Otis
My legs were hurting, I could feel the burning sensation of when you work yourself too hard with not enough energy and sustenance to cope with the demands on the body. I was cycling so hard, up hills, down hills, veering left and right. I think at some point I'd even managed to outpace a car. But all I knew was that I needed to get to the hospital as quickly as possible, in order to find out what the hell was going on, and what it was that Jakob couldn't tell me on the phone. I feared the worst about Mum, and I hoped to God nothing was wrong with her. But deep down I knew that it could only be something deeply wrong with either Mum or the baby for Jakob to have the kind of reaction that he did. And that's what hurt the most as my thoughts kept getting darker and darker as the hospital finally came into view in front of me.
Eric
I half-ran up the steps to get to my bike as quickly as possible. I knew that every second counted. I cycled as hard as I could, but soon my legs started to hurt, and I had to slow to a pace that I wasn't sweating profusely at.
'I really need to hit the gym more' I think to myself.
The slower pace allows me to think a little more clearly as I accept the fact that I won't reach Otis before he gets to the hospital. I just hope I can be there both with and for him. Especially given that he won't be able to get hold of Maeve for at least a few hours. How this bad stuff has managed to happen just as he finds something good in his life, I'll never be able to understand. I just hope whatever awaits him at the hospital isn't as bad as I fear.
Ola
Seeing him cry, on the steps of the hospital, my heart breaks every time I hear him sob. I hate seeing him like this. The man who's raised and protected me, reduced to tears. So vulnerable, so fragile. Eventually, once he manages to keep the sobbing to a minimum, I sit him down.
'What's going on?' I ask, my heart racing.
'Well…' he begins through clenched teeth.
As he starts this, I hear the hospital doors pushed violently and as I turn around, Otis staggers through, out of breath with tears in his eyes and a hugely worried look encompassing his face.
'Otis' I say. 'Are you okay?'
'Yeah' he manages to get out. 'Wh… what happened?'
'So' Dad begins again. 'There was something wrong with Jean, and the doctors were trying to stabilise her, and she lost consciousness, and they moved me outside but I heard the heartbeat monitor flatline, and they had to use defibrillators to bring her back. They're still doing tests and they'll have an update soon, but she almost died.
At this news, I can't think properly. But I'm forced to as I see Otis lose his balance and collapse to the floor, before seeing Eric rushing in, waving an inhaler shouting
'Give this to him!' on repeat.