Mechanical Heart

Chapter 8: Everything Shatters

        I desperately could not wait to get to work the next day. I couldn’t predict if there was going to be another missing employee, or if there was going to be resolve for once. I didn’t see Hunter in school much of that day. We passed by each other in the halls a couple of times, but when we did, he had a sly smile across his face. It was as though he was planning something... but I didn’t exactly know what it was.

        I quickly drove to work after school, but not so fast that I got stopped by the police. I also had to keep in mind that the roads were slippery from ice. On my way there, an ambulance had passed me going pretty fast. I didn’t think anything of it and I still continued to Freddy’s. I wasn’t going to let anything stand in my way.

        Oh no… What happened?! I thought as I pulled into the parking lot. The same ambulance was parked right at the intersection across from Freddy’s. I caught sight of some of the other employees over at the intersection. They were standing next to a completely wrecked car. It seemed to have swerved and slammed into the guard rail on the side of the road. I quickly got out of my car and ran over to the others. Upon closer inspection of the car I realized it kind of looked like…

        “NO! Get her out of here right now!” One of the assistant managers yelled to the others.

        I was completely overtaken as two of the chefs had come over to grab me and pull me away from the scene. I struggled and tried to keep my footing on the pavement as I levitated backwards. I yelled to the others questioning what was going on, but all they did was look at me pitifully. Once I was nearly dragged to a safe distance, the chefs just kept me there and told me to stay where I was. I tried to ask them questions but they would not answer any of them. They just looked away and ignored me. After a few minutes one of the waitresses who I barely knew came over. She was giving me a sad look but didn’t begin to speak until I first said something.

        “Is anyone going to finally tell me what’s going o-…?” I was cut off by her before I finished my sentence.

        “Kim, it’s Hunter.” She muttered while looking at me with glassy eyes.

        The shock did not hit me at first. I was frozen in place on that single square on the sidewalk. The emotions suddenly hit me all at once. Sadness, hatred, regret, confusion; they all contributed to my sudden outburst which was going to take place in a second.

        “I’m sorry, Kim.” But when she said that, I had already pushed passed her sprinting down the road toward the car.

        “NOOO, HUNTER!” I screamed tears rushing down my face. I saw the medics lifting his unconscious body into the ambulance. He was wrapped up on a gurney with an oxygen mask on his face. The only reason I could tell it was him was from his red hair, but it was a deeper red than usual. As soon as I reached the ambulance the medics were immediately pushing me away.

        “Miss, we’re going to need you to stand back!” One of them said sternly with blood on his gloves.

        With all of the anger, guilt, and sadness building up inside me, all I could do was just collapse onto the ground in tears. The female employees came over and hugged me as I continued to cry out his name. How could all this happen? What did happen? Why was life so unfair?

        After a while I finally stood up and watched the ambulance take off to the hospital. I sniffled as I looked back towards the car. It was completely mangled with the windows shattered and the front end mashed into the barrier. The driver’s door was ripped off its hinges from the medics trying to pry Hunter’s body from the wrecked vehicle. I just stood there for what felt like forever listening to the sirens drown-out in the background.

        Even after arriving at the hospital to witness the surgeons’ processes to try to save him, I could still hear the sounds of my own screams echoing through my head. I watched through a little window into the operating room and saw the knives and scissoring being drawn toward the unconscious body that was once my boyfriend. Fortunately he was still alive, but his heart beat was unnaturally slow. My mom accompanied me in the hospital to try to comfort me.

        “It was most likely the ice, honey. He probably just slid and lost control of his car.” Even though she was trying her best to make me feel a little better, I could still feel the tears swelling up in my eyes. Then, just after one of the doctors caught sight of something on one of the monitors, they all began to panic and were all scrambling while talking. Everything sounded muffled to me since I was behind the glass, but I could tell it wasn’t good. Before I knew it, the monitor that I could visibly see was showing that he was flat-lining. I couldn’t hold in my screams of sorrow and the hot tears that streamed down my cheeks. I saw the surgeons rushing to get the defibrillator to try to jump-start his heart again. I turned away from the window because I could not stand to see his body jerk around like that. My mom held me in her arms when I turned around in order to keep me steady on my feet. When I looked down the hall I noticed Hunter’s family finally arriving. They were running and I couldn’t help but notice his mother’s and little sister’s eyes as they began to water. I turned back around to see that all of my deepest fears and nightmares had become a reality. The doctors began turning off the monitors and putting tools away while the head surgeon covered over Hunter’s face with the sheet. He was gone…