Innocence Auction (Book 1)

Chapter 14

Amabella

The sound of machines frantically beeping cut through my peaceful dream world. I jumped up with a start as someone began to shake my body. "Amabella, we need to get to your mother" the voice said. Opening my eyes fully at the mention of my mother, I took in the scene around me as I stepped back from my mother's bed. Beeping sounds could be frantically heard as doctors rushed around my mother's bedside. A nurse I did not recognise tried to get me to leave the room. My eyes were transfixed on my mother's lifeless form. "Amabella. Please you do not want to see this" the nurse begged as she tried to usher me out the room once more. "What is going on, what is happening? I cannot leave her" I say desperately as I watch helplessly as doctors shock my mother with paddles.

"Your mother has gone into cardiac arrest. The doctors are trying to get her heart beating again. Please Amabella you need to step outside" The nurse said as she grasped my hand and pulled me out the door. The moment I was out the room, I broke down sobbing and I slid to the floor. "There is a relatives room this way" The nurse said and I nodded before dragging myself off the floor and following. Reaching the relatives room, the nurse shot me a sympathetic look before she dashed off back the way we had just come. I collapsed on one of the worn sofas as the tears fell from my eyes. 'She could not be dead. She promised me she would be here when I woke up' I thought frantically. But images of her lifeless body and the doctors working on her invaded my mind and stopped any positive thoughts. After my sobbing had eased slightly, I pulled out my phone and tried my best with shaky hands to dial Emilia's number.

"Amabella, what has happened?" Emilia says as her voice comes over the phone. "It's, it's mum she's..." I say but I cannot bring myself to admit that she might be dead. I had to be more positive. I had to believe they would revive her. That the doctors would walk in any moment and tell me I could go see her now as she was back with us. That she had kept her promise to be here when I woke up. But as I sat in the dreary relatives room on the phone to Emilia, I knew deep in my heart that she was gone. Emilia gasped but said nothing. A moment later the dial tone could be heard through the phone and I knew she had put the phone down so she could rush back here. I threw my phone down beside me and sobbed into my hands. How had my life changed so drastically. Just last week I had been sat having a laugh with my mother, staring at the stars. Now there was every chance that she could be dead. Things like this did not normally happen in a week. How had I missed the signs. I sighed just as the door to the relatives room swung open. I wiped at my eyes frantically and stood up in a jumpy motion. When my eyesight was clearer, I looked up from the floor into the eyes of the devastated looking doctor. My heart constricted in my chest and before she even spoke I knew what she was going to say...

"Amabella I am so sorry. The doctors did everything they could, but they could not get your mother's heart beating again. I am so sorry for your loss"

With her words I crumpled to the floor and half screamed and half cried. I knew the doctor had remained there through my sobbing episode because as I started to calm slightly, she spoke again. "Amabella, is there anyone I can call for you?" She asks softly and I shake my head. "My friend is on her way. But there was only ever me and my mum" I say softly, though truthfully I probably should have rung my excuse of a father and told him. But honestly he did not deserve to know. I may not hate him so much anymore. But he still destroyed my family and my mother and I cannot bring myself to forgive him for that. So I would be damned if I were giving him the luxury of finding out about my mother straight away.

"When can I see her?" I ask solemnly a moment later. The doctor offered me a soft smile and motioned for me to follow her. I bit my lip and rose to my feet, willing them to move, even if I felt frozen in time. Like everything and everyone was moving around me and I was stopped dead. I followed the doctor down the corridor and I could feel the pity gazes on my body as I walked. Everyone felt sorry for me. But right now I did not want their pity. I wanted my mother back. So unless their pity was going to bring her back, it was not welcome. The doctor opened the door to my mother's room once more and a nurse stepped out. I gasped as I walked into the room. My mother looked so peaceful. Like she was having the best sleep ever. The machines that had surrounded her had gone and she lay covered in the white bed sheet. Fresh tears formed in my eyes as I approached the bed. As I did so, I prayed that she would turn her head and open her eyes. That the doctors had gotten it wrong. That she was alive and here with me. But the closer I got to the bed, the more obvious it became that her chest was no longer rising and falling as she breathed. Because she was not breathing anymore. She was gone.