Chapter 29- We Pray

I didn't think it was possible for time to move so quickly and so slowly all at the same time.

I'd been through this before, my brain kept telling me. I'd watched him get sick, I'd brought him to hospital, I'd stood unable to move as nameless faces worked on his unmoving body.

But this time was different.

Because this time I knew would be the last time. I knew this was it. This was the inevitable fall we had all been dreading.

This was the last time he was rushed into hospital. The only thing I didn't know, is if he would walk back out again.

ICU rooms and really quite silent. There aren't beeping and whirring machines like there are in movies. There isn't any distraction from the horror of what's going on. It didn't take long for the ER to get him stable and send him up here, I guess that was a good thing.

The pretty blue dress that had long ago been forgotten about, dragged along the floor, stained with tears and eye make up, ripped and ruined. Silly things like that seemed to pale in comparison to what my eyes were taking in before me.

He wasn't breathing on his own. There was a tube down his throat forcing air into his lungs.

His kidneys were gone. Familiar tubes of blood were snaking in and out of his left arm.

His liver wasn't functioning.

His heart was struggling to beat.

His blood had turned to acid.

Even if a miracle happened now, it might be too late.

Suddenly my mind shifted to a time so many years ago. My brothers and I had been walking through the woods and we'd come across a cat. A poor little thing that had been attacked by something, his flesh was torn and blood had matted his fur. Emmett carried him back to the house, our daddy was a doctor…he could help. My dad cleaned the cat up and bandaged its wounds but it just wasn't enough. After so long of looking after the poor thing my dad just stopped. "What now daddy?" I had asked. My daddy was a doctor, he saved people, he could do anything. He turned to me and picked me up into his arms. I remember the feel of his hair on my cheek as he leaned in and whispered into my ear.

"We pray."


Authors note: I know it's short, it was meant to be an intro but after writing it I just felt like it was a stand along chapter. Stay tuned for more to come!