Blood and Sweaters

Chapter 14

Adamantine
Unbreakable

Ransom held on to Aria for dear life, refusing to put her down. Her crimson blood now stained his white wife-beater. Everyone had tried to reason with him but he wasn't ready to listen.

" I can't lose you dew," he whispered to the unconscious girl in his arms.

Hot tears flowed freely down his face as he held her cold body, dark thoughts flooded his mind. He could not lose her not after she just told him she loved him. He knew she needed help but part of him was not ready to let go in fear that if he did he would never be able to hold her again. Everything and everyone around him blurred, there was only one thing he could focus on and that was; his Dew. She had come into his life to take it but instead, she had shown him what it was like to be alive.

A warm hand fell on his shoulder but Ransom barely noticed it until he heard a soft soothing voice.

"Ransom, I'm Doctor Christopher Darkwood. I'm here to help Aria. I need to get to bullet out but to do that I'm going to need you to let me have a look at her. Can you put her down on the bed so I can examine the wound?" the pale doctor with honey brown hair explained.

He spoke in the manner you would to a kid, but it somehow got through to Ransom cause he laid Aria on the bed and moved to her side, never letting go of her hand.

Doctor Darkwood took a few seconds to assess the wound before pulling an injection from his briefcase.

"What's that?" Ransom questioned in a hoarse voice.

"Don't worry, it's just a sedative. The bullet broke one of her ribs and we need to get the bullet out before it does any more damage."

Veronica moved behind Ransom placing her hand on his shoulder for reassurance. After giving Aria the sedative, he pulled out a small set of clamps and began digging into the wound looking for the bullet. The sight made Ransom sick in his stomach but he swallowed back the bile and kissed the back of Aria's cold hand.

"I'm going to make an incision. I can't find the bullet," the middle-aged doctor announced mainly to himself as he inserted a needle into Aria's hand hooking her up to a bag of blood.

Ransom's heart stopped at the doctor's words. Veronica felt him tense under her hand and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze to calm him down. He looked down holding Aria's icy hand to his forehead, he closed his eyes. Now Ransom was never really the religious type but right now all he could bring himself to do was silently pray that the doc could find the bullet, ending her pain as quick as possible.

Doctor Darkwood took out a scalpel and made an incision across the bullet wound. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, Ransom heard the metal clink of the bullet hitting the small steel tray. The Doctor cleaned up the wound and began stitching it. Once he was done stitching and wrapping up Aria's torso tightly to help the rib mend into place, he plugged her up into a couple of machines to monitor her vitals. Ransom looked around and for the first time since he stepped into the room, he took notice of his surroundings. It was set up like a mini-hospital room with all the necessary equipment and machines.

After explaining to Ransom how to clean up the wound and fix the bandages, he checked on Aria one more.

"Thanks, doc," Ransom said graciously.