Cold (Pearlet)

3

Pearl was getting worse. Seeing her cry from the pain of just breathing scared Violet. The maid had ran off to call for an ambulance while Violet gently patted Pearls head with a wet cloth, wiping sweat off of her forehead. The earlier just bruised red skin on Pearls side was now turning black and blue and Violet didn't know how to stop it. All she could do was wipe her and gently stroke her hair while shushing her.

"It's gonna be okay, Pearl. The ambulance is on their way." She felt tears forcing their way out of her eyes but she tried to hold them back. Pearl was moaning and whining in Violet's lap. Violet felt a mix between anger, sadness and worry. Anger towards the mad man who did this to Pearl. Sadness for not being able to take the pain away and worry for not knowing how bad it is.

There was a sound from outdoors. It took Violet a second to realize that it was sirens she heard. She grabbed the bag she had packed with water bottles, snacks and a fresh pair of clothes for Pearl and ran out of the room to guide the doctors to Pearl. The second they all looked over at Pearl she was hyperventilating and looked on the verge of passing out. "We'll get a better look on the way to the ER, we need her on the stretcher STAT." One of the men informed the others and they all got to work. Violet felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned around to face her dad. She hadn't noticed that the tears were falling helplessly from her burning eyes.

"Get ready, I'll drive with you to the hospital." He gave her a quick hug and went to grab his things as the doctors carried pearl out of Violet's room. Pearl was in such a bad state, it scared Violet. "Please be safe, please be okay." Violet chanted in her head as she saw the blonde passed out on the stretcher.

"Violet, you ready to go?" Mr Chachki asked as he placed a hand on his daughters shivering shoulders. "Yeah, let's go." She nodded and they hurried out to the car. They buckled themselves in and waited for the ambulance to start. Violet felt painfully sick as she saw the last glance of Pearl, whimpering in pain in the ambulance before they closed the back door. Mr Chachki gave his daughter a glance. "What happened, Vi?" She looked up at him with glassy eyes and swallowed hard. She told him the events from earlier and he paled in shock. "Do you remember anything about him? We have to report this." Violet thought hard before remembering back to the moment she saw his forearm where he had a bullet tattoo showing from his exposed arms. "A tattoo. He had a bullet tattooed to his left front arm. He was bald and had piercings. That's about all i can remember." Violet bit her thumb gently and her dad took a mental note of everything his daughter said. "We will have to ask Pearl, once she's better. Maybe she knows something." Violet added. 

Soon they were on the highway getting closer to the hospital. Violet couldn't wait to be by Pearls side again. Once they stopped the car at the public parking lot they saw the ambulance continue up into the ER garage. "We'll have to walk from here." Mr Chachki said and unbuckled his seat belt. They walked up into the ER and Violet waited while her dad talked to the nurse. "Yes Pearl Liaison. That's right. I see." She heard her dad say and soon he walked back and gave Violet a stern look. "We can go in now, but we can't see Pearl just yet." Violet nodded and they followed the nurse 'Lisa' to the waiting room outside of the room where they kept Pearl. "She's gonna be moved to an X-ray scan in just a minute, and then they are going to see if she is going to need surgery or not." The nurse informed them. "Someone's going to come back once we know more and keep you updated, but it might take a while." She smiled and walked off. 

Violet was nervously fiddling with her fingers and kept her head down as she inspected every line in the tile floor. "It's gonna be okay, Violet. You want something from the vending machine? I'm gonna get myself a coffee." He asked and she asked him for a cup of hot chocolate and some gummy bears. She needed something else to keep her mind off of Pearl or she was gonna have a nervous breakdown.

She couldn't help but think, what would've happened if she wasn't there tonight? Would Pearl have laid there in the mud all alone, unable to move? Would she even been alive? The thoughts scared her so much she didn't dare to think about it anymore. 

Suddenly a doctor walked out and headed their way. Violet called her dad over and they stood up worriedly. "You are here for Mrs. Liaison?" The doctor asked and looked over at them both. "Is she gonna be okay?" Violet asked immediately without answering the doctors question. The doctor looked down at his charts and frowned. "I have good and bad news. The good news is that we got her into the ER in time. The bad news are that she will need emergency surgery. Three of her right side ribs are broken in several places and her lung has been punctured, filling it with liquid and unwanted air to seep into the lung and her body can't process it on it's own. Without the assistance i'm afraid she wouldn't make it for more than a few hours." 

He took a break letting Violet and her father process it. "But you can help her, can't you?" Violet's dad asked with a hushed tone, as if Violet couldn't hear him. "We will now proceed with a lung transplant. Without it she wouldn't live to see tomorrow. With the current equipment getting ready it is scheduled to take place in about 20 minutes. If you want to see her before the surgery, now is the time." 

Violet hurried past the man and into the room where Pearl laid on a bed with monitors surrounding her. There was a drip connected to her arm and beeping sounds following her heartbeat. She looked so peaceful right now as she was asleep. There was a lot of sweat dripping from her forehead though. Violet almost couldn't believe it was real. It all looked like it was staged. She wanted Pearl to sit up and tell her it was just a prank. She felt hot salty tears run down her cheeks as she walked into the room and patted pearls forehead with her sleeve. "You're gonna be fine. You're gonna be okay. I'll be right here waiting for you to wake up." Violet whispered and choked a bit on her tears. Her biggest fear for the past year had been losing Pearl. She knew she always treated her like shit and that maybe one day she would up and leave her. Maybe Pearl would be tired of chasing after Violet since she didn't let her know about her true feelings, ever.

Violet reached for Pearls pale hand and squeezed it. She felt the tiniest twitch from Pearls fingers.

"Please don't leave me."