Yes, Sweetheart

Chapter 18

And just like that, everything went to shit.

The monitor on Kari's heart went off when she coughed.

She spit up blood into her hands.

For the first time, I could see a flicker of fear in her optimistic eyes.

Nurses came barging in, saw the hacking fit that Kari was having, and ushered us all out of the room.

Paul, who had been holding one of Kari's hands, was forcibly ripped away from her when more staff - doctors this time - began running into the room. The curtains were jerked shut, and Paul was pushed out into the hallway with us.

"No! No, please! Please...."

Levi and Josh were holding him back from barging into the room.

Paul's heavy cries and pleas broke my heart. He had just found Kari, just gotten to spend time with her, love her, and now -

I could hear the doctors barking orders to the nurses, who urgently followed them. Muffled voices, and words I recognized.

"Internal hemorrhaging, sepsis, cerebral damage...."

My eyes started to water, and immediately I felt arms wrap around me.

Paul was sobbing, and knew I loved Kari probably just as much as he did. I cried in earnest too, hugging him back just as tightly, knowing that the prognosis wasn't looking optimistic.

Within minutes, I could hear the beeping of the heart monitor decrease steadily, despite nurses' cries and frantic advice to hand each other specific needles and medications.

A squeal, a heavy tone. It continued.

I was supposed to start rounds soon in nursing school, we all were taught that sound. We all hoped we never had to hear it.

A flatline.

"NO!"

A scream, ripped from my throat before I could stop it.

Paul collapsed to his knees, hiding his face in his hands, wailing.

Other arms tightly enfolded me into a chest.

Levi's.

My tears soaked through his sweatshirt, my hands clutching at his back.

There were no comforting words from him this time, only a tighter squeeze. I could feel him shaking slightly, and I squeezed him back just as tightly.

What do you mean, 'a flatline'? The nurses were still injecting adrenaline into her veins. There was no way she could be -

"Hey, Aria, look at me."

A hushed tone, choked with tears.

Levi pulled back enough to see my face, removing one hand from my back to wipe tears from my eyes.

"Stop. Just breathe a little, ok?"

Was it just me or was everything blurry?

"Aria?"

Have the walls always spun like that? Huh. They must've.

A voice, yelling. It sounded muffled, cotton stuffed into my ears.

"Someone get help! She's going into shock!"

Shock?

And the world was suddenly dark.

Blinking my eyes, I could see that I was now laying down on a couch, a decently comfortable couch.

A white, scraggly blanket was thrown on top of me. I wiped the bleariness out of my eyes, and could further see that it was one of those threadbare hospital ones that they typically give to patients.