Code Blue blared through the hospital’s PA system. The emergency team sprinted down the corridor, white coats flaring behind them. They burst into the patient’s room, a physician’s voice cutting through the chaos with sharp commands.
Down the hallway, Sienna stood frozen, both hands pressed against her mouth, her eyes wide with terror. Through trembling fingers, she whispered, “David is dying.”
Her friend Veronica slid an arm around her shoulders and guided her to a nearby chair. Inside the room, the rhythmic thud of CPR began as nurses and doctors shouted updates. Sienna’s gaze was glassy, her thoughts spinning ahead to a life without David—raising the kids alone, paying mortgage and college tuition, even walking the dog at dawn.
“He’s dead. He’s dead,” she murmured.
“You don’t know that,” Veronica said quickly.
Tears slipped from Sienna’s eyes. “He asked me to help steady the ladder as he got on the roof, but I said I was cooking. I killed him.”
“Why was he even on the roof?” Veronica asked.
“I was adjusting the antenna!” David said as he walked up behind them.
Startled, Veronica screamed. Sienna fainted.
David caught her just before she hit the floor. “What happened? What’s wrong with her?”
Veronica grabbed his arm, her face pale. She pointed toward the crowded hospital room.
“Oh, that,” David said, blinking. “They moved me to a different room last night. I’m fine! They just released me—I was trying to find you two.”
Relief washed over them. Veronica hugged them both as Sienna stirred awake, confusion melting into joy. She threw her arms around her husband, sobbing with laughter.
“Baby, I’m fine,” David said, grinning. “And the best part? We get Channel 7 now!”
Dart Humeston writes flash fiction and novels from Florida where he grew up dodging alligators and hurricanes. He earned a master’s degree and worked for twenty-five years in higher education, including teaching freshmen students. He lives with his wife and four cats in south-central Florida; The cats are single.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Remember that we are here to support each other.