The Edge of Hope

Chapter 13

Gabe nearly dropped his glass as a wave of nausea hit him, his hearing dimming with a ringing in his ears. He steadied himself and saw Dan’s concerned expression and could only hear the muffling of his words.

Slowly, he came right but he was shaking. His heart was racing and a feeling of dread took over. He was a man of science but he knew it was his instinct, his sixth sense, telling him something was wrong. Very wrong.

“You alright?”

“Something’s wrong.” Gabe spilt his drink as he got up and grabbed his jacket but he didn’t bother apologizing. An invisible force was pulling him outside and towards his car.

He heard Dan apologise to the bartender behind and followed him out.

He grabbed Gabe just before he got his car and turned him around. “Where the hell are you going?” he demanded.

“Let go of me! Something is wrong, I just… I just know there is. Hope” – he fell back against his car as he felt his veins fill with the horror of something happening to her.

“Is she…” Dan’s phone rang and he growled, reaching for it, and Gabe saw him frowning. He looked up at Gabe and saw his expression was mirrored.

“Who is that?” Gabe choked out.

“It’s Carol,” Dan mumbled. He answered and Gabe immediately heard the screaming and crying over the phone. “Whoa, Carol, slow down, what is” – more screaming – “Where are you?”

Gabe covered his mouth with his hands, forcing the bile back down. “Oh, God,” he cried. Something’s happened.

“We need to get to the hospital.” Dan grabbed Gabe’s car keys out of his hand and shouted at him, “Get in!”

Like he was still on auto-pilot, Gabe jumped into the passenger side and slammed the door just as Dan raced away and headed for the hospital.

Gabe was quiet for a few seconds before he turned to Dan. “What the hell happened? What did Carol say?” He was getting hysterical and it was evident with strain in his voice, barely coming out.

“Hope was… she was in an accident.” Dan held the steering wheel with white knuckles as he flew down the streets.

“Well? Is she fine? f**k, Dan,” his voice broke and Dan looked at him. He felt his heart evaporate at the look in his eyes. “Is she fine?!” Gabe roared.

“We don’t know! Carol doesn’t know!”

He dropped his head and flinched when he felt his phone vibrating. He quickly fished it out and struggled to focus as his hands shook.

‘Hi Gabe, it’s John from unit 5. The police are here, there’s a woman out cold in your room and Hope just ran out. Not sure where she is. Seems like there was a struggle and we heard a lot of screaming. Will keep you posted until you get back.’

“f**k, f**k, f**k!” Gabe slammed the dashboard and turned to Dan. “Alice was there. She went after Hope. She f*****g attacked her!”

Dan swerved into the parking lot and had barely stopped before Gabe was out and running towards the emergency entrance.

“Gabe, wait!” But Gabe was too far gone, he stepped inside and twisted around trying to find someone to help him.

Dan was next to him soon after, breathing heavily. “Ok, let’s get someone.”

“Excuse me!” Gabe ran to the desk and the nurse looked up and frowned at him, then at Dan.

“How can I help you?”

“Hope Whitfield, where is she?”

“Are you family, sir?”

“No, she doesn’t have… f**k, just tell me where she is!”

Dan pulled Gabe back and tried to calm him down. “Hey, just breath, alright?” He turned back to the nurse and spoke for him. “He’s her boyfriend, he’s her only family. Please.”

The nurse glanced between the two men and started tapping away at her keyboard. Gabe wanted to throw the computer across the lobby, it was taking too damn long.

“Ok, I’m going to call Dr Raymond, he’s the attending physician, if you’ll just have a seat, please.”

Gabe was about to snap but was pulled back by Dan and forced onto the chair. “Dan, I need to see her, I can’t just sit here!”

“Her doctor is coming, alright? There,” he pointed, “I can see him now.”

Dr Raymond walked briskly towards them, a devastated and hysterical Carol towing behind him. She ran up to Dan and threw herself into his arms. She wept and Gabe felt his stomach bottom out. He stood up and didn’t give the doctor a chance to introduce himself.

“Dr Raymond, what’s going on?”

“You must be Gabe? Carol said you would come.”

“Yes, yes. How is she?”

He opened a chart folder and his expression was solemn. “She’s in surgery at the moment. She arrived in critical condition, but we’re doing our best.”

Gabe spluttered, not able to get a single word out.

Dan spoke up instead. “What injuries is she being treated for?”

“She has extensive internal bleeding, blunt force trauma and multiple fractures on her clavicle, ribs and both femurs. She also has a dislocated shoulder and several lacerations across her body.”

Gabe suddenly wretched and managed to get to the dustbin in time as he heaved and expelled all the contents of his stomach. He collapsed to the ground, and two nurses were by his side in seconds.

“It’s alright, ladies, thank you,” Dan spoke softly and he helped Gabe back to the seats. Carol sat down next to him and grabbed his hands.

“I’m so worried about her,” she said through wracked sobs. “I don’t know what to do.”

Dan looked around and then at Carol. “Does Sal know?”

She nodded and sniffed, wiping her nose on her sleeve. “He’s on holiday with his brother in Europe. He can only get a flight out tomorrow.”

“Shit.” Dan paced around and glanced at his friend, who was sitting as still as a statue. “Gabe, can I get you anything?”

He only shook his head once and leaned back, his eyes closed and tears staining his cheeks.

“Dr Raymond, how soon can we have an update?”

“I can check again in ten minutes and let you know.”

“Please do, thanks.”

Dan then sat next to Carol, the three of them looking worse than death itself.

She noticed him wringing his hands and swearing to himself. She looked to Dan and he whispered to her, “Alice attacked Hope, I think she was in the accident trying to get away from the apartment.”

“Oh,” Carol’s voice broke and a fresh wave of tears overcame her.

Gabe looked at her and squeezed her hand back. “She knocked Alice out apparently. She put up a good fight, I think.”

Although he had good intentions, his comment did little to comfort any of them. They all took turns pacing up and down, waiting for an update that seemed to be taking years instead of minutes.

As Gabe paced around, he noticed Dr Raymond walking towards them, looking no happier than he did just now.

“Gabe, Dan, Carol.” He nodded to each one, all quiet in anticipation.

“Hope lost a lot of blood, we did multiple transfusions which helped,” he shuffled slightly before he continued, looking Gabe straight in the eye. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to stabilise her, the damage was just too extensive” – Gabe only caught snippets of the doctor’s speech after that as his vision swirled and blood rushed in his ears. “internal bleeding… punctured lung… didn’t make it… surgery was unsuccessful.”

Suddenly Gabe snapped his gaze to the doctor, the wailing of Carol bringing him back to his senses. “What?”

“I’m sorry, sir. We did everything we could. I’ll give you all a second.” And he disappeared down the hall, leaving Gabe in utter disbelief.

Everything went silent as the world stopped turning for a split second as Gabe’s mind slowly made sense of what he just heard. ‘She didn’t make it.’

A distant wailing was heard, and slowly he turned around and saw Carol collapse to the ground, Dan holding her. It was clear he was trying to hold his emotions back. Still, he heard nothing.

He looked down the corridor one way, and then to the other side. The doors at the end stretched out infinitely far, the exit sign dimming to a dull flash in the distance.

And then he saw the floor coming towards him, fast.

And then he saw black.