On Fire

When World Seems Crashing Around Your Ears

As they reached the hospital Ant and Ali jumped out of the police car, that had followed the ambulance taking Dec. Ali held Ant's arm tightly and he realised what was going through her mind. This is the second time they are here in the last four days and Ali's experience on the first day was not too pleasant. He held her close as they made their way to the building tagging behind the stretcher that carried Dec.

Dec was out cold and the first aid measure performed by the cops had done little to stop the bleeding. Blood was still slowly drenching the cot he was on. As they reached the Intensive Care Unit, Dec was taken inside and Ant and Ali were made to sit outside. Ali was muttering silent prayers and Ant was trying hard to control the sobs wracking him. Ali had cried on his shoulders but he couldn't let it out . That's just not him.

Time progressed slowly as doctors and nurses ran in and out of the room. He didn't know who called them or how they came to know about what happened, but the next time he heard a noise approaching, he looks up to find Rachel ,Georgie, Stephen and David walking to them.

As they spot him and Ali, Rachel runs to Ali and hold her close and Ant stands up and make his way to the others so as to meet them halfway. He then catches Stephen worriedly staring at him
" Ant..!! Are you hurt??!!"

Ant looks at him in confusion and then follow Stephen's gaze to his own shirt .He realises that he had blood all over his shirt. Ant suddenly felt exhaustion, fear and despair cracking him and he murmured "Its.. Dec ..s"

Stephen wordlessly pulled him closer without caring his bloody shirt. As Stephen's strong hands held him and David's sad eyes looked at him in concern, he was wrecked with the reality of what all happened. He felt sick and nauseous and all of a sudden his knees buckled to slip from Stephen's hold and fall down on the floor with his head on his hands and sobs erupted for his lean frame in the rage of being supressed for long.

Stephen knelt down and pulled a sobbing Ant to his chest, but it only increased the other man's despair as the sobs turned to suppressed wails. Stephen felt his eyes burning and heart racing as he was strongly reminded of the day when Dec was on his chest in a similar state...

********

It was a few minutes later that the doctor came out. David moved to meet him "David Walliams " he offered his hand.

The doctor shook it with a bit of amusement "James Bradwidge, you might be waiting to know about Declan's condition"

Everyone gathered around him, praying inwardly. The doctor looked at everyone and particularly at Ant, who was struggling to stay upright due to exhaustion.

He then addressed Alph
"I will write the reports as fast I can and well done, bringing him in so fast"

He then turns to others
"Declan is now past the danger zone. The razor used on him was small but sharp and hard. It went through his Cartoid artery and Jugular vein - Eh.. They are the vessels on the neck - and there was also a potential threat for air to fill in them leading to what we call as an embolism. But luckily that didn't happen"
He looked at every one of them in concern and said in a comforting voice.
"I said these much things so as to not to give you false hope on his recovery. He will recover for sure. But when or how is very much up to fate . Abundant blood loss didn't do good for him. Nor did the panic. But it is now safe to say that before long, you will get him healthy and back with you. But in meantime, I advise him to be admitted and observed so that the threat of embolism or infection can be identified"

Ali: "Can we see him?"

Doc: "About that... You can see him of course but I am afraid that he is still unconscious and no one could say when he will wake up... may take a few minutes, hours or even days"