❤︎ Anjali ❤︎
The red light hypnotizes me. I stare at the red light in front of me. I don't know why I am doing it. Then a hand rests on my right shoulder, and I look up in the direction of a warm hand. It is the hand of Leo's mother, Joanne. She looks at me as if she is looking at a little girl. Then she holds me in her arms without whispering a word.
We keep waiting for the red light to turn off. It is the light in front of the emergency room where Leo was brought in a few hours ago. As long as the operation continues, the red light keeps on illuminating. All of us keep on staring at the light.
When I was weeping while holding Leo in my arms, Joanne rushed toward us with her Jeep. She was observing us at the entrance of the cemetery from a distance. She felt something wasn't going right, and her instinct took over her.
As soon as she approached me, she told me to be strong and grabbed Leo from behind. She asked me to hold his legs, and we brought him in the car. She knew that it was a life or death situation. So she drove her Jeep as fast as she could to get to the hospital.
Leo was urgently brought into one of the emergency rooms to be operated on. Two hours have passed ever since, and Leo's father arrived at our side, then Beth's parents soon after. When the tension is mounting to the maximum, Beth's mother, Kate, utters the words with disbelief.
"This is too much!"
"Wow, this is just like, when Beth had a car accident before their marriage. Now, it is Leo who has to suffer. I don't get it. Why God has to punish them again? Why?"
I don't understand it, either, but I am not ready to let Leo out of my life again. I pray. I keep praying with all my heart.
Suddenly, the red lamp stops illuminating, and a surgeon walks out of the room. All of our attention goes to him, and we are patiently waiting for him to announce his final verdict. He glances at us with an intense gaze. He opens his mouth.
"Well, Mr. White swallowed the dangerous amount of a poisonous plant called Atropa Belladonna."
"It is also called Deadly Nightshade. It's a rare plant and deadly dangerous. The ingestion of ten berries would be toxic to an adult and two to three for a child. When Mr. White was brought in, he was already in a state of coma."
"It might have been too late, but we applied activated charcoal for gastrointestinal decontamination. Physostigmine was also used as an antidote. His state hasn't changed, and we don't know when he will be out of the coma."
"We will move him to the intensive care unit this evening, and we will monitor him twenty-four seven. I am very sorry to say that I can't tell you more, because I have no further information. This is all I know."
I call my mother and professor Waxman to let them know what happened to Leo and tell them that I am not coming back soon. They understand my situation and ask me if I need anything to send to Weatherford.
I end up staying at Davis' and sleep on the bed where Beth slept. It makes me feel so comfortable, as if I always slept there. Mr. and Mrs. Davis treat me as if their daughter has come back home.
After breakfast, Kate drives me to the hospital, where I stay all day long until the visitation hour ends. I hold Leo's hand and talk to him all day long as if he is listening to me. I caress his sleeping face with my fingers once in a while.
One week passes, and there is no sign of improvement. Two weeks pass, and there is no change in his situation. Three weeks pass, and I detect some changes in the nurse's attitude towards me. When they salute me, their eyes are full of sorrow for me. Their gaze tells me.
"Poor girl! Her fiancée will never wake up from the coma. She doesn't know it, but we have seen so many cases just like her."
All I can do is pray. I can't lose hope at this moment; otherwise, I will crumble. I pray and pray whenever I am alone. This is all I can do. I need to stay strong.
One afternoon, I dose off while holding Leo's hand. A strange sound wakes me up, and I look towards the direction of the noise. Electrocardiography right next to the bed is indicating the abnormality in Leo's heart. I scream for help.
"Someone! Please come here! Something wrong with my fiancée! Please!"
A nurse rushes into our room and looks at the screen. She quickly assesses the situation and tells me.
"His heart rate is slowing down quickly. I need to treat him with a defibrillator right away until the doctor becomes available."
Other nurses rush into the room, and everyone is moving so efficiently to save his life. I am frozen with fear. When everything is going the wrong way, a nurse takes my hand to calm me down. She tells me.
"He will be fine! He will be fine!"
Soon after, the green wave, which indicates the heartbeat, on the electrocardiography stops completely.
There is no sign of his heartbeats.
I feel a strong grip of the nurse clutching my hand.
The fear overwhelms me, and I fall on the floor.
At that moment, I knew I lost the most important love of my life.
YOU ARE READING
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Romance"Remember me." "When I come back to you, please remember me." While Leo is waiting for his bride at the altar, Beth has a car accident on the way to the church and dies whispering some mysterious words. They just graduated from high school in Weath...
