Serendipity (Jamilton)

Chapter Seven

I collapsed beside her and shook her shoulders gently, afraid of her hurting her more than she already was. “Mom… Come on, wake up…” I shook her a few more times before giving up.

I quickly stood and rushed back out of the apartment. Phone. I needed a phone. And I doubted there were payphones here. I hadn’t seen any on the drive over. I didn’t have money to pay for one anyways. I would just have to ask someone.

The first door that I ran over to was that of the three men I had met earlier. I knocked several times, each louder than the first. No one answered. I sucked in a breath, trying to stay calm, and made my way over to the asshole guy’s door. I pounded on it as loud as I could, not caring about how hard I was hitting the wood anymore.

Finally, the door swung open. “What in the hell do you wa-”

I cut him off. “I need to use your phone,” I said quickly, my breathing uneven.

“And why should I give you my phone? I don’t even know you-”

I cut him off again, this time losing my patience. “JUST GIVE ME YOUR FUCKING PHONE!”

The man flinched, visibly surprised by my sudden outburst. “Fine, fine, jeez.” He walked inside and within a few seconds he was back with a phone. I tried to snatch it from his hands but he just pulled back, typing something into the phone. “And why exactly should I give you my phone? You never answered my question.”

I sucked in a deep breath and grabbed the phone from him, going through and trying to figure out how to work it. The only phones that I had used on Nevis were payphones and those were rare. I only used one like once or twice in my entire life. When I finally found what looked like the place where you dial a number, I asked, “What’s the emergency number here?”

The man rolled his eyes. “If you don’t know 911, you’re stup-”

I dialled the number quickly and waited for what felt like ages until someone finally picked up. “911, what’s your emergency?” the woman over the phone asked.

“Hi, um, my mom, she- she collapsed. I don’t know what happened. I-I heard a thud and-”

“Stay calm,” she said slowly, being able to tell even by my voice that I was panicking. “What’s your address?”

I blinked before looking to the man who stood in front of me, a look of confusion on his face. “What’s our address?”

“We’re in the apartments off of Oakland Avenue. Seriously, how do you not know this stuff?”

I repeated what he said through the phone. “Alright, now, are you with your mom?”

“N-No,” I said slowly.

“Alright, I want you to go back to her and check her pulse. You know how to do that, right?”

I nodded even though she couldn’t see it and ran back into my apartment. I knelt down next to Mom and checked her pulse. “I-It’s barely there. W-What do I do?” My breathing picked up as I stared helplessly down at my mother.

“Just breathe. An ambulance should be there shortly. I want you to stay on the line with me. You can do that, right?”

“Y… Yes.”

The rest passed in a blur. There was the sounds of sirens from below us and then men were running up the stairs with a stretcher. They lifted Mom up and laid her down on it, her face extremely pale, her body limp. As they raced down the staircase, I followed, handing the phone back to the man in the apartment next to me. He looked after me in confusion. I didn’t even say thank you. I would have to later.

Before I knew it, I was in the back of the ambulance with Mom and a few other EMT’s. Some were working on Mom while another was trying to communicate with me. I couldn’t hear them. All I could hear was a soft buzzing in my ears as well as my heartbeat. I’m sure they eventually gave up and just checked my pulse, a worried expression on their face. It must’ve been high.

As the ambulance came to a stop, I ran out of the ambulance, following the EMT’s as they rushed Mom into the hospital.