Her Silent Cries

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight:

 “Gooo team!” Lizzie hollered as she stuck her fist in the air, her pompom bouncing around in her hand.  She nodded happily, her ponytail hitting her back and then she smiled widely.  If you weren’t looking too closely, you wouldn’t notice that she was wearing way too much makeup to cover the pastiness of her skin. Her smile was more forced than usual, and her eyes were too dim.  Of course, I was the only person there who actually noticed that Lizzie wasn’t a hundred percent herself.

  “One, two three, four!” She counted brightly, sticking up the fingers as she counted.  At her count, a group of girls took running steps and performed a line of tumbling to the back of the mat, and got in position to be the base of the pyramid.

  “One, two three, four,” Lizzie counted again, her chanting louder now.  The next couple girls went flying across the mats as they got to the base.  Spotters at the bottom helped them climb up and then they stuck their hands on their hips and grinned broadly.

  “One, two, three, four,” Lizzie chanted for a final time before the guys performed their elaborate flips and stood waiting for her to move.

  Lizzie had confided in me that Carli wasn’t ready to be the top of the pyramid, and so she’d been moved to the middle.  Lizzie had taken over my old role.  She’d felt confident in her ability to be the top of the pyramid and trusted the rest of the squad completely.

  I had my fingers crossed over each other as I prayed that Lizzie wouldn’t have some kind of freak accident like I had.

  “Are you alright, Lucia?” My dad shot me a funny look as he lifted Claire onto his shoulders so she could see better. “You look like you’re going to be sick.”

  I shook my head and fiddled with the end of my braid.  “I’m OK, just nervous for Lizzie,” I said, pasting a wide smile onto my face.

  My dad nodded.  “Why don’t you go up front to watch?” He told me.

  “Thanks,” I said before making my way through the crowd in time to see Lizzie do her tumbling.

  She took a couple steps before hurdling into a round-off.  Her hands touched the ground and then she landed on her feet again in time to do a back-handspring.  I bit my lip as I watched her move.  She flew through the air effortlessly, landing each flip easily.  She executed another couple back-handsprings before something happened.

  It looked like her feet slipped out from under her.  But what actually happened was worse.  Nobody seemed to realize that she had collapsed because her bones had finally become too brittle to support her weight.

  Somebody in the crowd screamed, and it took several worried pats on my back before I realized that it was me, that I was the one screaming.  Nobody had moved, everyone stared in shock at Lizzie’s crumpled form on the ground.

 Finally I pushed away from everyone and vaulted over the fence, my only concern was for Lizzie.  I dropped to my knees beside her and grabbed her pale hand.  My fingers felt at her wrist for her pulse.  When I wasn’t feeling anything, I pressed my fingers in harder, marks showing up on her skin.

  I let out a frustrated scream when I still couldn’t feel a pulse.  “Somebody call an ambulance!” I barked out to one of the anxious cheerleaders who were surrounding me.  Instantly Sammy whipped out her phone and called for an ambulance.  Her voice wavered as she explained the situation.

 I moved my fingers to Lizzie’s neck as I tried to find her pulse. Finally, a weak pulse fluttered against my fingertip and I sighed in relief. I didn’t want to jinx Lizzie’s life by announcing it to the worried crowd, but I located my parents, Shannon and Anton and nodded slightly.

  Shannon’s shoulders slumped as she collapsed against my mom who wrapped an arm around her and led her to a quieter spot.

  Time seemed to slow down as we waited for the ambulance to show up. The cheerleaders started to clear a path and they began asking people to leave and go home.

  I sat beside Lizzie feeling numb.  Tears were running down my face and sobs kept escaping my clenched jaw. My hand was clutching Lizzie’s tightly as I glared at anyone who tried to get close to her.

  Why hadn’t I done something more? I could have prevented the whole thing if I’d just have mentioned it to someone with power. Shannon hadn’t really believed her daughter was anorexic.  Anton had wanted me to get my mind off Lizzie so I would stop making up the signs. 

  It was my fault we were in this situation.  I hadn’t told anyone about Lizzie, let it go on for far too long, and now her life was hanging in the balance.  She could have been clinging to life by a thread, slipping away farther and farther each second we waited with bated breath.

  When I heard the siren screaming, I screamed at everyone to move away.  I stumbled to my feet and waited beside Lizzie when the ambulance drove right up to the fence. 

  The paramedics jumped out and asked if we could carefully bring Lizzie over to them. They couldn’t get a stretched over the little fence.

  I motioned to Andrew and Kyle who hurried over.  “I,” I swallowed after my voice cracked.  “I need you to take Lizzie over to the ambulance,” I said with a cough.

  Andrew nodded and gently lifted Lizzie’s limp body from the ground.

  “She’s too light,” He mused, studying her carefully.

  “I know,” I muttered feeling like his words were a stab to the gut.  Did he think I didn’t realize that Lizzie was too light? Did he think I wasn’t aware that she was pretty much starving herself? What did he expect me to have done? Any attempts I might have made to help her resulted in an angry Lizzie.

  Andrew didn’t say anything else as he and Kyle and carefully transported Lizzie.

 The paramedics worked quickly and Lizzie was loaded up in seconds.  I hopped in after her, glaring at the paramedics when he tried to tell me to go.

 “She’s my best friend,” I said hoarsely.  “I’m going with her.” I grasped her hand again and pressed my lips together.

  The whole way to the hospital they examined Lizzie.  “What happened?” One asked me.

  “She collapsed in the middle of her tumbling,” I explained shortly. 

  “Could be weak heart,” He said. 

  “Can that be caused by being anorexic?” I asked.

  The paramedic looked at me in shock.  “Being anorexic can result in death,” She said lightly.   “Is this girl anorexic?”

  I bit my lip before glancing at Lizzie’s closed eyes.  “Yeah I’m pretty sure she is.”

  “That’s definitely a problem.  Her bones are most likely brittle and that’s why she collapsed while tumbling,” The paramedic said.  “Her exercising without having the proper nutrients could also have led to heart failure.”

  “Is she going to die?” I asked quietly, closing my eyes so I wouldn’t see the look on her face.

  “I’m sorry,” The paramedic said before falling silent.