, I'm looking for Grace Ocana, or Grace Chau? I'm not sure if she used her maiden name or not," she huffed, out of breath.

"Oh, this desk is only for check ins, you have to go to the next floor and--"

Ariel groaned, exasperated. "Just tell me which floor delivers the babies," she interrupted.

"That would be the fourth floor, ma'am." Without another word, Ariel dashed to the nearest elevator and navigated to the fourth floor.

She went to the nearest desk she saw and repeated what she had said to the previous desk lady until she heard Danny's voice calling her.

"Ariel!" He said. She looked up and immediately lunged into his arms, where they hugged each other tightly. He had been crying, too.

"Where is she?" Ariel asked, looking into Danny's wearily eyes as they both took a seat inside the waiting room.

"They transferred her into the emergancy room. They said her heart stopped pumping on the rate it was suppose to when she went into labour. The doctors say something this severe can end in a maternal death."

"But when I left, I thought she was already contracting. The baby was a quarter way through. Of course, unless that meant--"

Danny nodded his head. "The baby died in her womb," he mumbled finishing her sentence. Suddenly, he held his fingers to his eyes trying to restrain the tears that inevitably rolled down his cheeks.

"Oh God, Danny, I'm so sorry," Ariel said, pulling his head onto her shoulder for comfort.

"I just can't stop thinking of the day I came home from work and she was there smiling at me with a pregnancy test in her hands. It read positive, and you should have seen us. We were dancing all over the apartment. We popped a bottle of champagne to celebrate. It was our fifth attempt, you know. Fifth," he said. "I was just so fucking happy, Ariel. I was finally going to have a child and start a family with the love of my life. When the doctors told us we were going to have a girl, my heart just fucking melted. We already planned her name, piano lessons, singing lessons, no boys until highschool rules and all that. It's stupid, cause she didn't even exist yet but, fuck, we were just so excited. And it just breaks my fuckin' heart knowing that my little girl died before she could even experience any of it," Danny weeped. "And knowing there's a chance that Grace, my wife, my bestfriend since childhood, the love of my life, might die too," Danny paused. "I might as well just fucking die, too."

Ariel couldn't fetch the right words to say back. Ariel couldn't respond to that. No one could have responded to that.

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One hour later

The doctor came out of the Emergancy Room and walked steadily to Danny and Ariel. They had fallen asleep on the waiting room chairs, so he gently nudged them awake.

"Hi, I apologize for awaking you two but you guys are here for Mrs. Ocana, yes?"

"Yes, yes we are," Danny said half asleep yet attentively. Ariel had gotten up in her chair as well.

"I'm Dr. Lance," he said as he shook both of their hands.

"Danny."

"Ariel."

"Are you two family to Mrs. Ocana?"

"Yes I'm her husband, and she's basically her sister," Danny rambled. "Is she okay?"

"Danny, Ariel," Mr. Lance spoke sentimentality. "My team and I did the best we could, but I am so sorry to inform you that Grace has passed away due to maternal malfunctions."

The world went in spirals after that. Dr. Lance continued to explain what had happened and how it happened but Ariel and Danny didn't care for it. They had lost a significant person in their life and that was the bottom line.

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Ariel and Danny went home that night. Ariel offered a spot in her loft for Danny to spend the night and even stay for a couple of days in case their apartment had reminded him too much of Grace, but he kindly declined the offer. He claimed he needed to be alone.

But Ariel couldn't go through this alone. She was never good at coping with loss by herself. She yearned and desired for comfort and since one of the two people she would usually go to had just died, she resorted to the other one.

It was 3AM now and she was sprawled out across her bed in despair. She reached for her cellphone that charged in her bedside table and dialed Cameron's number.