39. Cooper
39
Cooper
I couldn’t say how long Theo and I remained on that floor in front of the shattered vending machine. Though when Luna came running around the corner skidding to a stop, with her hands on her knees and gasping for air, to inform us that Trin was out of surgery we both jumped to our feet.
A nurse brings me to a recovery room door as Theo and Luna wait, nodding for me to go in at the end of the hall. Following a pair of red scrubs into the room, the sterile smell and the sounds of a beeping heart monitor flood my senses.
I spot Trinia laying in bed and she’s never looked so small and fragile before.
“When she wakes she will be groggy from the anesthesia but you can wait here if you’d like.” The nurse mentions, without even looking at me. Simply pointing to an upholstered chair in the corner as she checks all the machines, taking notes.
“Is she OK?” I’m unsure if I actually say the words out loud. “I mean is she going to be alright?” I say louder and more sure this time.
The nurse finally takes her eyes off the computer and turns to look at me. “There were some complications but the doctor will be in to go over everything when she wakes. Hit that button there when she does.”
Her tone is professional. Detached and cold before she leaves me with a single nod and walks out the door.
I guess in this line of work she’s seen it all. This is nothing to her but another day, for me though I’m rotting inside with the need to know if Katrinia is going to come back to me.
Not knowing what else to do I sit gently into the chair and slide it over slowly towards the bed. I need to feel her. Be close to her.
I lift her delicate hand and cradle it between both of mine. “Baby please. Pozhaluysta, prosnis’, zhena.” I beg her to open her eyes.
I rest my head and watch her somnolent frame. Only dragging my eyes away from her to check the many monitors she’s hooked up to. Every once in a while a sound will stumble or a beep will skip making my anxiety spike in those moments.
As I hold her hand I can feel her pulse and the sound of her breathing eventually lulls me to sleep as my body inevitably crashes. The stress and the lack of sleep finally catching up to me.
* * *
My eyes fling open as I nearly jump from my chair. The quickened beeps on the machine catch my attention first before I whip my head to find Katrinia looking over at me.
I slam the button on the side of her bed as I lean down to give her a gentle kiss. My fingers brushing back the dark disheveled strands from her face.
“Oh dorogoy I’m so, so sorry. Please forgive me baby please.” I plead and beg as I lay soft kisses all over her face.
I feel her hand come up and cup my face. Closing my eyes I hear her whisper, “I love you,” before her hand falls away, landing back down on the bed next to her.
Opening my eyes I watch hers as they close and the steady beeping on the machine goes flat. A loud long wail fills the room as a team of nurses and doctors flood in.
I stumble back, fisting my hair as they surround her, one shouting commands. Though I can’t hear them. All I hear is the screaming of the machine and the lack of her heart beat.
The once propped up bed jerks flat as a cart is wheeled in.
At that I lose it and my senses return to what’s happening around me in the room.
“Get him out of here!” A doctor orders and it’s only then I realize that the wailing is coming from me. I’m screaming, calling out to Trinia as she lies still and lifeless on the bed.
Watching as the doctor presses charged paddles to her chest, I try to fight off the two male nurses who storm into the room. Thrashing and kicking in an effort to get to her before I feel a pinch in my neck.
Suddenly my body becomes weightless, the fight leaving me as my focus slips away and the room goes dark.