Chapter 22 #2
I held my breath as they descended the ladder to a symphony of more sirens arriving on scene.
Once they cleared the bottom, I threw a leg over the windowsill, reaching for a rung on the ladder, and with my heart pounding, hauled myself out just as a deafening crack split through the air.
I watched as a large portion of the ceiling just outside the bedroom door collapsed in a mess of debris, smoke, and fire in the hallway.
The second my boots hit the ground outside, I was off running to find where my brother had taken Lily.
The scene unfolding around me was absolute chaos: people shouting orders, vehicles parked haphazardly, including two fire engines down by the lake, pumping water as the guys raced to salvage what they could of our home while deploying various defensive tactics to keep the fire from reaching the trees and spreading.
The moment I rounded the corner toward the entrance of the property, Jameson was laying Lily down on the ambulance stretcher.
Arizona promptly got to work on checking her vitals, pulse, and respirations while her partner, Alex, secured straps over her chest and legs in preparation for transport.
Arizona kept calling Lily’s name in a calm and even tone, but she didn’t respond.
Once I reached Lily’s side, I immediately kissed her forehead. “Lily-Bee, I’m here. Can you hear me?” The blanket I’d covered her with to protect her from the elements had been pulled back slightly to free her arms and check her vitals, so I took her hand in mine, desperate for the contact.
Not ready to let go of her. Not ever.
I caught Arizona’s gaze and had a front-row seat to how hard she was fighting to maintain control, grasping for her professional training to help her stay calm. But beneath her take-charge demeanor, her fears mirrored mine, and that silent truth hung heavy and unspoken amidst the chaos.
Acting on autopilot, I stood opposite Alex and helped him load the stretcher into the ambulance. Arizona climbed up and in after, and I followed. I barely noticed Alex closing the doors because I couldn’t focus on anything but Lily.
At that moment, the world could have burned to the ground around us, and I still wouldn’t have looked away.
I didn’t care because absolutely nothing else mattered, and nothing ever would matter more than her.
She was my entire world, and without her—I stopped myself from that downward spiral, knowing I needed to redirect my energy into staying positive.
“Does she have any burns that I need to be made aware of?” Ari asked.
“No, I found her on the floor of the shower. I checked for bumps, but I didn’t feel anything. Why isn’t she responding to us?”
“I wish I knew. There are no obvious signs of trauma to her extremities, but her pupils are non-reactive, her pulse is thready, and her breathing is shallow. No response to verbal stimuli.” Arizona stood, leaning over Lily to check her arms and her neck. “No track marks.”
“Why the fuck would there be track marks?” I snapped in shock.
“Relax, I’m just covering the bases. Lily would never,” she said, slipping an oxygen mask over Lily’s face. “Her oxygen saturation is low, so this will help stabilize her and buy us time until we figure out what’s going on.”
“And the IV?” I watched Arizona start to prepare.
“To help hydrate her and push meds if we need to, here or once we get to the hospital.”
“We’re five minutes out,” Alex shouted back from the driver’s seat.
With Lily’s hand in mine, I rubbed it, hating how pale and fragile she looked with her wet hair matted against the white pillow.
Dropping my head, a silent prayer passed through me, pleading for her to have the strength she needed to pull through, begging the darkness to release its hold on her, and willing her body to respond to my touch.
It felt like an eternity had passed before the ambulance came to an abrupt stop.
When the back doors flung open, we were greeted by a triage nurse and an emergency room doctor.
It wasn’t standard protocol for a doctor to be waiting in the ambulance bay for hand off, but I suspected Alex had called in a favor on Arizona’s behalf.
“I’ve got a twenty-eight-year-old female, found unresponsive inside a residence with smoke exposure.
” I stepped out of the ambulance as Arizona listed Lily’s stats.
“No visible burns, possible head contusion from falling in the shower, but no visible signs of external trauma. Her breathing was shallow, with a low O-two saturation, so we started her on high-flow oxygen. Pupils are non-reactive, and she hasn’t regained consciousness since found.
Vitals are borderline hypotensive and tachycardic.
I started an IV. Glucose is normal. I can also confirm there’s no known medical history or allergies to report. ”
“And you can be sure of that, how?” someone asked, but I wasn’t sure who, since I hadn’t taken my eyes off Lily.
“She’s my best friend.” Arizona wobbled and fell onto the seat where I’d been sitting.
“Okay, we’ve got it from here.”
“You good?” I asked Arizona.
“Yeah, I just felt lightheaded for a second there.”
I looked back over my shoulder, with anxiousness gripping my throat. My need to follow Lily was strong, but my gut also told me I shouldn’t leave Arizona. “Here, let me help you down.”
Arizona stood on shaky legs, but as she reached for the handrail just inside the door, I watched the life drain out of her, causing her body to go limp. I rushed forward, catching her in time before she hit the ground, and swung her body up in my arms.
I shouted for help, but the words that left my throat were thin and distant, like they had been swallowed whole by all the emergency room noise, and no one noticed.
I tried again but found myself locked in a cloudy battle, fighting through the depths of exhaustion, quieting my brain, and silencing my words.
Alex appeared in front of me, his mouth was moving, but I couldn’t make sense of what he was trying to say before my legs buckled and I landed harshly on my knees just as my arms lost their grip on Arizona, going limp as we both dropped to the floor.
My vision went dark before returning to see bright overhead lights on the ceiling, and a flurry of faces, warped like reflections rippling in water, appeared. With every part of my mind and body going numb, I succumbed to darkness, hoping like hell this wasn’t the end.