All We Are

Twenty Eight

*****

"Don't you forget about me, I won't, won't tell nobody."- Lucky I Got What I Want, by Jungle

*****

Nate

The paramedics rushed Sarah into the hospital.

It was agonizing to watch her lay pale and still on the gurney. The whole ride to the hospital was filled with the medics taking her blood pressure, checking her heart rate, and supplying her with oxygen, just in case.

I was now sitting in the hospital's waiting room. I was surrounded by other worried faces. The walls were painted a dim green color, with matching uncomfortable green chairs, and there were magazines lying around a coffee table.

All around me, were families, patients, nurses and doctors. All of them looked grim, sad, anxious, some where even weeping. I knew what room Sarah was in, and I was relatively close to it. I never spent much time in hospitals, but they seemed much louder than I ever expected them to be.

I was only worried about Sarah.

I thought of her parents. I knew that I had to call, but what could I say. Could I say that the love of my life was currently in the hospital because she collapsed? Because whatever had been eating her up, and taken her energy all these months, had finally won?

I couldn't help but wonder if Rose and I had made the mistake of not ensuring and making sure that Sarah was taking time for herself, and getting help with her dizziness, uneasiness, and tiredness.

There were several times when I would notice Sarah looking dazed, and then I'd look down at her hands, only to find them gripping onto whatever surface, handle, or ledge in her reach, I saw how her knuckles were white because of just how hard she was holding on for support.

What if whatever was the problem was more serious than I realized?

Could I live without her?

"Sir?" A voice interrupted my thoughts.

I looked up to see a nurse in front of me with a clipboard, and a pen in her hand.

"Are you immediate family?" She asked.

I shook my head.

"You do know we'll have to notify them?" She said slowly.

I nodded.

"Okay then. I need you to tell me exactly what happened. Maybe it will shed some light on her condition. Did she take anything? Drink anything? Was their something unusual in her food?" The nurse questioned.

"She didn't take a drug." I replied cooly.

The nurse looked at me unsurely. "These questions are mandatory."

"We were at our school prom. Everything was normal. We were just dancing." I told her.

The nurse took her notes. "Is there anything else you can add? Behavioral issues? Signs of sickness?"

"She's been tired recently. She said she hadn't been sleeping well, or that she would wake up and feel just as tired as she did when she went to sleep. She's also been dizzy. I can tell. She'll just be standing, and then she'll waver, and grab onto anything in sight to keep her standing upright. It's like there's this constant weakness in her." I was thinking of anything else I could say.

My Sarah, what was wrong with her?

I could picture her now smiling. Her hair down, and her brown eyes staring into mine. I remembered us dancing, how her tiny body moved along with mine.