Write Yourself Alive

Day 6- For a Reason

Day 6: Start your story with "He glanced at his watch impatiently..." 

______________________________________________________________

He glanced at his watch impatiently, his wife was supposed to be here over an hour ago, but she was nowhere in sight. He had been suspecting that she was cheating for over a month, and they have only been married for a year.

            Suddenly his ring tone sounds through the restaurant. Every one turns away from their fancy dinner and expensive wine to stare at the poorly dressed man, with the annoying the phone. Reece, grabs his jacket off the back of the chair, and races towards the door.

            You could hear his waiter chasing after him saying “Sir you must pay for the water you ordered.”

            The waiter finally, stopped chasing Reece two blocks down the road. Reece then leans against the brick building and catches his breath, before redialing the number that called him three times.

             “Hello, is this Mr. Becker?”

            “Yes.” Reece breathes. “Who is this?”

            “My name is Ruth Greer. I am an EMT with Preston Hospital in downtown Seattle.”

            “Okay, why are you calling me?” Reece questions.

            “I am sorry to be the person telling you this, Mr. Becker but your wife has just been rushed to the ICU.” Greer pauses for a second to gauge Reece’s reaction before he continues talking. “I highly advice you to head over to Preston Hospital as soon as you can.”

            “What happened? Will she live? How do you know it’s my wife?” Reece shoots out question after question. He is bridging on hysterical.

            “Mr. Becker calm down. I am going to have you take three deep breaths and then I will answer all of your questions.” Reece does as she says and after he lets out the third breath, Ruth begins to answer him. “She was driving on the highway, and she slid on black ice. Her car spun out of control into the barrier. When I left her with the doctor, her vitals looked good. As for knowing if it is your wife or not, we found her drivers license in her wallet, you are listed as the emergency contact on her phone.”

            Reece suddenly breaks down. “I have no way to get to the hospital. No way to pay for medical bills. I am a starving author for petes sake. What am I going to do?”

            “Mr. Becker I need you to take three deep breaths again. Now, tell me where are you.”

            Reece composed himself and looks across the street at the flashing sign that is supposed to read Marty’s Bar, but instead it reads Mar Ba, because there are letters in both words that no longer light up. “I am currently standing across the street form Marty’s on 7th.” Reece tells Dustin Nunez.

            “Okay Mr. Becker, wait there. I will be there soon.”

            Then minutes later, a white range rover pulls up to the curve. A tall woman jumps out and approaches Reece, who is huddled in a ball on the sidewalk.

            “Mr. Becker, I am Ruth Greer. I just got off duty and if you would like, I am able to take you to the hospital.” She stretches out her hand to him, and Reece grabs on. She pulls him to his feet, and leads him to the passenger side of the range rover. Reece climbs in as Ruth runs around to the other side.

            The ride to the hospital is silent. Neither Reece nor Ruth are open to conversation. When they arrive, she escorts him up to ICU, and stands with him as his wife’s doctor tells Reece the terrible news. Reece breaks down crying and actually crumples into a ball on the floor.

            Ruth has no other option than to stay and comfort the poor man who found out that he just lost his wife, and his unborn child. Time passes, but neither seems to notice the sun rising outside the window. Life goes on outside the ICU, and people wake up to begin their normal, daily routine. But, Reece will no longer be able to carry out his routine. He no longer has the person who, made his world bearable.

            Later on, the next day, when nurses finally make him leave the hallway. Reece returns home, and immediately walks to his bathroom, and locks himself in the bathroom.

            Ruth, being the person that drove him home, follows him upstairs, and settles herself on the couch. She falls asleep there, and wakes up with a blanket covering her. Reece is sitting in the armchair, with a cup of steaming coffee, staring at her.

            “Ruth, thank you, for everything, but you need to leave. Now.” He stands up and walks towards the kitchen. Again, she follows him, just to make sure he is okay. In the kitchen he dumps his full cup of coffee into the kitchen sink, then begins to make himself another. “Ruth I know that you are still here and it is not okay. I really need you to leave me to mourn my wife, alone.”

            Ruth nods her head and walks to the door. As she shuts it quietly behind her, Reece begins to scream at the top of his lungs. Ruth walks down the stairs, with her head down, and tears pouring out of her eyes.

            Reece continues living as if he never knew her, but Ruth checks up on him from time to time. She drives past his house, or slides an envelope with money under his door every once in a while.

            Reece never understood what was happening, but the day his wife’s hospital bill comes in the mail, with the amount owed and the amount paid he couldn’t believe his eyes. He knew at that exact moment, that Ruth was his saving grace.

He always strongly believe that everything happens for a reason, and he then realized that maybe he was supposed to meet Ruth, because she is meant to be in his life.