Sky Full Of Stars (Kaylor)

Pulse ; Chapter 5

6th of October, 2017

That morning, Taylor had woken up with a sense of dread she couldn't quite explain. It settled at the pit of her stomach and stayed there throughout the day, throughout all the rescues she had made with her colleague James. The life of a paramedic was intense; seeing death first hand and constantly being on the edge of the cliff of adrenaline was a lot to deal with. And for that reason, Taylor had felt like this wasn't her suitable job anymore lately. The loss of a victim hit her harder than it probably should, and today had been strenuous. But she knew that it was because of one thing; of her mother's death anniversary coming up. And today of all day, she had felt disconnected and down for most of the time. James, who had become her friend after having spent four years sharing an ambulance with her, was a little worried about her. But Taylor had assured him, every single time, that it was nothing. That like all the other years, the dull ache in her heart was going to go away on its own.

But as Taylor walked towards her apartment, the paramedic uniform still clinging to her body as the wind brushed her hair, she almost saw it coming. The black Mercedes slowly beginning to cross the intersection, the sound of an engine overworking, the calm before the storm. The air in her lungs left her as soon as she saw a grey Audi hit the side of the slow, black car coming from Cornelia Street. The impact sent it towards the nearest wall, the vehicle rolling various times before crashing and making a huge explosion.

The pedestrians started screaming for help, and Taylor, instead of running away from the flaming car, walked towards it as fast as she could. She pushed her way through the frightened people, and checked first on the driver of the Audi. A gush cut his forehead open, and Taylor leant away from the window, in order to suppress a gag. The paramedic reached inside, careful not to let the stinging broken pieces of glass hurt her. The man didn't have a pulse, and she cursed under her breath. The impact had killed him; she could only hope that the other driver was alive.

Taylor run towards the Mercedes, which was flipped sideways against the wall. The paramedic climbed up the passenger's side, and lied on the side of the car as she peered through the window.

"Hey! I'm a paramedic. I'm here to help you," she said as loud as possible. She looked around herself to check if the vehicle was going to explode once and for all, and once she noticed she had enough time to take out the victim out of the trap that this car had turned into, she finally spotted the driver. "You okay? How are you feeling?" Taylor asked.

"It's hard to breathe."

It was a woman, perhaps in her early thirties. Her skin was dark and shiny, her hair a beautiful mane of black curls, but the smoke and the little cuts all around her body made her look fragile. And Taylor wanted to fix that. She wanted to save this woman.

"Alright," she muttered. She looked for an entrance that would allow her to get closer to the victim, but she found none. When she looked away from the woman, in the sidewalk a black man had stopped by, phone in his hand; he was probably calling an ambulance. Taylor blessed his soul, but realized that the nearest hospital was half an hour away. She needed to get her out of there quickly, before she died like the other driver. "Hey, I'm Taylor, by the way," she said, calmly. Taylor tried to sound as confident as possible, not wanting to alarm the other woman. "What's your name?"

"I'm—Margaret."

"Lovely name," Taylor smiled. She took off her shirt and broke the window of the backseat. She would get inside that way. "How does me taking you out of this car sounds, Margaret?"

"That sounds like heaven right now."

The fact that Margaret was joking was a good sign, because perhaps that could mean that her injuries were not as tragic as Taylor thought.