Author's Note: Medical Investigation characters will continue to be in the next few characters. I don't own them either.
Chapter 3
"Flat Line"
Auggie wanted nothing more than to hold Annie's hand. To let her know that he was there. To confirm for himself that she was there. He couldn't get a sense of her being right now. He of course, couldn't see her. This simple act had been robbed from him in Iraq five years ago. He had never seen Annie and yet he knew exactly what she looked like. He couldn't smell her either, the person lying in the bed smelled of sweat, drugs, and chemicals-not at all what Annie usually smelled like. He couldn't touch her because apparently that would risk his own health. The only thing he could do was talk to her and hope she woke to hear him.
"Hey Walker, you gave me quite the scare there. Sorry I haven't been up before now to see you, the doctors are going to help you feel better. Dr. McCabe seems pretty nice, although he sounds really young; he seems passionate about his work. He said there are other patients with your symptoms here too. I don't know how many exactly. Annie, please wake up so I can hear your voice. They told me I can't touch you right now since they don't know if you're contagious or not." Auggie sat next to the bed, knees touching it with his elbows on his knees. His hands were clasped together so that he was not tempted to reach out and touch her. He didn't usually feel helpless anymore, but right now, he certainly did.
As he continued to sit there he listened to her breathing. It was stronger than it had been, but not her normal breathing either. Hearing the steady beating of her heart on the monitor, he wondered just what kind of illness Annie could possibly have. As he listen, he heard other heart monitors in the room indicating that other patients were also still hanging on to life. He again questioned to himself how many patients there might be here.
Auggie heard Annie shift on the bed and hoped that meant she was waking up. "Annie?" Auggie said hoping she was awake.
"I'm not going to tell you again." Annie mumbled.
"What was that Walker?" Auggie asked, uncertain if he had heard her correctly.
"Leave me alone, you're not going to break me." Annie said.
"Annie, its Auggie. You're safe. You're in the hospital. No one wants to break you."
"Auggie? What kind of name is that?" Annie said, looking straight at Auggie.
"You don't remember me?" Auggie said stunned.
"Leave me alone! I'm not going to tell you anything. My daddy will beat you up if you touch me again." Annie exclaimed, getting Miles' attention.
Coming over to her bed side, Dr. McCabe checked her temperature. "105 and climbing." He said to no one in particular. "Annie, I'm your doctor. I need you to focus. Tell me, have you been to Africa lately?
"I don't know." She said. "Can you make the pain stop?" Annie said bringing her hands to her head.
"I'll do my best. Annie, is your neck stiff and sore?"
"Yes." She said as she laid her head down again. "Just make it stop. Please." She mumbled as she once again lost consciousness.
"Doctor, what's wrong with her? Why doesn't she know who I am? Can you help her?" Auggie asked desperate, not even knowing if the doctor was still there for sure.
"Mr. Anderson, we will do everything we can for her. Has she been to Africa lately?"
"Please call me Auggie. Yes she was in Africa last week, I can't tell you any more than that. I don't know what part of Africa she was at or anything." Auggie lied; hoping just knowing she had been to Africa would be enough to help the doctors. He wasn't authorized to tell them anything about the detail of Annie's mission.
"That's okay, I think I know what this is. I need a lumbar puncture to confirm. Will you consent to the procedure?"
"Of course, anything you need. What do you think it is?"
"Possibly meningitis. The confusion, headache, high fever, and stiff neck all point to it. Annie has been the only patient to be able to give us enough information for us to put it all together."
"If it is meningitis, what's Annie's prognosis?" Auggie asked. Miles walked over and put his hand on Auggie's shoulder.
"I will be honest with you Auggie, if it is meningitis; we have to know the source to know specifically what medicine to give her. There are multiple strains of meningitis and they all affect the brain differently. It's unlikely that there won't be some long term effects for her though."
"What kind of effects?" Auggie asked worried.
"We can go over those once we know for sure that is what she has. I don't want to worry you unnecessarily. We're doing all we can do for her right now." Dr. McCabe answered. "Let me take you to the waiting room, or if you prefer, you can wait just outside of the ICU where there are a few chairs."
"I want to be as close to her as you'll let me be. I need to be with her." Auggie stated simply.
"Okay. Right this way." Miles said as he offered Auggie his arm. Auggie kept his cane diagonally in front of his body.
As Auggie heard the swish of the door opening in front of him he heard someone behind him say "We need a crash cart here Dr. McCabe!"
Miles gently pushed Auggie to the side as he quickly grabbed the nearby cart. Another swish of the door and hiss as it closed again. Auggie simply stood where he was. He didn't know exactly where he was or what was going on. All he knew for certain was someone in the ICU needed a crash cart. Worst of all, he had no way of knowing whether it was Annie or not.
As he strained his ears to listen, he heard the chatter of the commotion coming from inside.
"We're going to lose her." Auggie heard a nurse say. "Not if I can help it!" Dr. McCabe said, sinking Auggie's heart. Auggie had no way of knowing if there were any other patients that were female in the ICU or not. He couldn't tell by the chaos if it was coming from where Annie was or somewhere else.
As Auggie listened, he heard the whirl of the crash cart and the pounding of the paddles against someone's chest. And, worst of all, the continued sound of a flat line on the heart monitor. The process continued for several minutes, but Auggie never heard the heart monitor beep indicating life. He only heard the continued flat line. Someone had just lost their battle with whatever this illness was. His biggest fear was being realized as he tried not to face the fact that there was a high probability that Annie had just died or that she might. As he stood there by the ICU entrance he couldn't bring himself to move. The constant signal of the flat line on the heart monitor still blared in his ears, he had to know if it was Annie or not.
Authors Note: Just like you'd clap or boo for the concert you just sat through, please review my writing as you read it. I'm not above saying, I really do NEED to hear from you each chapter so I know your comments, likes/dislikes, and expectations for future chapters.