In the spotlight

68

Matteo Rodriguez

I zipped up my jacket, slipped my belongings into my pocket, and said my goodbyes to my teammates still in the locker room, changing after practice. I left the room fairly quickly, trying to get rid of this weird feeling. As if I was experiencing some kind of looming dread.

I walked towards my car in the garage, bag hanging on my side as I swallowed hard, but the lump in my throat wouldn't even budge. I had no clue what the hell was going on.

I unlocked the vehicle and was about to jump in when I could feel my phone buzzing in my pocket. I took it out, seeing an unfamiliar number ringing me.

I furrowed my eyebrow in confusion. No stranger has ever found out my phone number; it's always Giovanni who received those calls in my name. I was about to hang it up when the idea of what if it's someone super important ran through my mind.

So I decided against it and picked it up instead.

"Matteo Rodriguez?" An unfamiliar woman's voice spoke up from the other end nonchalantly.

"Yes, that is me. Who am I talking to?" I asked the woman as I took the driver's seat of my car, throwing my bag on the other seat.

"You have been added as the emergency contact for Sofia Christensen. Is that right?" She completely disregarded my question, but my words got caught up in my throat as I heard her mentioning the emergency contact.

"Yes, I am her partner." I nodded as I could feel my blood pressure rising.

"She was assaulted in a supermarket's parking lot and hospitalized about thirty minutes ago." My hand clenched around the phone as my heart skipped a beat.

"Is she alright? Which hospital?" Questions kept popping up in my head as I broke out in a cold sweat.

"She suffered a stab wound on her side and is currently going under operation." As those words left her mouth, I thought time has stopped for a second. The world around me took a 180-degree turn as everything turned upside down. This can't be real.

The faint voice of the woman told me which hospital she was brought in, barely audible through the whizzing voice in my ear. I completely forgot how to breathe.

As soon as I processed what she just said, I sped off from the garage and headed straight towards the hospital. I forgot completely about laws, speeding cameras, and basically everything else, as only one thought was repeating in my head. I had to get there as fast as I could.

I had no idea how much time has passed before I jumped out of the car, and sprinted from the parking lot inside the huge white building.

I stopped for a quick moment at the receptionist desk, trying to find out which floor she was taken on. The lady behind the desk didn't bother me with any questions, her hand moving swiftly on the keyboard before finally revealing the floor and room she was currently kept in under operation.

I ran towards the elevators, but every single one of them was occupied at the moment. I looked around quickly, finding the staircase logo on one of the doors as I rushed through it, skipping multiple stairs at a time as I sprinted up to the 3rd floor.

Fear, dread and pure terror was fueling me as I was snapping my head between the rooms, trying to find anybody who could provide me with some information. Is I ran forward in the corridor I finally spotted a nurse in a blue uniform, pushing a cart in front of her.

"Excuse me!" I panted as I ran up to her, trying not to scare her too much, but I was panicking.

"My girlfriend.." I started, trying to catch my breath. "Sofia Christensen. She was brought in for an operation here. Room 43." I was basically begging her to help me, my voice cracking in the process.