Things that belong together

When the world seems to stop

"Dec - Declan! MOVE!"

Dec heard Ant's scream and spun around to face his friend. Then he turned right to see a car rushing towards him.

Everything seemed to be in slow motion. Ant saw how Dec's eyes widened in shock and fright, saw the completely frightened face of the car driver. Dec's face seemed to light up as the headlights shone all over him, he took an instinctive step backwards and then - a crash, a scream and the headlights went off.

When you kick up dust, it takes its time to settle again. It will stay in the air as long as possible before settling down like a leave that falls from a tree. So slow that you think, the time had stopped. That's how Ant felt. The second he heard Declan's scream, he seemed to transform into a speck of dust, lingering in the air, not able to get down to the grownd and realize what just happened. He simply stood there, eyes wide open, not even a muscle twitching, trying to understand what had just happened.

That couldn't be true. His Declan could not been hit by a car. That was his imagination, surely the driver hat pushed the brake early enough and Dec would walk towards him every second, grinning his cheeky and now maybe sheepish grin and assure him, that he was fine. He would laugh and tell the driver to not drive so fast in the future. Then he would get into his taxi and drive home to help Ali with Isla. Everything was just fine.

Then the car's headlights went off. And the speck of dust seemed to tranform into a brick, crashing onto the ground way too fast, impressions and realizations crashing down on Ant, one above every other: Declan had been hit by a car!

Ant's frozen posture seemed to release and he started running. As if from far away, he heard Stephen shout his name, felt a hand grabbing his arm but shook it off, still feeling like moving in slow mo, like running through water, too slow, why couldn't he run faster?! The only thought in his mind was getting to Dec as fast as he could because he felt like that would change anything. When he just was there fast then he could make things unhappen, everything would be fine, he just had to reach his friend, just had to hold his hand, everything would be okay.

Stephen stood beside the road still, his half-hearted attemp to hold Ant back had failed. Deep inside he knew that he could never hold him back, even if he had tried with his last strength. He was also frozen in shock but a part of his brain was still clear-minded. He pulled out his phone to call an ambulance, then he slowly started to walk towards the car, where the driver still sat in.

He opened the door and pulled the man out. "You okay?", he asked briefly. When the man nodded after a moment's thought, he snapped: "What were you thinking? Racing down this road like crazy? You hit a man, my goodness!" The young man closed his eyes. "I didn't mean to, I swear I didn't mean to! I was just... I wasn't thinking, I -" He stopped, the shock seemed to overwhelm him and Stephen sighed. What could he do? Nothing. Even though he was furious, the man hadn't hit Dec on purpose, it was a stupid accident.

Stephen pushed the man down on the driver's seat. "Sit down and try to breathe. An ambulance will arrive soon. As well as the police."

Ant meanwhile didn't notice anything around him, neither Stephen nor the frantic driver. As soon as he reached Dec, he fell onto his knees, ignoring the protesting noise his trousers made when he hit the asphalt hardly. Dec lay on his back, eyes closed and in a posture that didn't look too healthy. He had a laceration on his right foreheard and his head lay limp between his shoulders. Ant's hand started to shake when he reached for Dec's. "Oh my God. Oh my God, Declan, what did he do to you?", he whispered, still not realizing that Dec lay here, on this street, bleeding, unconscious.

Ant ran a shaking hand through Dec's hair, trying to avoid any glance on the wound over his right eye. "You'll be fine, Decky, you'll be fine... I promise... you'll be fine..." Ant didn't know if he tried to convince Dec or himself. After a while, he grabbed for Dec's wrist to check on his pulse. It was there, weak and slow, but it was there.

Ant had no idea how long he crouched on the cold asphalt, holding Dec's hand in his own, not noticing the sirens coming closer when he suddenly realized that something had changed. He grabbed Dec's wrist again, laying his other hand on his chest. Nothing. No movement. "Shit, shit, shit, he's not breathing, he's not breathing!" He looked up to see Stephen standing besides him, waving for the ambulance that just had arrived. "He's not breathing, Stephen, HE'S NOT BREATHING!"

Now the paramedics ran over. "Move, there, we need to get as close as possible", a woman told Ant while already crouching down next to Dec. But Ant didn't move, hi still clinged onto Dec's hand, felt like everything was lost when he would let go. He suddenly felt a surprising firm grip on his arms and a voice that seemed to come from far, far away.

"Ant... come on, you need to move here, they need space. Come on, Ant, let his hand go, stand up, man..." Ant struggeled and tried to fight against the grip but eventually his strength left and he let himself been pulled up. He looked up wearily and saw Stephen's familiar face. "He's not breathing, Stevey... he's not breathing..."

Stephen bit his lip to force down his own worry as he pulled Ant to his chest. "It will be fine, okay? The paramedics are here now, they will take him to the hospital, they will look after him. Everything will be fine, just breathe, okay?" Stephen maybe wasn't the most serious guy in the world, in fact he was really cheeky and funny, always joking and teasing. But he wasn't stupid nor blind. He knew when humor was fitting and when the situation was serious. And he knew Ant very well. He knew that no joke or light-hearted comment would help him now. So he just held him as the man let his head sink against his chest and kept quiet.

Eventually, the paramedics put Dec into the ambulance. "We are driving him to the next hostpital", they informed. "We have his breathing back but it's very serious and urgent so we can't let anyone join us in the ambulance. You can follow with your car if you like." Stephen nodded and noticed that the police had arrived and took care of the driver. He took Ant's arm. "C'mon, mate. I'll drive us."

--------------------

Ant stared down on the green-greyish linoleum-floor. The white chair he was sitting on was the most uncomfortable chair in the world, or maybe it were just his racing thoughts that made everything seem uncomfortable. Dec was surgery for more than an hour now and he still hadn't heard anything. He was scared. He was scared beyond words and the picture of Dec's injured, pale face had printet itself inside his head.

Ant listened to his own heart that was beating in his chest, surprisingly calm and even. Why was his heart beating? Why was he sitting here without a scratch while his best friend was fighting for his life behind that goddamn door? Why couldn't it be him? He felt his eyes stinging with tears but he wasn't able to let them fall. He felt strangely numb, as if everything was reaching him through a thick, white fog. The paramedics had told him that this was the shock. The time seemed to stand still. No, the time seemed to be unimportant. How long had he been here already? An hour? Three? Was it after midnight already? He didn't know and he didn't care. He would stay in this uncomfortable chair forever, he wouldn't move until he knew what was wrong with Dec and that he would become okay.

Ant refused to think if he would become okay. He knew that Dec would become okay. He had to. The chair next to Ant creaked slightly and Ant looked up. Stephen had placed himself next to him and put a supportive hand on his knee. "I called Ali, Anne-Marie and Anne. Anne-Marie tells you that you can stay as long as you want, she'll visit tomorrow. Ali is frantic, nearly had a mental breakdown when I called her but she isn't able to make it tonight because of Isla. I convinced her to get some sleep and come as soon as she can. Anne said she will call Dec's siblings and they'll arrive tomorrow as well", he informed his friend quietly. Ant shot him a thankful glance. Even if he had remembered to call Dec's family, he wasn't sure if he could've made it.

"Thank you, Stephen. For... everything today", he said quietly. Stephen smiled half-hearted. "No worries. I'm sure, he'll be fine." Ant nodded, eyes fixed on an invisible point at the wall. Stephen sighed. He knew how worried Ant was, he was worried as well.

Suddenly, they could hear the voices in the surgery raise, someone shouted something and then the silence was filled with a horrible, loud beep...

--------------------

TBC...