Distanced

Part 12: In Which Max Gets A Call

Rolling over, my phone is blaring in my ears and it's not my alarm.

Picking it up, it's only 7:27 in the morning and Helen is calling.

Let's get this over with.

"Helen, I was..."

"Max!!! Help!!" Shooting up in bed, I hear her panicked voice and my heart twists sharply in my chest.

"Helen?! What's wrong? What's going on?!"

"Black ice...spun...Rt 9...Marist..he..lp..." She keeps cutting in and  out that I can barely make out what she's trying to say.

"Stay there! I'll try to find you! Don't move!!" Getting up and pulling on my pants, tee shirt and zip up hoodie, I run downstairs to where my Dad is drinking coffee.

"Max? Everything okay?"

"I need your truck keys." I say hastily.

"It's shitty out- you can't drive in this..."

"Helen crashed somewhere near Marist! I need to get to her now!" He tosses me the keys and I race outside in my slippers. Unlocking his door, I hop in, start it up and back out of the driveway. I'm fortunate to live close to Marist College, but God knows which part she's near.

Think think...think...

Wait!

A while back Helen linked her phone to mine because I kept forgetting it places cause of my Chemo brain at the time! Going into find my phone- I hit Helen's number and start pinging it's GPS coordinates.

Looking at it, I'm two miles away. I go slow and look for any signs that her car went through here and there it is. The guard rail bent downward. Pulling off the road, I take the keys and lock the vehicle.

"Helen!!!" I race across the road and nearly fall on my ass. I can hear her crying and screaming in pain. My heart twists hard in my chest and my stomach makes me feel sick. Looking down, I see her car at the bottom of the step hill forcibly stopped by a big pine. "Helen!!"

Sliding down the hill- I lose my fucking slippers immediately in the deep snow, but I race down to her regardless. The front door is opened and underneath in the snow- it catches my eyes immediately.

Blood.

Getting around the door, her back driver's side is open and I find her there writhing in pain.

"Helen, I'm here. I'm here." Her eyes are so wide and panicked.

"The baby...Max...my...owwwww!!!!" She grits her teeth as she screams in pain.

"Let me see, Helen...I gotta see." I get her to lay back on the bench seat and I pull at her leggings. They're drenched in blood and upon removal, I nearly choke on the air in my lungs. "Helen, stay calm okay."

"What's wrong?! Max, what's...owww!!!!" Another wave of a contraction hits her hard and she wails.

"You need to push." I say as calm as I can, but on the inside I'm freaking the fuck out.

"No! It's too soon! Max it's too AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Her scream becomes louder than before and I try to take pressure off her perineum, so she doesn't tear anything.

"That's it. A bit more." I wish I had my med bag so I could check everything, but all I have is myself. From off in the distance, I hear sirens blaring. My Dad must've called 911.

"Max...I can't...I can't do...do it..." I look up at her and rest my hand on her upper thigh- rubbing back and forth to calm her.

"You can, Helen. And you will. You have too. Here comes another one." She screams and wails as she pushes hard. "That's it! Bare down, Helen! You got this! Push push push push..."