How to Save A Life (Anthony Rizzo)

1- What Is Your Emergency?

Anthony

"911, what is your emergency?"

"I found a girl... she's laid out on the sidewalk and she's not moving or responding. I don't know what happened but she's not conscious."

I look down as the girl laid there unresponsive. She had these long long eyelashes that were shut together tightly. Her long light brown hair spread out across the concrete as she remained impossibly still. She was sprawled out across the sidewalk kind of in between two houses in this usually clean neighborhood. Her arms and legs laying like she fell to the side as she laid on her back. She looked beat up but she was still breathing so she was alive, but from the looks of it whatever happened was pretty bad. The only thing moving was the rising and falling of her chest.

"Where are you" the operator asks and I try to find something that could tell me where I am. But I just know it was somewhere in Wrigleyvile between my friend Jon's house and the field.

"Umm I'm not really sure. I can see Wrigley field from here" I say.

"I can pin point your phone with your permission" the woman says.

"Of course" I say and the line falls flat. I could feel my heart beating faster as time passed.

I look back to the woman as she kind of looked at peace as she laid there. Her expression on her admittedly beautiful face was soft and her big pink lips were almost set in a smile. Like she was relieved that this happened, like it couldn't be worse than whatever got her in this situation.

"Okay, I have your location and we have someone a few minutes away who should be there shortly. Can you look to see if she has anything that could tell you who she is or how this happened" she says.

"I don't want to touch her" I admit with a shaky voice.

"You don't have too. Just see if she has head trauma or any type of gun shot wound, a pool of blood anywhere" she lists off.

"It looks like her head was struck pretty good. There's a brick not to far from here, but if that's what hit her and it landed that far away I don't imagine that whatever happened here went over well" I insist.

"Okay. Can you find a purse or a phone or anything" she questions.

"Nothing" I assure her.

"Alright. Can you stay with her until the medics get there" the woman questions.

"Yeah, I can" I reply.

I stay on the phone as everything around us stays silent. We were in a nice neighborhood, not a place I would think something like this would ever happen. But she obviously needed help and I couldn't just leave here. I couldn't walk past and act like I didn't see anything.

It felt like forever until the ambulance came. They check her out and decide it was a head injury and give her a neck brace before loading her up on the stretcher and into the ambulance.

"Are you coming son" the paramedic asks and I pause. I over and see the Wrigley sign all lit up and let out a sigh. I look back to the young woman in the ambulance and shake my head.

"Yeah, I'm coming."

We ride over to the nearest hospital and they start their work on her. I answer all the questions I could but I feel a little useless because I couldn't tell them much. I let them know that I was on my way to work from a party at my friends house and saw a woman laying on the street so I stopped to see if she needed help. But once I got over to her it was apparent I was too late to be of any real help to her.

So I sit in the waiting room as people come and people go. It was a bit chaotic in here, a lot of crying and some yelling. I wasn't even sure why I was still here, but something in me needed to know if that girl was going to be okay. I check my phone and look at the time before my eyes go big.

"Excuse me" I say walking up to the woman who was at the front desk. "Do you know anything about the condition of the woman I came in with" I ask.

"She's having cat scans and x-rays. She's still unconscious but being treated and is expected to wake up sometime later on today" she explains.

"Okay. I have to go to work but I will come back after. Will I be able to see her then" I wonder.

"Since you're the only one we have in relation to her, yes. Just give your name and they will let you see her when you get back" the woman assures me.

"Thank you so much" I sigh and she nods.

I head back to Wrigley and go into the locker room. People start to head to the field as I just start to put my uniform on. I was a tad bit late but I still made it in time.

"Dude, where the hell have you been" Jon asks as I get changed.

He was the opening day starter here in 2015 and we had a team get together at his house before we got this season started. This was his first year here but he was already a leader for this team. He has the pedigree and we were going to follow him into the promise land. And after we ate snacks and hung out we all slowly left his house and headed to the field. But I got a bit distracted along the way.

"In my defense I was well on my way to being early for once" I defend.

"Then what happened" he asks.

"I found a admittedly attractive woman laying on the sidewalk unconscious. So I called 911 and I was trying to see if she was going to be okay" I insist.

"Did she have long brown hair, was around your age and kind of small" he asks and I raise my eyebrow.

"Yeah. She had a scar on her collar bone" I explain and he lets out a long sigh.

"That's Clara, she takes care of the kids for Farrah and I" he starts. "She lives across from us and Farrah and I have both called the cops a few times for domestic abuse from her boyfriend. But nothing ever seems to be done about it. The things he says and does to her, it's something no one should ever have to go through, and especially not her. It's real ugly but she is actually the nicest person ever" he insists.

"Why does he hurt her then" I ask.

"Because he can, because he feels powerful when he does it. I hate that guy. He's a total ass hole and I'm not sure why or how she ended up with him, but she did. And she feels like she can't leave. I've known her for a few months and she welcomed my family with open arms, she brings us treats and hangs out with the kids and offers to help whenever we may need it, and she's great friends with Farrah" he says.

"Wow" I whisper. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Are you going to go back for her" he asks.

"Yeah, I told the front desk lady I had to go to work but since I was the only one who knew about her she would let me see her again" I explain.

"I'll have to tell Farrah but I'm sure we will hear from her soon enough. But when you find out, let me know how she is doing" he says.

"Yeah, of course. You said her name is Clara, right" I ask.

"Yup. Clara Simpson" he says and I nod. That was a really pretty name.

"Got it."