Darren longed to hold her close but had not been able to, other than the night he had lifted the broken body from the road and had set it down in his cab, driving to the hospital. Now, lost in thought, his memory returned to the point when they had taken her away.
They initially allowed him to come back to her emergency room. But as the severity of Lea’s injuries became more apparent, they had Darren stand further away as additional people entered the chamber.
He remembered the instant her heart stopped beating but didn’t comprehend the time. Darren may have stood there an hour, helpless to do anything to assist in the resuscitation. Finally, they made him step out of the room into the hall, and a tech returned with the heart defibrillator.
He watched them from the corridor as they rushed around her. The curtain remained cracked even though someone had tugged it closed. Time halted, and Darren felt like his heart climbed into his throat; it would choke him. As he stared at Lea, he spoke the exact words repeatedly. “God, please send her back. God, please send her back.”
Three times they charged the grips and used them on her chest; finally, on the final attempt, her valves began to pump. Then Darren realized tears were rolling down his cheeks, and sobs filled the air.
“Thank you, God.” He repeated it, turning away and closing his eyes.
When he opened them again, Darren could see Lea inhaling and exhaling. Only a few minutes later, they rushed her away to a surgery room. Someone escorted Darren to the waiting room, and he spent twelve hours in a chair. The only break in the monotony occurred when they asked him to explain what had happened.
They mentioned her name; he hadn’t known it before. They admitted that they could not contact her mom; although the phone was ringing, no one answered the call. Then he spoke to the police. They notified him there were no criminal charges; the marks on the road corroborated his statement. This would only change if Lea recovered and gave a different account of the accident.
Darren hadn’t cared about any potential charges that might be filed against him later. He didn’t care whether prison was a possibility. All that mattered was seeing Lea alive and walking again. Darren yearned to stay by her side to see her wake to watch her get better eventually, no matter how long it took.
Spookychild’s writings 
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