An Outsider's Call

71

SAWYER

I feel my forehead, feeling like I'm about to vomit, until I realize I am. I cover my mouth, frantically looking around for something to throw up in. I look over at the sink on the countertop, and bolt over to it.

Vomit slides out of my mouth, making me cough it up in the sink. I feel Eli come up beside me, holding my hair back as I continue to throw up. I turn on the faucet, washing it away as I hover over the sink.

"Is that another symptom?" I mumble to Emily.

"Um... no. You're probably just stressed." says Emily. I scoff, annoyed as I sit up. Eli holds onto me, walking me back to one of the Chairs where the defibrillator is.

I am stressed though. My heart is pounding and is about to stop in a matter of minutes. I can't not be calm.

I sit down, taking off my tank top as Eli helps me place the pads on my body. One below the right of my collarbone, and the other on my left rib cage.

"You okay?" he asks as we both stand up. I look up at the bar in fear, my eyes widening.

I look behind me, hearing the door open. Lim walks through, but not Laura. She walked out of here because she was getting worried, but she's not back yet.

"Where's Laura?" I ask Lim. Lim purses his lips, and goes up to me.

"She said she couldn't watch this. She's not coming," says Lim. A pit of sadness sinks in my stomach as I slump my shoulders in disappointment. Lim puts his hand on my shoulder sympathetically. I look up at him, trying to smile.

"You should go be there for her," I say. He looks at me, giving me a look. I smirk at him. "It was pretty obvious. You both walked out of the same room the next morning."

He nods, smiling, giving me that one. Laura is bad at hiding her emotions. She couldn't stop smiling the morning after, I've known since the day after they did it.

"She wanted me to tell you something though," he says. I look at him, listening in. "She loves you so much. She's so grateful for you to be a daughter to her."

I smile, nodding, getting tears in my eyes. I look up at him.

"Just... be good to her. She deserves it." I say. He nods. He pats my shoulder, and leaves the room.

He'll sure make a good replacement for a father. Laura is so lucky.

"Are you ready, Sawyer?" comes Emily's soft voice. I turn around, seeing that Emily has got a ten minute timer ready for the defibrillator to go off. I wake myself up, trying to focus, knowing this is serious.

"Yeah..." I say, going over to the bar. The bar is over a foot out of my reach. I breathe, my breaths feeling heavy and thick. I have the strength to do dozens of pull ups, but for ten minutes straight it will be rough.

The monitor from the Chair tracks my heart rate, low beeps beeping along.

"We will wait until the timer runs out, and it is set to shock you and flatline. Eli will catch you, put you to the floor, and we wait ten seconds so the cerebellum has time to repair itself. We shock you again, and you're expected to wake up." says Emily. I nod, knowing this is for real. This is happening.