Jonah flinched as he woke up to the ringing of a phone next to the bed. He winced at the clock. 3am…who would be calling at this time? Then he remembered Maya and the hospital. He grabbed the phone from the cradle and answered.
"Jonah Kirby."
"Mr Kirby. This is Diane from the Isolation Ward."
Jonah's heart suck at what seemed to be confirmation of his worst fear. He could only manage one word. "Maya."
The woman carried on. "I'm sorry Mr Kirby, but Maya has had a drastic decline in the past two hours. I have been told to recommend you and your wife that you come to the hospital."
Jonah swallowed down the lump in his throat. Crying would not help anyone. He found himself nodding. Stupid really since the person on the phone couldn't see him. "How long do you think…" Jonah couldn't finish the sentence.
It didn't matter, the woman knew what he was asking. "As soon as you can Mr Kirby. Some people like to phone a priest."
The cold realisation of what he was being told drained any life left in Jonah away. He looked over to Cesca. She was sleeping for the first time in days, and he was sure he could see a smile across her face…how was he meant to tell her. However he knew that he had to. He said goodbye to the woman on the phone and started gently waking Cesca.
Cesca felt herself being dragged from a near perfect dream. She was on a warm beach with Jonah. They sat drinking cocktails while their little boy and Maya were playing in the water…she opened her eyes and saw Jonah looking down at her. Only one look deep in his was needed before she understood. Maya.
…
Jonah and Cesca rushed around the corner to the isolation ward. Cesca didn't care about the protocol any more, instead she rushed towards the door and attempted to push it open. To her utter frustration she noticed the numerical lock to the right hand side. She banged the door with her fist in frustration before collapsing in floods of tears.
The doctor seeing what was happening come over to the stricken couple. "I'm sorry Jonah, Cesca. We can't let you in there, they are fighting the infection and we can't risk anything else going wrong."
Cesca looked at him through her tear stained eyes. "We have just had a phonecall telling us that there was a large chance our daughter would die tonight. If you honestly think that I am going to stand outside and watch rather than hold her hand then you have another thing coming."
Jonah reached out a hand. He knew that Cesca was upset, so was he, but he wasn't sure that threatening the doctors was going to get them any closer to Maya. "Doctor, we understand what they are doing, however if there is a chance that Maya is going to…" Jonah couldn't get the word out, he couldn't find it in himself to admit that there was a chance the may lose her. "Anyway, we would prefer to be with Maya and comfort her…we've been away from her over a week."
The doctor looked at the couple. He knew that they had lost a baby only three months ago. God only knew that they didn't deserve this. It was all that he could do to give them some time with their daughter. He looked towards them and nodded. "I can give you ten minutes in there. However you must leave after ten minutes." He led them into the ward.
Cesca held back her fright at seeing Maya on the bed with a selection of tubes and lines in each arm. Instead she slipped one of her hands around her daughters and held it. She knew that Maya was slipping in and out of consciousness, but she knew that she could feel her there. Jonah did the same the other side. They didn't need to say anything, being there meant everything. Suddenly every monitor in the room started beeping and both Jonah and Cesca felt Maya's hands fall away. Before they realised they were being bundled to the side and a trolley like one seen on TV was being pulled to Maya's bedside, before they were guided out of the room the last thing they heard was. "She's gone into cardiac arrest. Charge to 200."