Branded(61)

“As much as I like this more chipper part of you, you might want to dial it back a notch. I heard this accident was pretty bad and the family members might not like you humming the song ‘Happy’,” Suzy says with a laugh.

Putting on my game face when the elevator doors open to the first floor, I push the blood cart out into the hallway and pick up my pace as we head to the ER. I hear Jackson yell my name to let me know he’s right behind me when we turn the corner and see a madhouse of hospital workers, racing back and forth between curtained areas.

Suzy grabs a blood collection kit from the bottom shelf of the cart, but a worker stops us to let us know that only two patients were transported via ambulance instead of the original three we were told about.

“Well, that’s good news, at least. You want me to take them?” Suzy asks.

I shake my head. “No, you go on back upstairs. I can handle it.”

She shoves her tray back onto the cart and disappears down the hall. Pushing aside the first curtain, I head inside with my cart. There’s a man lying in bed talking to a woman I assume is his wife based on the way she’s fussing over him and kissing every inch of his face.

“Knock, knock,” I announce, pushing the cart up next to the bed.

The woman moves back, but doesn’t let go of his hand.

“I’m just going to take a few vials of blood to make sure everything is okay. How are you feeling?”

He starts explaining the accident to me and I keep him talking, asking a bunch of questions to keep his mind off of the needle prick while I fill up four vials of blood. It’s over in seconds and I’m untying the tourniquet from his arm when he looks down in shock.

“Wow, you’re fast. And that was pretty painless,” he tells me with a chuckle. “Do you know how the driver of the red car is? I saw the whole thing happen and it was really bad.”

I finish marking his patient information on the vials and stick them into the blood collection tray so they can be sent up to the lab for testing once I’m finished with the next patient.

“I’m not sure, but I think they’re bringing her in next. I’ll check and let you know,” I tell him, disposing of the needle and syringe in the red biohazard container on the wall next to his bed.

Slipping off my latex gloves, I toss them into the trashcan before grabbing my cart and moving back out into the main hallway. The wife holds the curtain open for me and thanks me as I go.

I hear a loud commotion at the end of the hallway and move my cart out of the way. The doors to the ambulance bay have burst open and I see a gurney being wheeled in, surrounded by paramedics. Figuring this is the second accident victim, I start grabbing things off of my cart so I can be prepared when it’s my turn. Glancing down at the fast moving bed as it whizzes past me, my supplies drop from my hand and clatter to the floor when I see who’s on it.

My legs move on autopilot as I follow behind the gurney into an empty, curtained area. I push my way between the paramedics as they count to three and then lift Finnley from the gurney, moving her to a hospital bed. I immediately lean over my best friend, running my hands down her blood-covered face.

“What happened? What the fuck happened?” I cry as a doctor and two nurses rush in and get all of her stats from the paramedics.

“Phina, you need to move away,” one of the nurses I’ve worked with off and on through the years says from behind me.

“Tell me what the fuck happened!” I bark at her.

“Car accident, that’s all we know,” she tells me as she hangs her IV bags on a portable stand and starts moving her stethoscope all around Finnley’s chest.

While the doctor walks to the opposite side of the bed and starts checking her vitals and ordering things from the nurse, I press my cheek to Finnley’s.

“You’re going to be okay, honey. Please, just open your eyes,” I sob.

I can’t stop touching her as the doctor orders me to move back. I smooth her blood-caked hair away from her face, run my hands down her cheeks, throat and chest and breathe a small sigh of relief when I feel her heart beating strongly under my palms. I cradle her head to my chest and squeeze my eyes closed, praying that she’s going to be okay.

The doctor keeps shouting at me to leave and I ignore him until the nurse grabs onto my arms and forcibly pulls me away from my friend. The tears fall steadily down my cheeks as I take a step back and watch them rip open Finnley’s shirt and press heart monitors onto her skin. I hold my hand against my mouth to stop myself from sobbing as everyone barks orders and rushes around her bedside.

I finally notice Brad standing off to the side and he walks over to me.