Chapter 45 – The man in E.R.

Dean Stanton had been killed by one of the inmates in A-block. The guy had stabbed him in the throat and Dean had bled to death, before anyone could help him. He had left behind his wife and three small children, the youngest one not even two years of age.

Ellie had learned that death was inevitable and natural, but Dean's murder was none of those things. This was nothing but pain. She couldn't even begin to imagine how hard it had been for Anna to lose the one person, she had looked forward to grow old with. To raise her children with. To love, to laugh and cry with.

The bare cogitation of losing Brutus the same way, was beyond unbearable. Ellie felt like an arse, when she looked at him and thought, I'm so glad it wasn't you...

"This is one of those times, when you start to doubt the existence of a higher power, isn't it?"

Ellie nearly jumped, when Brutus without warning started talking in the darkness. He hadn't said a word since they went to bed. She had been certain he had already fallen asleep.

"Yes," she whispered.

"A God would never do such a thing," Brutus muttered. "Not unless he was a sick bastard."

"God or not, horrible things happens," Ellie said quietly. "And there's nothing we can do about it."

Brutus said nothing. Ellie looked at him. She could see the outline of his shoulders against the darkness outside. He was facing the bedroom window and had his back turned to her. Ellie inched forward and with her arms around his chest, she hugged him hard. She didn't know what else to do. Brutus didn't say anything, but at least he didn't move away from her.

oOo

She had gotten a new job at the local hospital shortly after her and Brutus had been married. It was smaller than Skt. Stephen, but she liked it. It felt more homely, even today when there was trouble in E.R. due to a homeless man, who refused treatment. Ellie could hear him roar his anger out, when she rushed down to corridor, summoned as assistance. The young nurse in training, Mary, that followed in her heels, looked nervous.

"It all right," Ellie assured her. "We'll just need to calm him down. He can win over three nurses and a doctor, surely."

Mary didn't look to convinced. When they arrived in E.R. the man had jumped up on the bed and doctor Fleming and head nurse Simmons, looked both worried and annoyed, as he roared at them. None of what he said, made any sense. He had probably taken something. His pupils were huge and there was a manic look on his face. The fear and anger in his eyes, were clear and undisguised as in a child.

"I don' wan' ya near me!" he yelled. "No. NO! Dirty... filthy... GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"What's wrong with him?" Ellie asked the older nurse.

"Gangrene in several toes and a nasty cut in his hand, but he won't let us near him. I not sure what he's taken, but he's clearly delirious."

"Be ready to hold his arms, when I tackle him," doctor Fleming called from the other side. Ellie nearly smiled: he was young and he had a admirable way of going to the extremes with his patients where other doctors would have thrown in the towel long ago.

"I've prepared the diazepam," Simmons said. "We just need to hold him still."

"1-2-3," Fleming mimed from the other side and threw himself at the angry man. The man lost his balance and the nurses rushed forward and grabbed hold of him. Together they wrestle him down on the bed and Simmons injected the sedative in one of his skinny arms.

The man tossed and turned beneath them. He was surprisingly strong. Froth flew from his mouth as he cursed at them.

"Geoffme!" the man roared and jolted like a trapped animal. He started tearing at his jacket, screaming out unintelligible words. Mary looked shocked.

"Give it a moment. He'll calm down!"

"Sir, please. Lie still! We need to..."

Sharp metal flashed in the bright ceiling light and Ellie felt an excruciation pain in her right side. Someone screamed. The man's eyes, dilated in fury, confusion and fear, clinched into Ellie's as she stumbled backwards. He was still clinging on to the knife for dear life, as it slid out of Ellie's abdomen, covered in blood.