Give Me Courage (Give Me Series #4)

33 - Time of Death

The world moved in slow motion as the red lights of the ambulance bounced off the white walls of Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital. The sirens sounded muffled in my ears compared to their usual shrill whistle they gave off.

There was a deep unsettling feeling that built within the pit of my stomach then spread through the rest of my body resembling an ocean waved when I was forced to call an ambulance for Scott. The action played tricks on my mind, despite knowing Scott was fine and this was part of the plan. Panic swelled inside of my chest when the paramedics placed Scott's unconscious body onto the stretcher.

Isaac and I played our parts; the deeply concerned friends, worried about their Scott's safety and health. The paramedics allowed one of us to join Scott in the ambulance and I climbed inside of the cabin before the man finished his sentence. The man seemed less than thrilled about my decision to join him in the cabin, considering out of the two of us, I was the one sobbing hysterically.

The tears were simply for show to convince everyone of importance that Scott's death was real. The fear held within my mind about his death potentially becoming inevitable was transformed into the large teardrops that flooded from my eyes. We needed to make this as believable as possible.

All of this would be for nothing if the Benefactor didn't show up.

The cabin doors of the ambulance swung open seconds after the vehicle parked near the entrance of the emergency room. Nurses raced out of the motion sensor doors to the ambulance, prepared to assess the situation.

The paramedic ushered me out of the ambulance as he worked to help lift the stretcher to the ground with aid from the other paramedic. I stumbled a few feet away and gave them enough space to work before I rushed forward to return to his side.

"Move, move, move!" The female nurse encouraged the other nurse and paramedics as they rushed toward the emergency room.

"Miss, you can't—"

I blatantly ignored the blonde nurse as I raced past her. Cold air blew across my face when we passed through the threshold and into the main hallway of the emergency room. The other nurses and paramedics ignored my presence next to them with Scott's limp hand held between both of mine. Choked sobs broke past my lips followed by whispered pleas directed toward Scott's unconscious figure.

"We need an EKG!"

"Come on, Scott," I softly cried.

"Chloe?"

The familiar voice took me by surprise until I remembered we were at his place of work. Liam's stepfather, Dr. Geyer, jogged across the hallway with a panicked look washed over his face. His eyes shifted from my distraught face to the person's hand I held on the stretcher. A brief moment of relief passed through is face when he realized Liam wasn't on the stretcher like he feared.

My chin wobbled as we locked eyes when he reached the stretcher. "I-I don't know what happened," I cried and glimpsed at Scott's body as the nurses worked to keep him alive. "He just- He just—"

Dr. Geyer gestured at another nurse nearby and nodded at me. "Garrett, I need you to take Chloe to the waiting room," he instructed the male nurse.

"What? No!" I cried out when the nurse rose his arm in front of my body to stop me.

"He's flat-lining!"

"Get him to trauma two! Start another IV," Dr. Geyer ordered.

The stretcher speedily moved through the rest of emergency room to an empty room. Garrett, roughly in his early thirties, attempted to usher me out of the hallway and to the waiting room. His mouth moved to form words, yet my brain couldn't properly hear them as I used all of my energy to control the tears that weeped out of my eyes.