Always, It's You

Chapter 55

The day before:

Ashley suddenly halted seeing something unusual through the corner of her eyes while rushing down the slope of the lonely ski ramp.

She used the ski pole to break the exceeding acceleration through the slope.
Maya was right behind her. She had to pull off a dangerous maneuver to not crash on Ashley and tumbled down a few feet after.

"What the heck dude?" Maya screamed in anger, "I could have to break your neck!"

"See the tracks? Its ski track," Ashley pointed at two deep track marks.

"Of course those are ski tracks. We are in a God damn ski ramp Pip!" Maya groaned and got up to come to Ashley.

"But..." Ashley indicated the ending of the marks with a confused voice.

Maya gasped when she realized what she meant with her words. Those track marks went to the edge of the sloppy ramp on the mountain and disappeared.

"Someone fell off the cliff!" Ashley said and they both rushed at the edge. Ashley peeked down the edge of the ramp.

There was that person. Crumbled down like a broken doll on a lower rock shelf. Just a few feet from the body, the mountain wall jumped down to thousands of feet.

"call 111. Call an ambulance, M, hurry up!" Ashley yelled at her.

"I left my phone in my jacket on the camp above," Maya said dumbfoundedly.

"Me too!" Ashley was anxious.
"Let me check on him first."

"I'll go down," Maya approached.

"Don't. I am lighter than you. I am going down. You are a good skier. Go to the end of the ramp. They said the second base camp was at the end of the ramp. It's about five to six miles down from here. Go there. Call for aid. I'll be here." Reasoned Ashley calmly. There were no points of panicking right now.

"He might be hypothermic, tell them to bring warm saline to infuse as soon as they retrieve him," Ashley tried to assess the situation.

Mentally cursing herself for not choosing the popular ramps as she thought about the obstruction caused by too many skiers on the slope when they were prepared for skiing.
Great! Now there was not a single person on this ramp to help them out.

"I am not going until I see you descend there safely," Maya said stubbornly.

"Ok," Ashley replied and freed her feet from the ski and left the ski poles there. She carefully climbed down to the rock shelf and gave a thumbs up towards Maya, "Now hurry....looks like he has got broken legs and he's unconscious. "

"Hang on there. I'll come back fast."

Maya dropped Ashley's ski and poles down to her. Maya assured and hurried down the ramp with increasing acceleration.

Ashley hurriedly checked the pulse of the person. He was a man in his mid-thirties. He was wearing a ski jacket with thermal pants. His pulse was weak. There was blood on the snow, already frozen, but a lot.

Ashley flipped the person carefully. Searched for injury with expert hands.
Ashley made a list mentally,

- broken ribs,
possible internal bleeding from ruptured spleen explaining the paleness of the skin and broken ribs on the left side and,
possible concussion,
broken wrist on the right hand.
The worst was the legs.
The right one was simply broken, the left one was a compound fracture. Broken Bones pierced the muscle and came out in the open causing a lot of bleeding due to injuring the main artery of the leg in the process.

Ski was still attached on both legs causing the impact much harder for him.

Ashley carefully removed the ski. Search for a mobile phone but there was no luck.
The bleeding already stopped due to the cold.

Ashley quickly removed her scarf, using the ski boards as a splint, she secured both legs wrapping the scarf tightly around the legs.
Ashley again checked the pulse, it was too weak.

The blood pressure had gone down due to bleeding causing his body temperature way down. He was already hypothermic. Signs of frostbite were on his exposed skin. And lying on the snow made the situation worse.

Ashley felt so helpless. This man was gonna die. Either due to internal bleeding or heart-stopping due to hypothermia.

She couldn't rub his hands or feet for warmth or Giving CPR, cause sudden jerking movement can cause cardiac arrest in hypothermia.
She was practically helpless there.
His temperature was going down every second.

Ashley put off her parka from her body. She could use her body heat to heat him, but he was severely injured to do that. Ashley wrapped her parka around his body to prevent further heat loss.
She'd probably get hypothermia in this temperature with her normal clothes on before Maya came. But this man was gonna die before Maya came in this temperature if he losses further heat.
He needed that parka more than Ashley needed it.

Ashley was freezing in the cold. She wrapped herself with her hands and moved to a corner. She looked at her watch. Internally reminding herself to move every ten minutes.

And there her waiting started. She must not sleep, it would be fatal in this temperature. But the first effect of the cold would be sending her into a never-ending deep slumber. She has to fight with sleep now.

The feeling of the cold was intense for the first ten minutes, at a point she was shivering uncontrollably but her senses started to get dull after some time. She moved around after the first ten minutes, but before the next time she was drifting off in a heavy, cold sleep. She jerked up a few times but gave in eventually unconsciously.

When the rescue helicopter came, Ashley was already unconscious over a cold-induced temporary coma.

They retrieved the man and her and headed straight to the hospital.

The man survived miraculously. Of course.

And Ashley ended up having hypothermia, remained unconscious for the next six hours, was infused with lots of warm salines, and got released from the hospital the next evening under the condition of home care by Maya.

The day after the last concert in Sydney, Taehyung got up early in the morning. He was almost left for the elevator when he bumped into Namjoon.

"Tae, what are you doing?"

Taehyung lowered his head.

"Don't you know it's risky?" Namjoon sighed. "I know you are worried, but.."

"Hyung," Taehyung pleaded, "Please let me go. Give me just one day. I'll not ask for more. I'll come back in the evening. Just one day."

"Let him go Joonie," Yoongi came from behind.

"But hyung," Namjoon started.

"I know we are supposed to leave tomorrow. But after reaching Korea, we will have five days of rest anyway," Suggested Yoongi..." Let's just tell the managers to spend two more days here. The members are exhausted anyway. They'll agree to spend one or two relaxed days here."

"I am sorry hyung, " Taehyung said apologetically. "I know all of you are anxious to meet your family back home. I don't want to make you late. Please don't wait for me."

" Cut it." Yoongi stopped him, " You are family too. And going without you would cause a lot of ruckuses. Just come back safely, ok boy?"

Taehyung gave them a weak smile.
Namjoon sighed, "Ok, go. You have two days, today and tomorrow. Make sure to come back in time. But be careful please. "

"Thank you hyung, " Taehyung hugged them both tightly and headed straight to the elevator to go to the airport as soon as possible.