Parts Four Through Eleven

Suzy pushed open the two doors that read “Emergency Wing” and walked through. She waked down the hall; walls painted a dull white, the floors had white tiles with gray spackles, the ceiling white like the walls with long boxed lights separated only by a couple of steps. To Suzy it seems like the hallway would never end. Finally, she made it to the entrance of Emily’s room; she paused for a moment questioning herself and what she might walk in to. Suzy would take one step forward to take two steps back, her knees shook, her palms were sweaty, and her mouth felt as if she was swallowing cotton.
Suzy stared at the white with little blue flowers curtain that hid Emily from the world. She pulled the curtain back slowly. Emily lay there, tubes and wires coming out everywhere, it brought tears to Suzy eyes to see her little girl like this. Emily lay sleeping, machines surrounded her head, they would hum and buzz and you could occasionally hear a beep or two. As Suzy walked closer she noticed Emily holding something in her hand; Suzy slowly removed it, trying not to wake her daughter. It was a folded piece of paper, Suzy opened it and found herself looking at a woman, who looked familiar, and a baby in the woman’s arms. She stared at the photo trying to put a name to the face she was staring at. The photo wasn’t clear and it was on regular paper. She left the room and walked down to the nurses station. Suzy asked the head nurse at the station if she knew who was in the photo and if she knew where her daughter got it from. The head nurse didn’t know and neither did any of the other nurses but she did tell Suzy that they had a corkboard of all the pregnancies delivered in the hospital, she also told Suzy where she could find the board. Suzy thanked nurse and headed to the board; Emily would be asleep for a long time, Suzy might as well have done something to occupy herself. She walked down those white hallways again searching the filing cabinets in the back of her memory for a name to the face she still stared at. Suzy found the photo-filled corkboard and rummaged through the photos till she found the match. She took the photo down from the wall and turned it over. She read the name to herself and again out loud. Emotions poured over Suzy and she felt her knees start to tremble and soon enough they gave out. She sat on the floor of the hallway and shook and cried aloud. There was no emotion that over powered any of the others. Nurses rushed over, questions zoomed around the gaggle of women, bottles of water were brought to Suzy, who by this point was hyperventilating. Moments later Suzy had a mask over her face and was being yelled at by ten doctors and six nurses. The next thing Suzy saw was black.
Emily awoke dazed and extremely confused. Questions raced through her mind, she began to panic when her pupils initiated to focus and her mother wasn’t in her sights. A blood curling, ear piercing, glass shattering scream arose and hit the ear of a nearby nurse as if it was a high speed plane crashing into the Atlantic. The nurse sprinted gaining speed from the adrenaline pumping through her veins. The nurse walked into Emily screaming for her mother, she kicked and swung and threw her body as if she was a rag doll in a washing machine. She ripped the I.V. and the other tubes and wires that connected Emily to the machines. The machines screeched and beeped and went crazy when they were torn from Emily’s body. Emily’s room sounded like a zoo, the nurse ran out and asked another nearby nurse for some help to restrain Emily so the original nurse could administer the sedative. In mere moments Emily began to slow down, then soon enough stop completely.
Suzy arose from her small, bumpy, and lumpy bed. The picture was still in her clammy fist, she shook all over from the medication she was given. She stared long and hard at the picture that was rinkled and running due to the sweat her hand produced during the episode. She couldn’t find the thought that sent her into the tizzy. Suzy let her mind wander, no set destination, pure freedom to think and feel at the instant it would happen. It was as if a light bulb went off inside Suzy’s head, all of a sudden she remembered what sent her over the edge earlier.
Emily awoke to the sound of her attending nurse telling her it was time for dinner. Usually attending nurses change each shift but due to the fact that Emily was so young the hospital decided not to confuse her with alternating nurses. Emily liked her nurse, she thought she was nice and had really pretty hair. Her name was Lisa, Emily liked that too. Lisa explained to Emily that she was going to be her nurse for the entire time she was in the hospital, Emily smiled and then apologized for her behavior earlier. Lisa completely understand and accepted Emily’s apology and then said she would be back later to check on her.
Suzy’s nurse walked in shortly after she had awoken. The nurse checked her blood pressure, which was still slightly raised, her heart rate, that also raised, and then the nurse took some blood she wasn’t allowed to do it earlier because Suzy was hyperventilating and the doctors had no clear reason as to why. Before the nurse walked out she turned to Suzy and simply said,
“What happened?”

part three.

By now it had been hours since Emily was admitted and still no-one had told Suzy how her little girl was doing. Emily was the only thing Suzy had left. Emily’s father was a marine and went to serve in the war against Germany; Emily was only a few months old when he had to leave. It was the hardest thing he ever had to do. Seventeen months after being deployed Suzy got a letter in the mail, she opened and found a letter from the General of the Corp. and her husband’s dog tags. He died in the final battle defending his country. To this day Suzy has yet to tell Emily of her father and the courage he possessed.
Suzy thought about him a lot, most of the time without even realizing it, this was one of those times. In the middle of one of those memories the doctor came up and tapped Suzy on the shoulder. He stood in front of Suzy for a moment without saying a word, he could see the questions in her face. Suzy stared into his eyes searching for an answer. The doctor just nodded his head at Suzy and she knew Emily was okay. The only words Suzy could get out were, “ Can I…“and the doctor nodded his head once again and told Suzy the room her daughter was now in.

part two.

One early summer day, Emily was running, and jumping and playing with the other children. In the matter of ten minutes into playing Emily started to feel light-headed, and dizzy and began to cough soo much she couldn’t catch her breathe. She fainted in the middle of the playground and nobody noticed. It took twenty minutes for her mom to notice that Emily wasn’t running around with the other children and that something was terribly wrong. Suzy fond Em motionless and barely breathing on the dirt of the playground. Suzy called 911 and waited to hear the sirens of the ambulance. She never let go of Em’s hand, squeezing it till Suzy herself couldn’t feel her fingers. Emily lay in the back of the ambulance fighting for her life. The ambulance team rushed her into the door of the E.R. wing where a group of surgeons, doctors, nurses took the lifeless body of Emily away to save her life. Emily’s mom left at the entrance of the E.R. with so many questions and not a single answer.
Emily’s mom paced the waiting room over and over and over again. If she wasn’t pacing she was staring out the window. The sky went from bright blue with white puffy clouds and a big yellow sun to a black with gray rain clouds pouring down. She watched the rain slowly fall down the window pain and yearned to hold Emily in her arms.

part one.

    There once was a girl named Emily. Emily had a teddy bear that she adored; she took that bear with her everywhere. The teddy bear was medium in size. It had a pink nose and crystal blue eyes, its’ fur was chestnut brown with lighter paw pads. Emily called her, Teddy; it was Emily’s best friend. Teddy’s been with her through everything.
     When Emily was born she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. She was kept in the Intensive Care Unit till the age of two. Her mom gave Teddy to her the day she was admitted to the I.C.U. Emily is now five years old, her childhood was a difficult one but she fought through it. So far, she has been the only child born with tuberculosis to live past the age of four. She is known as “The Hospital’s Miracle Baby”, as well as her parents miracle baby. Em wants to be like the other kids but it’s hard for her to run around like they do on the playground.
     Emily tried her hardest to fit in, she would run and jump around like the others. Her mother would reprimand her everytime saying, “ Em you can’t run around. You have an illness, you aren’t like every-other kid. You’re special.” Em always took being special as a good thing; that’s all she ever listened to during that speech.