Star: Take 3

Chapter 10

MS. CARLOTTA POV

Hey, Mike, thanks for stopping by," I said, handing him the CD. Would you like to stay for dinner?" He hesitated, "I don't wanna impose."

"It's no problem," I insisted. "We'd love the company." He nodded, stepping inside. I led him to the living room. "Mama who is this?" Cotton asked, pointing at Mike.

"This is my friend Michael," I said. "We go way back."

Mike meet my family - Cotton, Jaden, Cassie, Ms. Bruce, Alex, Derek, Star, Noah, and you met Simone. He shook hands with everyone, introducing himself. "It's nice to meet y'all."

After dinner, we moved to the backyard for drinks and music. Mix Harmony's old music blasted through the stereo, the familiar tunes filling the air. Michael and I shared stories about Mary and Jahil. I showed him some old photos of us.

Just then, Michael's pager buzzed. He swore under his breath. "An emergency at the hospital," he said, standing up abruptly. "I gotta go." He hugged me quickly, his grip tight. "Thanks for tonight, Carlotta. It meant a lot."

"Thanks for coming, Mike," I said. "It was really nice to see you again."

"It was great to see you too, Carlotta," he said. "And meet your family. I hope we can do this again soon." With that, he headed towards his car.

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The Hospital

The beep-beep-beep of the heart monitor filled the operating room. Sweat glistened on the forehead of Dr. Michael "Mike" Banks, the renowned cardio-thoracic surgeon. He glanced at the clock on the wall - 20:36. His patient, a man in his early twenties with a massive blockage in his coronary artery, was slumped on the table, pale and still.

Mike's gloved hands moved with practiced precision, threading catheters through the patient's groin and into the blood vessel. He inflated the balloon at the tip, aiming to dislodge the clot obstructing the artery. But the blockage was stubborn, and the blood flow remained sluggish.

"Dammit," Mike muttered, his voice muffled by the surgical mask. He reached for the stethoscope, listening to the patient's chest. The heart's rhythm was irregular, a worrying sign.

Just then, the monitor's alarm blared, a sharp, piercing sound. The patient's heart rate plummeted, the monitor's screen flashing red.

"Shit," Mike exclaimed, dropping the stethoscope.

The anesthesiologist, Dr. Patel, turned pale. "He's flatlining!"

Mike's heart pounded as he grabbed the defibrillator paddles. "Charge 'em up," he barked.

With a jolt, the patient's body convulsed. But the monitor's screen remained unresponsive. Another shock - nothing. A third - still no response. The patient was dead.

A wave of despair washed over him. He'd done everything he could, but it hadn't been enough. He'd lost a patient, and there was nothing he could do about it.

With trembling hands, he detached the paddles and laid them aside. The sterile silence of the operating room seemed to echo his own despair.

Then, with a deep breath, he steeled himself. This was the nature of medicine - sometimes, no matter how skilled you were, patients died. He had to accept that, as hard as it was.

He turned to the anesthesiologist. "Call the time of death, Patel."

"I'll go inform the family." He said removing his bloody apron and gloves.

I hope y'all like this mini chapter. I know it's a little different, but it's related to the story. I'll have another update soon. Thanks for reading. I'm running out of ideas for chapter names. So, I'll probably name the chapters in numerical order for now on. 😂 Let me know your thoughts on this chapter. ❤