Chapter 36

What would a person do when they feel their world crushing on them? They feel trapped and desperate to find an escape. Often, they're mind is filled with thoughts like 'why?' 'what happened?' 'how did we come to this?' or 'and now?'.

This is exactly what Elsa is feeling right this moment.

In an instant her world radically changed: she found out she has people near, she met a person for whom she has deep feelings for.

She's simply not alone anymore.

Nevertheless, everything that happens always happens in an instant, and in an instant the world collapses on her: the past is back to torment her risking everything she has fought for.

She finds in a situation from where she doesn't know how to come out unscathed. She doesn't believe it's possible, she keeps thinking about the events that led her here in this office full of windows, but to her it's so dark. A part of her would like to take advantage of those open windows and run away; but she knows that's not appropriate and not possible since she's on the forth floor of a building in the middle of the city.

It's been two weeks since the accident between Anna and Hans happened: with a bit of persuasion Anna hadn't had to face any penal consequences.

Regarding Elsa, she's in a slightly different situation.

The office's door opens after 10 minutes of solitude for the blonde.

"Doctor Winters, sorry if we have let you wait." Two men appears in suits, one of them has a folder under his arm.

"No problem." Next to the woman Marshall and Kai sit down, they have entered the room after the two gentlemen.

"Perfect, now that everybody is here we can begin." The bearded man looks like the most authoritative of the two, he opens the folder and starts to leaf through the files.

"We are here today to discuss the events happened the last 5th of November: following a complication on Mr. Southerisland Hans healthcare it had been necessary to intervene surgically." At this point steps in the second man.

"It came to our attention that any contact with the patient was forbidden for you. Please, explain to us why you were in his room."

Elsa takes a deep breath and she answers him after glancing rapidly at Marshall who nods at her.

"I was doing my rounds when I heard some screams coming from a room, at the moment I didn't know it was his, the guards weren't outside. Once I entered I saw doctor Bijorman on the floor bleeding from the head and Mr. Southerisland was agitated. I tried to ask him what happened while I attended to my unconscious colleague. Nevertheless, he didn't answer me and, in a few moments, he started to have respiratory distress and I had to intervene." The woman takes a break to keep on track her emotions. "even if it was forbidden for me to interact with the patient, I took an oath as a doctor."

The two men nods. "Absolutely, no one doubts your dedication to the job. Anyone in your position would have acted the same. But, as you know, we must review the events step by step when it's about a person of interest." The bearded man looks at her carefully and adds "Especially considering your situation."

"Regardless my past with Mr. Southerisland, I'd never act against the well-being of a patient." At that point her hands come closer together in two fists: it's not clear to whom the anger is directed. "Once I made sure that the patient needed a emergency surgery I contacted doctor Summers. I informed him about the events and asked him to take my place during the surgery."

"Doctor Summers, please, tell us the following sequence of events."

Kai straightens up and begins. "After receiving the call on my pager, I immediately went to the OR. Dr. Winters was in front of the sink watching the nurses and the anesthesiologist prep the patient. She explained to me what happened and asked for me to take her place. I took the decision to assist her during the surgery since I was aware of the medical history and situation of Mr. Southerisland. The surgery was complicated, the poison ingested by the patient caused numerous problems to the organism, more than we initially thought. The cardiac muscle was completely damaged, and we had to put him on the transplant list. Without a new heart he would have made it through the night."

At that moment the two men review the papers in front of them: it was Hans' medical file.

"All right, now, please tell us step by step the procedures involved during the surgery. In details, please."

It's been half an hour, Marshal is listening to the two surgeons explaining their operations, the complications, the dosage of the drugs injected. The lawyer doesn't know almost anything about medicine and right now it's like they're talking alien, even if he knows Elsa since she was a child and he followed her during her studies, he's not able to understand everything they're saying. That's why after the first 10 minutes his mind starts to drift off. After all he knows well what happened, Elsa told him several times, that's a reason why he's worried for the blonde. He knows how difficult it was that day for her and he only wish everything will end soon.

'Elsa..'

The tension inside the office can be felt kilometers away by Anna and Gerda, who are waiting for news in a bar with a hot chocolate mug in front of them.

"Everything will be okay, darling." The mother smiles at the daughter, trying to give her some comfort.

Author's Note: Hi everyone!

Hope you'll enjoy this chapter, this is the one I wrote after the break. Sorry if it's a short one, the next one will be longer!

Have a nice day

Christy