These Four Walls

Eighteen

I run until I can't feel my lungs anymore. I've made it 3 blocks down when I hear the ambulance sirens.

I stop to catch my breath and the ambulance zooms by me. Why is this all happening to me? I turn to keep running but something stops me.

Jesy said something to me last night, 'This might be your only chance to meet him' What if something bad happens to him? Then she's completely right.

"Oh what the hell... this is my only shot now. Please let him be okay." I say to no one in particular. Then I feel my feet make their way back towards the house.

When I get there the paramedics are yelling things to each other and I can't understand anything that's going on.

One of them is talking to Harry and I walk towards them, "Okay, so this happened all of a sudden you said?" The paramedic asks Harry.

He just nods and when he sees me his eyes light up. "Jade! You're here!" He shoots at me and gives me a hug.

His body is shaking uncontrollably and his voice is cracking, "Where did you go?" He asks me.

"Ma'am, are you related to the man?" The paramedic asks me and I just stare at him. What's the right answer?

"No I'm not. Wait, I don't know, he's my dad." I stutter to tell him. "He's your father? What's his medical background? What was he doing before he collapsed?" He keeps pestering me with questions.

"I don't know. He's my birth dad, this is the first time I've seen him." I explain to the paramedic but he looks confused.

"Aaron, we gotta get this rig to the hospital. Let's go!" Another paramedic yells at us. "I'm gonna need both of you to come with us on the ambulance." He tells us.

We follow him into the ambulance without another word. Once I see my him lying on the stretcher my heart aches. He's got all these tubes attached to him.

I may not know him but I feel a strong connection to him already. What is happening to me? An hour ago I was set against meeting him.

Harry sits beside me and I grab his hand. It's cold as ice and I see the panic in his eyes. "Harry, it's gonna be okay." I tell him.

"You don't know that. The last time I was in ambulance my mom died." He tells me quietly and I shut up at his words.

No wonder he's so scared, this is traumatizing for him. The ambulance is speeding by and the paramedics are all talking too fast for me to understand anything.

"Aaron is it? What is happening to him?" I ask the paramedic that we were talking with earlier.

"We believe he's had a heart attack but we won't know for sure until they run tests at the hospital." He informs me and I just nod.

"Do you know anyone who knows anything about him?" He asks me and I shake my head.

"Like I said, this is the first time I'm meeting him." I tell him again and he just nods. We arrive at the hospital in no time and we are met with doctors at the emergency department.

They wheel him out and we just follow closely. I drag Harry along with me and force him to focus on the situation in front of us.

"Are you guys family?" A nurse asks us. I shake my head, "He's my birth father but I've never met him until today." I explain to her but she looks confused too.

"Can you call his family?" She asks me. "I don't know anything about him!" I yell at her. I'm getting frustrated with all these questions about him.

"Okay, settle down. Take a seat in the waiting area and we'll update you as soon as we know something." She informs me and leaves us alone.

I pull Harry towards the seating area and he takes a deep breath once we're seated. "I'm sorry Jade. He insisted on coming. When you got there I was telling him that you weren't ready to see him just yet." He tells me.