The next morning, I woke up to a splitting headache and a sore throat. Everything Mom had warned me about yesterday came flooding back, and I started panicking. “Mom!” I called. “MOM!”
She was in my room in an instant. “What's wrong? Lizzy, what's going on?”
“Mom – I think I'm sick. My head hurts, and my throat hurts . . .” I coughed. It sounded awful. How could this have come on so fast?
“Stay here. I'm going to call the doctor.” She ran out of my room, but was back within minutes. “We have to go, now. Don't worry about getting dressed, we have to go.”
I got up as quickly as I could and made my way down the stairs to the car. Mom drove like a maniac, always at least ten miles per hour over the speed limit. I couldn't stop coughing, and my chest hurt when I tried to breathe. I was starting to panic, and it made breathing even more difficult.
By the time we pulled up to the ER, I just wanted to pass out so that I didn't have to feel so awful. Mom got out of the car and helped bring me inside the doors, me leaning on her heavily. We stumbled up to the receptionist's desk, and before we could get there, paramedics were in the lobby, sitting me down in a wheelchair and pushing me toward a room, Mom running behind us.
We got to the room quickly, and they took me out of the wheelchair and put me on the bed. Because I was having so much difficulty breathing, they put something over my mouth and nose that pumped air into my lungs. Mom was holding my hand, saying over and over, “it's okay, it's okay.” More and more people were running in and out of the room, listening to my lungs and hooking me up to a heart monitor and an IV. I heard people yelling directions at each other, telling them to get this person or that person. I think I heard the word “pneumonia” somewhere in the confusion. Breathing was getting harder, and I was gasping for air. Then, it got easier, shallower. My head felt foggy; I stopped struggling for air. I was just closing my eyes when I heard the heart monitor flatline.
YOU ARE READING
The Beginning of the End Of My Life
Teen FictionThis is a short story I wrote for my English class in four days. I spent a lot of time looking up websites for medical accuracy. I hope you like it!
