Pieces of the Past - [Danona] Book One ✓

18. hospital hymns

The night had faded with red and blue ambulance lights drowning in the downpour of rain. It hadn't taken them long to figure out that Katie was suffering from a ruptured appendix. He felt like an idiot for even thinking that what she had was the flu. Maybe if he had followed his instincts and took her to the hospital earlier, this wouldn't be happening. She wouldn't have been stuffed in the back of an ambulance while screaming bloody murder. 

Even worse, he felt like a jackass for letting his mind wander to Winona. He couldn't help but question if she had seen and heard the ambulance; if she knew it was them. Deep down, he prayed that she would've somehow known and raced alongside the ambulance with them. 

No, he chastised himself. His focus needed to be 100% on Katie right now, she was the one who needed him the most. 

But what about who I need?

As soon as they unloaded in the ambulance bay, he heard the chatter between the EMTs and the on-call doctors. They were throwing words around so quickly that he hadn't caught a majority of them. Instead, he looked around frantically as the doctors kicked into action. 

Something about a CT scan, an operating room, septicemia. He could barely hear over the anxious ringing in his ears. Almost as if it were in the blink of an eye, she was carted off somewhere and he was left on his own in the waiting room. 

How had it all gone from being so loud to being so silent? The blaring sirens of the ambulance, the gurney being pushed through doors, the talking doctors. Now, it was just quiet. Eerily quiet. 

The logical side of his brain told him not to worry as much. Appendicitis was practically the common cold to these doctors, she would be okay. Right? Yet again, he had been the only one to hear the deafening scream from his daughter. Not them. Nobody else. They couldn't tell him not to worry after hearing such a sound. 

Any parent would worry. 

He blinked his eyes a few times as he looked around at the waiting room. Everything was so stark and so silent. Had everybody in the hospital migrated to the same place, leaving him behind to stare at the tan walls? 

Any parent would worry.

He didn't want to be alone. He was scared to be alone. Anything could happen at any moment, and if it did, it would only be him. Nobody to cry to. Nobody to hold. 

God, the overthinking was getting to be too much. A glutton for punishment, really. 

Her other parent would worry.

The three walls and the empty hallway stayed silent as that thought crossed his mind. Was he just trying to find an excuse to call her? Or did he really believe that she should know? He didn't know. She had rightfully walked away from him. Would she even pick up the phone if he called? I guess the bigger question begged to be answered. Would he be calling her for Katie, or for himself?