First responder, second love

Chapter 2

    "911, what's your emergence?" I hear a woman's voice say. I want to say something, I need to ask for help, but for a few seconds my mouth can't move. Tears roll down my cheeks and my hands start to shudder.
    "What's your emergence?" I hear the woman ask again. I open my mouth, but there's no sound. Why can't I talk, why can't I say something? Talking was never the issue, speaking my mind was never the problem. I wasn't shy to tell people the truth when they needed to hear it. With a friend like Malia, I learned fast. She never let anyone silence her, and she always stands up for people in need. I want to believe that I am just like her, a fearless young woman with a mind of her own and a strong voice. And maybe I was that girl for a while, but not anymore. I got a little quieter, a little smaller, and I definitely feel fear. Cause right at this moment I'm afraid to move, I'm scared to fight for my life, and I am terrified of my life ending here and now.
    "Are you able to speak?" I hear the woman ask, she's still with me. She didn't hang up, she is probably not even allowed too. I need to talk; I need to say something. She needs to know what I need, where I am and what the hell is going on. Talk, Sammy, use your words.
    "I... I... I'm afraid to move," is all I can say.
    "Why? Are you hurt?" the woman asks.
    "Yes, but I fell down, and I'm afraid to go down again."
    "What is your name?"
    "Sammy."
    "Sammy, how did you hurt yourself, how did you fell?"
    "I'm in an ambulance, and we went down."
    "What do you mean down, Sammy?"
    "We went off the road, over a cliff, I think."
    "You talk about we, are there other people with you?"
    "The police officer is dead," is all I say, and I know that I must explain what the situation is exactly. I need to tell her about the patient who escaped, about the men who pushed the ambulance off the cliff, and that I have no idea why I stopped falling.
    "Sammy, can you please tell me what happened and what you need. I want to help you, but you need to talk to me."
    "We, we were bringing a patient back to the prison. They needed someone who would ride in the back with the prisoner and the police officer. So, I did, and I really regret saying yes," I tell the woman.
    "Did you have an accident on your way to the prison?"
    "No, I don't think so. I think it was planned; I think this was his way to escape."
    "The patient isn't with you anymore?"
    "No, he got away. When I woke up, he was gone, and the police officer was shot."
    "Okay, Sammy, my name is Maddie, and I'm going to help you. I'm getting you out of there."
    "How, you don't even know where I am, I don't even know that."
    "I know exactly where you are, and I have sent help." I hear the words she's saying, but I somehow don't believe them. How does she know my location? Is help really coming, or is it just false hope?
    "Do you mean that?" I ask the woman named Maddie.
    "Yes, but you need to promise me not to move around. Can you promise me that?"
    "Yes, yes, I won't move," I promise her with more tears in my eyes.

Waiting for help feels like an eternity, just like waiting for a broken heart to stop hurting. Because it still feels like that day is never coming. The pain is never going to leave, and I'm never going back to the version I was before. I never want to lose myself in a love that seems like it's going to last forever. Never again I want to think that I found my soulmate, and have it taken away from me. I'm never ever letting anyone make me feel like a hopeless in love woman. Because love won't ever get the chance to sneak up on me again.
    "Sammy are you still there?" the 911 dispatcher Maddie asks.
    "Yes, still here."
    "You told me you were helping out, so you don't usually work on an ambulance?"
    "No, I work at the hospital. I'm planning to be a surgeon." After this I would never ever drive an ambulance again, I will stay safely at the hospital, where I belong. I just hope that there will be an after.
    "A surgeon, that's impressive, Sammy. What kind of surgeon do you want to be?" Maddie asks. I know she is just trying to distract me, but it might work.
    "Haven't made up my mind yet. I really love helping kids, but I don't know if I could handle losing one."
    "I get that, that must be so hard. But even though we want to save everyone, we also need to except that we can't."
    "That's true, they couldn't save him," I say without thinking. I can't help it. While I wait for help to come, someone who would save my life; I think about the one I couldn't save.
    "Sammy, did you lose someone?" I hear the dispatcher asks. And I feel tears rolling down my cheeks again. Because I did, I lost the one who made me feel like the happiest girl alive. And now I'm trying to hold on to a life I don't even know I really want to have anymore.
    "Sammy, are you there?"
    "I did, and, and I really, really miss him."
    "Do you want to talk about him?"
    "I don't know if that would help me survive this, though."
    "But maybe it will distract you, until help gets to you."
    "I miss him almost every day. I even feel guilty when I feel happy for a moment, like I'm not allowed too somehow."
    "What would he say about that?"
    "He would be mad; he would be angry with me. Every time I was doubting myself, talking myself down, he would disagree with me. He would tell me how he sees me and why he fell in love with me. And I believed him and believed every word he said, because I knew he would never ever lie to me."
    "He sounds like an amazing guy."
    "He was, or still is." I feel a subtle smile on my face, and I taste the tears on my lips. I want to wipe them away, but then I hear something. It's coming from above me. It's sounds like a motor running, like a heavy vehicle.
    "Maddie, are they here? Please tell me that the sound I hear is them?"
    "Yes, they're above you. I will put the Captain of the firehouse 118 on the phone. You need to listen to him and do exactly what he says."
    "Yes, I will, I promise."
    "I know you will," and after those words I hear nothing for a few seconds, but I know they're coming for me.
    "Sammy, this is Captain Nash. We're above you, and we see the ambulance. Two men of my team are getting ready to go down. They will be with you in a few minutes. You need to stay still, until you hear otherwise. Do you understand me?"
    "Yes, I do."
    "The dispatcher told me you hit your head."
    "Yes, it's a mild bleed. And I think I might have broken a rip or something."
    "Okay, good to know. Are you still bleeding?"
    "Not that much."
    "Okay, and the man who is with you, is he dead?"
    "Yes, I'm pretty sure he got shot."
    "Do you know anything about who was driving the ambulance, how is he?"
    "There were two men, but they haven't made a sound for a long time. I think I'm the only one. I think I'm the only one alive," I say and feel my heart beating faster and tears start to fill my eyes again.
    "Sammy, you need to stay calm. My men are coming for you." Right at that moment I hear a sound outside the ambulance. Are they here yet, are they behind the doors?
    "It's secured," I hear a voice say on the other side of the door. "Diaz, is the front secured?"
    "Yes, checking on the driver now," another voice says.
    "I will check on the caller." That's me, he is talking about me.
    "Hello, do you hear me?" I hear the man say.
    "Yes, I hear you."
    "I'm going to open the door. So, lay as still as you can."
    "Got it, too much movement means going down again."
    "And we can't have that." I know that I'm not stupid. I'm not going to roll over or start making snow angels on the floor of the ambulance. After a couple of minutes, the door opens, and the light comes in. Right in the light stands a man, well, hangs a man. I can only see is silhouette, because it takes a little time for my eyes to adjust to the light.
    "Hi, I'm Buck, and I'm going to get you out of here," says the man, who is hanging from a cliff.
    "Great, start doing that, please."
    "You need to get to the door, but very slowly."
    "You want me to move?"
    "Yes, we secured the ambulance. So, you're good for now."
    "You're sure?" I ask while I feel the fear taking over my body.
    "Here, you just need to get to my hand," he says while he stretches his arm out towards me.
    "I'm kind of terrified, I'm not fearless like you."
    "Look at me." I look up very slowly, and I see his face for the first time, without any blur. He has blond hair with two big matching eyebrows. His eyes look at me, and somehow, I feel that I can trust them, that I can trust him.
    "Sammy was it, right?"
    "Yes, Sammy."
    "Sammy, you need to get to my hand. I can't come into the ambulance, it's not secure enough for another person. You're going to move slowly towards me, towards my hand. And you might not be fearless, but you're strong enough to get out of here."
    "You don't even know me." How the hell would he know what I'm capable of, how strong I am. My strength got lost a while back, and it never found me again.
    "You held on for this long, so why would you give up now?" he says, and I know that he's right. This is not my time, not today. I need to fight, because he would have done the same. He would be furious if he could see me giving up, accepting my dead.
    "You're a fighter, Sammy," I hear him say in my head. "You can do anything when you set your mind to it. You have been the love of my life, you're an amazing woman, and you're going to be a great surgeon. So, fight Sammy." And that's exactly what I do. I move to the doors of the ambulance, little by little. And when I reach the hand of the firefighter, I grab it and hold on. He pulses me towards him and wraps a belt around my waist. And that's the moment I feel the ambulance move again.
    "I've got you," the blond firefighter says, and he pulses me out of the ambulance.
We're just in time, because after we get away from the ambulance, we see it going down again.
    "You're good?" I look up away from the ambulance and look at his face.
    "I think I'm okay," I answer him, and maybe I will be. After surviving this, I must be, right? I really thought that I would die today, anyone would have. For now, I'm okay. I'm hanging of a cliff with a firefighter who saved my life, and I'm just okay.