Her Vocation

8. The Accident

We were walking along the roadside when we spotted a crowd in the middle of the road. Before I could say anything, Hadi was already running towards it. I followed his lead,  quickly making my way towards the crowd and pushed through. The first thing I noticed was a wailing woman on the ground holding a bloody child, not more than 3 or 4 year old to her chest. I could feel the blood draining from my face at the sight and a cold shiver ran down my spine. Immediately taking hold of my senses, I dropped down on the ground next to the woman.

I tried pulling the child away from her but she didn't budge. Taking hold of his wrist, I checked for pulse which was weak but still there. I turned to Hadi but he was looking at the mother with a hard face. 

"CAPTAIN!!"I shouted which brought his attention to me. 

"GET HER OUT OF THE WAY AND CALL FOR AMBULANCE!" I screamed through the wailing of the mother and the noise of crowd. He gaped at me with an open mouth for a moment but then obliged. He ripped the woman's hold off of the child who then lunged for her baby but was dragged away by Hadi. He handed the mother over to some other women who were reassuring her and trying to calm her or atleast hold her down.

Carefully laying the child flat on the ground, I assessed his condition before placing him in a sniffing position using my  jacket as a support. I nudged him for response, but he remained unresponsive. His breathing seemed to be noisy with infrequent gasps and there were signs of distress. I suspected broken ribs but in this situation there wasn't much else I could do but monitor him, until the ambulance arrived  or his condition worsened.

Assessing the extent of his injury, I noticed a gash on his head from which he was bleeding profusely. Taking off my muffler, I pressed it against his head and  checked for his breathing which was faint but still there. His mouth was cut and he had other minor injuries.

I continued to sit there with my hands pressed against his head. Hadi had pushed away the crowd to give me room to work.

"How much longer before the ambulance arrives?''I asked Hadi who was sitting besides me. He had removed his jacket and covered the child with it.

He was about to answer when we heard the Ambulance's siren in the distance. After safely getting him into the ambulance with his mother, I stood there with Hadi staring into the space, where the ambulance was moments ago.

"I hope he is okay." I remarked slowly, closing my eyes.

''You did good.'' On hearing those words, my my eyes snapped open and caught him looking at me with a soft smile and warm eyes. I felt my heart skip a beat and averted my gaze quickly.

"I have to stop by somewhere. You should head back first." He remarked slowly.

Even though, he wanted me to take a taxi, I declined. Right now, I could use some walk. So, I forced him to leave me and go ahead.

I silently kept walking towards the house with my head down. It was starting to get dark now. I tried not to think too much about his scent wafting from his jacket, which he made me wear forcefully, because mine was blood stained.

While I was immersed in these thoughts, I didn't hear someone come behind me. I was still walking with my eyes downcast but stopped in my tracks when, someone came in front of me and blocked my way. I looked up to find the guy from before standing infront of me. However, this time there were only 2 of them. I glanced around to make sure there were enough people, so they don't attempt anything but unfortunately this path was deserted and that's exactly why they chose this place and time.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have, here.'' He remarked with an ear piercing laugh which was joined by the other jerk. I glared at them through gritted teeth, before moving past them. But they blocked my path again.