Chapter Forty Eight:
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"Come on, skinny love, just last the year
Pour a little salt, we were never here
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer
Tell my love to wreck it all
Cut out all the ropes and let me fall
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Right at the moment, this order's tall."
"Your number was in his emergency contacts, miss. I regret to inform you this but your brother was in a terrible accident."
I froze.
A surge of fear coursed through my veins and I felt moisture beginning to gather at the back of my eyes.
No.
This was not happening.
My body was shutting down, a natural mechanism it had resorted to years ago whenever it experienced trauma, and I gripped the railing tightly in my hands.
Blood pumped in my ears loudly, drowning out the sound of my wild heartbeat and I sat down on the steps to avoid taking a fall.
"Hello? Miss? Are you still there?" The man spoke up once again.
I was snapped back to reality and my throat suddenly became dry as I opened my mouth to answer him. I ended up choking on air but quickly put a hand on my mouth, not wanting to disturb Darius.
"Miss, are you alright?" His worried voice questioned from the other end.
After a few seconds, I recovered from the coughing fit and nodded my head as if the man could see me.
"Y-Yes. Who am I speaking with? Where is my brother?" I managed to finally ask.
"My name's Terrence, miss. I was passing from the highway today when I saw your brother's car crashed on the side of the road. I brought him to a nearby clinic first but they said he needed immediate surgery because of some lethal blow to his head so I drove him to the hospital. I tried calling you once before but you didn't pick up."
My heart fell to my stomach and I bit my lip to prevent myself from sobbing in front of a stranger.
"Can you please send me the location?" I asked in a quiet voice.
"Yes, miss. I will do it, right away."
I cut the call and waited for his message. Meanwhile, my heart thumped against my ribcage. I placed a hand above it and started rubbing it to lessen the pain.
I hiccupped, suddenly, and started patting my heart lightly.
It's going to be fine. I kept chanting in my head.
When that did not calm my nerves, the light pats turned into loud claps as my hand struck against my chest in a not so gentle manner.
All kinds of what-ifs were swarming my thoughts and I hated the feeling of helplessness and hopelessness that made its way inside my heart.
I placed my arms above my knees and buried my head in them to gather myself. I let out silent sobs as the thought of something happening to my brother played in my head.
Please God, I can't lose him. I can't lose any more of my family. Please, let him be okay.
I was shaking by the time my phone finally rang once again and I, hastily, checked the notification that had popped.
It was the location of the hospital from an unknown number and a message that read, Terrence here.
With wobbly legs, I stood while taking the support from the wooden railing. I contemplated if I should tell Darius but decided against it.
He had such a long and tiring day.
I did not want to disturb him.
Besides, he can't always carry my emotional baggage. He does not deserve it.
I started descending the stairs hastily and so I ended up tripping on the second last step. I fell down with a loud thump, my head colliding with the floor, but I did not dare waste any more time and ran out as fast as my weak legs could.
George was, thankfully, still here and when he saw me running towards him, his eyes widened.
"Ms. Eirene, what's wrong?"
I was unable to speak so I showed him the location on my phone.
He frowned, "It's the hospital nearby. You want me to take you there?"
I quickly nodded my head.
"Okay, okay. Let me at least inform sir."
I shook my head, "N-No. H-He's sleeping. Please, George, I am begging you. M-My brother-" I could not complete the sentence and choked on a sob.
"Okay, okay. I will inform him later. Please, calm down and sit inside." He instructed and returned my phone.
I followed his instructions and sat inside the car. I checked the back of my phone to see my credit card there and sighed in relief.
I might need it for the hospital bills.
"George, please drive faster. How long till we reach there?" I asked after a while.
"It will take only ten more minutes." His voice was laced in worry.
I closed my eyes and rested my head against the cold window. The tears had dried long ago, I had no more capacity left in me to cry.
I just needed for my brother to be fine.
Ten minutes passed like ten hours and we finally reached the hospital. I stepped out of the car and the hospital building came into my view. I looked at George who had rushed to stand beside me before running inside the building.
I stopped at the reception and the man looked up, "Hello, how can I help you?"
"My b-brother. He's here." I told him while panting.
"Ma'am, please calm down. Can you tell me the name of the patient?" He asked in a professional tone.
"Angelo. Angelo Petrakis." I told him.
His eyes widened for fraction of a second and he quickly typed something in the system and a few seconds later, he looked back at me, "He is in ICU 2. It's on the first floor, you can take the lift."
I quickly dashed towards the lift on the left and violently pressed on the button. It opened in a second and I stepped inside, George following closely behind, "He will be alright, Ms. Eirene."
I stayed quiet and the lift dinged open.
I rushed towards the first nurse that came in my sight, "Angelo Petrakis." I told her.
She pointed towards the room at the end of the hallway, "He's there."
I nodded and rushed towards the room. I saw a young man sitting in the waiting area and figured it was Terrence.
"Are you Terrence?" I softly called.
He looked up from his phone in shock but quickly recovered, "Oh, I am sorry. I was so lost, I didn't hear you coming. Yes, it's him."
"I am Eirene, Angelo's sister." I told him.
Recognition flashed in his eyes and he stood up, "Oh, thank God, you're here. He's in surgery, currently."
I nodded my head and swallowed the ball of nerves clogging my throat, "Terrence, I don't know how to repay you. What you have done for Angelo means the world to me. If it weren't for you, he..." I trailed off and looked down.
"Ms. Eirene, please calm down. He will be alright soon." He replied, kindly.
I could feel George looming over my head like a death angel because Terrence kept stealing glances at him from time to time.
"George, don't scare him. He helped Angelo." I quietly whispered to George and he took one step back.
"Please tell me, how can I repay you?" I looked up at him.
He gave me a small smile, "Don't worry about that, they didn't even let me pay the bill since I am a stranger. It was my duty as a human to help your brother."
Tears gathered in my eyes, "Thank you, thank you so much. Your family should be proud of you, this world needs more people like yourself." I said, genuinely grateful.
He smiled, "Thank you, miss. But I must take my leave now. I have to pick my wife up from her office."
"I owe you my brother's life. If I can be of any help, you can always contact me." I told him.
"Sure, goodbye. And don't worry, he's going to be alright." He said one last time and walked away.
Just then, the door opened and a doctor came out of that room.
He looked at me and then back inside the room before closing the door.
"Angelo Petrakis, I am his sister." I told the middle-aged doctor.
"Oh." He nodded his head. "Well, I am Dr. Edward. My team and I just performed minor surgery on your brother. It appears that he had met a terrible accident and took a hard blow to his head. In our language, we call it intracranial epidural hematoma. It's a collection of blood clots under the skin which are caused when your arteries, capillaries, or veins are damaged. In your brother's case, it was his arteries that exploded."
"We usually wait for it to heal itself but in rare cases we have to surgically remove it, depending upon the location of the hematoma. Angelo had it in between his skull and outer part of the brain."
I pursed my lips as I digested his words or at least tried to.
"How is he now?" I asked.
"He's alive. The surgery was successful but he had a lot of physical injuries. We ran some tests on him to see if there's any internal damage or bleeding and are now waiting for the results." He informed.
"Can I see him, please?" I asked, pleadingly.
"I am afraid not." He answered, apologetically. "He's still under critical observation. Depending upon the test results, we will shift him to the ward in a few hours. Till then, you'd have to wait."
My heart stopped, "A few hours?"
He nodded his head, "Unfortunately, yes."
I sighed softly and nodded my head, "Okay."
He turned to leave but stopped and faced me again, George stood straighter now, the air around us suddenly turning thick.
"What's wrong? I asked fearfully.
"I hate to break it to you but he might suffer from memory loss."