Never Say Goodbye

Chapter 19

The nurse pushes Dr. McFaulin into Room 119. He stops right in front of me. "You look better," he says.

"Thanks," I say without emotion. "Caleb. He crashed a plane, and now he's unconscious. He needs your help."

"That's unfortunate," he answers in a flat voice. He walks away.

"Stop! I need your help! Please!" I scream at him, my voice low and clear. I feel confident even though I am a head shorter than him. "We need your help!"

He swivels around. "You think I care whether or not he needs my help?" he yells. "No!"

"That... incident was years ago! You should just forget about it!"

"I can't forget about it! I was humiliated! Contradicted by a six-year-old! Unheard of! I got laughed at for weeks!"

"You suffered for what? Four, five weeks? If my boyfriend dies, I will suffer for years! I will never forget him! My life will be ruined!"

"I. Don't. Care."

I put my hand on my forehead. If I need his help, I will have to outsmart him. "Fine. He contradicted you. He was clearly wrong. So? If he killed that man, aren't you doing the same thing?"

He thinks about that. "This is different."

"You're right. This is different. You are a," I look him up and down, "forty-year-old man, and he was six. This death is on purpose. Murder. The man's death was a total accident. He was a naive," I cringe at the word he called me, "six-year-old child who didn't know any better."

"You're right! He was naive! But he also humiliated me!" Dr. McFaulin glares at me.

"For four weeks! I will never ever get over this if you kill him!" I scream at him, my voice finally shaking, finally broken.

He looks at me a long time, narrowing his eyes. "Fine. I'll do it." I can barely contain my excitement.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" I exclaim. He just looks at me before finally walking towards Caleb. He inspects him.

"He's fine. He just fainted from exhaustion. My guess is he was trying to find you because you stormed out on him, and so he got out of his bed and fainted. That's all."

"Okay. Thank you. Can you get him on there?" I point to the bed.

Dr. McFaulin carries Caleb with hardly any trouble up on to his bed.

"Thank you," I say. He grunts in response.

He leaves the room. The room that holds all of my worst nightmares. The room where an injured Caleb lies unconscious on his bed. Room 119.

* * *

Somehow I fell asleep last night. I wake to the soft groans of Caleb finally waking up. Through the hospital window, the dark sky suggests it is barely past midnight. I run over to Caleb, remembering when I was in his situation, when I was just waking up from hours of unconsciousness.

Caleb's tired eyes roam around for a minute before they catch mine. He tries to sit up, but ends up just falling down. I turn away. I can't bare to see him like this. Useless. Broken. Probably unfixable.

I shake my head. I can't think like that. I have to think positively. Optimistically. Incorrectly. Stop. You have to think positively. For Caleb, I think.

"Emma," he whispers, his voice hoarse. I put my hand on his and put both on his heart. It feels stressed, like it is working too hard. I just feel his heartbeat, and I can't breathe. His eyes look deep into mine. "Emma. Are... okay...?" he asks.