Above the water

Breathless

As Sabrina entered the doors of the hospital, she was well familiar with, she could see the pity in everyone’s eyes. She did not want people to express their condolences. She just wanted to forget about the pain of loss. She wanted to concentrate on other things, such as finally signing the contract from R&M Enterprises – Ryan's boss company.

She walked past Emma who was sitting on her desk outside her cabinet, carefree talking on her phone and laughing just until her eyes stopped on Sabrina’s devastated face.

‘Dr. Olsen!’ - she quickly hung up the phone and raised herself to greet her, stressed. She well knew how much Sabrina hated personal phone calls whenever there are patients on the line waiting. - ‘I...’ - she began again, but Sabrina interrupted her.

‘Bring me coffee, please, and personal calls in your break.’ - she walked past her and got in her office.

When her work was on the line, you could see a side of her that was way different from who she was. Everybody in the hospital knew her as always demanding for better, strong and hard-working. There were days when she was the last one left in the hospital, sometimes to check up on patients, other times to do paperwork. Her face was always looking so serious. Sometimes she could hear people whispering in the corners: ‘She needs to chill out’, ‘Does she ever smile?’, ‘Is there anything else she does rather that sleeping here’, ‘What’s wrong with her?’, ‘She is such a grump.’, but of course she cared least for that.

Knock, knock.

She suddenly turned her head to the door after leaving her purse on her desk.

‘Yes!’ - she answered a bit firmly. Emma walked in with her cup of hot steaming coffee.

‘Here is your coffee.’ - she placed it on her desk. - ‘There is somebody outside asking for you. Ryan Davis.’

Sabrina raised her sight a bit surprised. She hadn't heard from him since the evening they spent together on the yacht. She was overthinking their conversation multiple times and felt so weak for sharing all her personal life with him. He was a stranger after all.

‘Dr. Olsen?’ - Emma snapped at her to get her attention as she seemed suddenly somewhere else.

‘Um...Just invite him in. Thank you. - she quickly said shaking her head. She walked by her desk and sat down as Emma walked out of her office.

Few moments later another loud knock on the door sounded in her ears.

‘Come in!’ - she quickly answered, but something else on her desk caught her attention. There were a bunch of letters and documents left for her from the time she was taking a break. In her hands she held the report from the evening her mother died, which she personally requested from the hospital where she was accommodated after the accident. As she was holding in her hands the very reason her mother died, the door of her office opened, and Ryan walked in. That moment when her eyes met his, the report slipped off her hand, and a moment of silence filled the room as they both stared at each other speechless. His blue eyes darted through her like an arrow piercing a target. Shivers ran through her body from the way he looked at her. It was as if he was seeing her for the first time. She swallowed the lump in her throat and finally spoke.

‘Please, have a seat.’ - she said anxiously, her voice trembling slightly and a small smile crept in.

‘I apologise for coming unannounced.’ - he said to her back as formal as she sounded too.

‘That is quite alright. Would you like some coffee.’ - she reached the phone standing at the right corner of her desk to call for Emma, but his sudden move caught her off guard. He placed his hand on hers and she raised her sight at him.

‘I’m good.’ - he kept staring at her.

‘Um...’ - she felt uncomfortable and quickly moved her hand.

‘Is it going to be that weird all the time we meet.’ - he joked with her.

‘Sorry. I am not quite used to that kind of situation.’ - she bit her lower lip.

‘What? Sleeping with your business partner.’ - he joked again.

‘Goddamnitt...lower your voice!’ - she raised up, shocked from his carefree act and walked to the door to check out if anyone had heard a thing. Like people haven't been talking and whispering enough to give them another reason. She signed and when she closed the door and turned around Ryan was sitting in millimeters of her. She was startled and took a step back, slamming into the door. That caught her by surprise and her heart started racing in her chest.

‘Have dinner with me.’ - he leaned closer to her face. His hand caressed her cheek and she leaned following his moves as she was enjoying his touch.

‘Ryan...I’ - she hesitated but a knock on the door made her jump from dread. She pushed him away and started fixing her hair and clothes. She turned to him and gave him a dead look to walk away, he giggled and sat down back on the chair. She reached the door handle and opened it.

‘Dr. Olsen I apologise for interrupting your meeting but...’ - she began but Sabrina raised her hand clearly annoyed by her.

‘Please Emma, cut to the chase. I am busy.’ - she interrupted her.

‘There is a courier asking for you. He doesn’t want to give me anything.’ - she said, a bit embarrassed from her reaction.

‘Fine. Just call him here.’ - she closed the door of her cabinet leaving Ryan inside. In a flash Emma came back running with the courier carrying a huge pink roses' flower bouquet in his hands.

‘Are you Sabrina Olsen.’ - he asked, staring at a folder with a bunch of names written on it.

‘I am.’ - she stared at the flowers in disbelief.

‘This is for you.’ - he pushed the flowers in her hands with a slight aggression, possibly because Emma always knew how to annoy a person. - ‘Sign here.’ - he opened his mouth again. She grabbed the pen and signed the paper. He turned around and walked aways as she was watching the man leaving the hospital building, she buried her face in the beautiful roses' bouquet and enjoyed the smell tickling her nose. She noticed a small note stick between the roses. She was surprised because the only person who could possibly send her flowers was now sitting at her office waiting for her. She took the note and as she was walking back into her office she opened it.

‘I was thinking Italian?’ - that was what the note was saying. She lifted her head from the note and looked at Ryan, who had a cheerful expression on his face.

‘Really?’ - she lifted her right eyebrow at him, amused.

‘So?’ - he said to her playfully.

‘Fine! Pick me at 7.’ - she giggled. - ‘You need to go.’

‘I actually came to take the contract.’ - he looked at her like a little puppy.

‘You are unbelievable.’ - she shook her head and took the papers out of her desk’s drawer. She took a pen and signed it. - ‘Here!’ - she walked past her desk and gave him the papers. - ‘Now... go, please.’

‘See you at 7, sweetness.’ - he leaned and kissed her cheek. She trembled with the touch of his lips on her skin. When he parted away from her, she was just standing there staring at him as his deep blue oceans took her in like a spell, he casted on her. A creepy smile immediately painted on his face as he started walking away.

‘Ryan.’ - she said after him, that made him pause and turned his head to look at her. - ‘Thank you for the flowers.’ - he only smiled at her and left the room.

It didn’t take long for her pager to start screaming. She was called in a hurry for a patient. She dropped her flowers on her desk, together with the letter she was earlier looking at and left her office. The whole day she was running around, helping, caring and supporting her patients. She took her lunch break sitting in the room with an old lady, whose heart was wrapped in all kinds of machines, and this was the only way it was functioning. The only thing that was keeping her alive was those machines. She spent an hour talking to her, or I could say talking to herself because the lady was not conscious. She wished she could do something to help her, but there was nothing more to be done for her but waiting. Her family didn’t have the courage to stop the machines, but so was she not having the courage to tell them to do it as now she knew what it was to lose a parent.

It was now 6 o’clock and everybody was leaving the hospital. Even the cleaners were done sanitising and packing their stuff. The nurses who were staying for the night shift prepared themselves in the other wing of the hospital. Only Sabrina remained at her office filling out some paperwork and drinking her fourth cup of coffee. She was wearing a glasses on her face, because her eyes were so tired already that they were closing themselves from staring at her computer. She moved her cup of coffee away to sort some papers but the moment she took them away her eyes landed on the letter from the hospital her mother passed out. She quickly dug it from the mess and took it out. She rubbed her eyes under the glasses and signed. It took a moment before she opened it and started reading. Her eyes quickly scrolled down to the section ‘Cause of death:’ and she started reading:

‘Internal gastric bleeding, hematoma in the left hemisphere of the brain, multiple abrasions on the body, broken ulna, puncture abdominal wound, blood loss...’

She suddenly felt dizzy again. Her heart ached. As she continued reading, she could barely hold herself not crying her eyes out, but as she turned the next page from the report, she was stuffed. Her forehead furrowed and her mouth dropped open.

POLICE STATEMENT OF THE CASE: Braking distance of 400 m before impacts caused by non-functioning of the car's brakes, which were intentionally cut.

‘What the...’ - she suddenly frowned and removed the glasses off her face trying to focus again on the paper and double check if she read it correctly, but all of a sudden, all the lights in the hospital went out. That took her by surprise as she raised up and left the paper down on her desk. When she walked out of her office, all the corridors at the floor, she was, were empty and dark. You could barely see something.

‘HALLO?’ - she yelled to find out if someone was there with her or she was absolutely alone. No answer followed, but instead a door sound opening and closing made her shake off. She took a step back when she noticed a man shadow approaching her. She was just about to scream again when the shadow moved aside and reflection of a hand holding a gun shocked her up. She put a hand on her mouth to stop herself from making any noise and slowly got inside her office and locked the door.

‘Oh my god!!!!!’ - she started digging in her purse, looking for her phone, trying to calm her breath. Her heart was racing like it would jump out of her chest any second. - ‘Where is it?!?!?!’ - she screwed up, but now she could hear footsteps approaching her louder and louder. - ‘Yes!’ - she said a bit louder and a second later she put her hand on her mouth regretting it. Fortunately, the footsteps walked in another direction. She quickly opened her phone, it was 18:45. Just 15 minutes before Ryan picks her up. She started dealing his phone number, staying low behind her desk.

‘Please pick up, please pick up...’ - she couldn’t stop saying to herself.

And then two signals later...

‘Impatient already?’ - a soft giggle sounded from the other line. She signed in relief.

‘Ryan...’ - her voice was shaking. She spoke as quietly as possible.

He was sitting in his car at the red traffic light, just a few blocks from the hospital, listening to music. On the right seat next to him there was a small box, nicely packed with ribbon, holding a surprise for her. When his phone suddenly buzzed, he chuckled a little from the name popping up on his screen. That was until he heard her voice.

‘What is it??’ - he suddenly snapped.

‘There is a man with a gun.’ - her hands were shaking and she dropped the phone down on the floor and it rolled under her desk. - ‘Shit...’ - she screwed and squatted down to pick it up.

‘What?!? Where are you?’ - no answer followed his question. - ‘SABRINA. Answer me!’ - no answer again. ‘f**k!’ - he yelled and pressed the accelerator of the car down before the traffic light turned green. A wave of disgruntled drivers and loud noises followed after some of the drivers had to press the brakes to avoid impact with him. His heart was racing like he was on some marathon. He knew that this could not be a coincidence. There was his father’s hand again trying to prove to him that he can’t win this war. His fist clenched on the car’s steering wheel and he was not stopping at any of the traffic lights he drove through causing chaos. People's voices sounded from the cars around him, but he couldn’t care less about them. The only thing he cared about was her and if anything happened to her... - ‘MOVEEE.’ - he screamed as the car’s horn blew when a woman tried crossing the street and he barely managed to drive around her. He grabbed his phone and tried dealing her number again. Unfortunately, her phone was not on silent mode, and as she was just holding it in her hand the melody started flowing outside in the corridors.

‘No!’ - she quickly pressed the red button by default to stop the sound, but it was already too late. A footsteps started approaching her and a second later the door’s handle started moving up and down.

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Author’s note: This is my first story and I’m really excited. I hope you all enjoy it. Feel free to criticise me. That will help me and this story to become better. And don’t forget to follow for more.