Chapter Sixteen
Everything is Alright
The sky had grown dark as the rain kept pouring, and the world outside was dim and gray as Silvia Bluue checked out of the lobby. After fifteen hours of work, she was ready to call it a night and go home. Saying goodnight to Larry, the night security guard for the last fifteen years, she stepped out into the downpour.
Sighing to herself, she pulled her beige trench coat tighter to her slender form. One aged hand instinctively brushed a stray lock of her short red hair back from her forehead. Her loft was halfway across town, and with her luck she would be waiting in this storm for a long time trying to hail a cab. "I just bought these heels to.." one foot tapped the ground as she wondered whether or not it was worth it. Walking forward, her heels splashing as she moved toward the main street, Bluue contemplated staying overnight in her office. "It does have a large couch, and I could always just get up early and run home." the older woman mused to herself. Deep in thought, she almost missed the sound of a young woman calling for help.
In the gloom of the gray rain, a voice called out. Bluue stopped, turning to the source of the cry. Coming toward her, two figures limped through the rain. One was bent, seemingly holding the other as they dragged them through the street. Bluue called out to them, hoping they were not in some sort of trouble.
"We're closed." she turned to get on her way, but stopped as the figure carrying the other called back.
"Help us!Please! My friend is hurt!" As they got closer, Bluue began to see that it was a young woman with someone slung over her shoulder. He was larger than her by a fair amount, and she was hunching because of his weight. From the way he was slumped against her Bluue knew that he was unconscious, so finally she rushed forward to help. Dropping her umbrella, she ran over as fast as she could manage in her new heels. Once there, slightly wet from the rain that now only drizzled over the landscape, she grabbed the young man from the girl's shoulders.
"Oh thank god." she slid to the ground beside her friend, out of breath and crying. Soaked to the bone, the young woman pushed her hair from her face, trying to reign in the dripping strands."I tried to keep him awake, to get him to talk to me so he would not pass out and die. For awhile he kept talking, then he just stopped." the girl told her, eyes red with tears.
From the look of them, they were both injured. The young man Bluue now held was bleeding from a large wound on his side, skin pale, and his chest was barely moving from what she could see. His friend was in a little better shape, but she too was far from ok. The rain that fell from her body was tinted pink by blood, and the torn shirt she had clinging to her form was stained with blood and dirt. Bluue could not tell if this was hers or her friends. Seeping from her side was a small stream of blood. Both of them needed medical attention, and Bluue knew then that she would not be heading home for the night.
Calling on her long buried maternal instincts, Bluue patted the girls arm. "What is your name honey?" At first the girl did not respond, instead grasping the hand of her friend tightly, trying to wake him up. Again Bluue repeated herself, "Honey, what is your name. I need to know your name."
This got her attention. "It's..... It's Briar. My name is Briar Gantz." One shaking hand pointed to the boy. "His name is Dais DeBeaumont. Please." Briar looked up at her with red rimmed eyes."Please help us."
"Do not worry sweetheart. Everything is going to be fine." Bluue cooed to Briar. Her office was not that far from where they stood, and she was beginning to get cold from the rain that had begun to soak through her jacket and into her clothes underneath. "My office is just in that building over there. We are a medical facility, so you can both get help there."
Taking the boy in her arms, and setting him flat on the ground, Bluue reached for her cellphone. Quickly she punched in the numbers for the company's front desk. Larry picked up, as was customary.
"Hello. Recom Technologies. We are closed at this time, but we can take care of your call during regular business hours." his voice droned, having said this almost every night for fifteen years.
"Larry!" Bluue half yelled, trying to keep the phone from getting wet. "Larry, I need you to open the doors for me."
"Ms. Bluue?"
"Yes, it's Bluue Larry. Now open those doors, and check if there are any interns working tonight!" she looked over at her new patients, watching for just a moment as Briar leaned over her friend, holding him to her as if her life depended on him. From the color of his skin, Bluue had a bad feeling that he was not going to make it. He was snow white for god's sake!
"There are six interns working tonight, ma am." Larry told her, probably checking the list next to the door. Over the phone she heard a loud click, meaning the deadbolt was now disengaged.
"Good. Buzz all of them and tell them I need an OR and a patient room cleared. Bring a gurney and a wheelchair to the front of the building immediately. Leave the wheelchair inside the door, but bring the gurney out. I am just across the street, and I have two people in need of medical attention. Do you have all that Larry?"
After hearing him confirm her orders, she clicked off the phone and looked back down at her patients. It had been over a decade since she had been a clinical doctor, and much longer than that since she had worked on an injured patient. Yet, she knew that the boy would not make it if she did not do something while they waited.
Coming up next to Briar, Bluue squatted down to the ground. "Let's see what the problem is." With that, she finally looked at the boy in his entirety, and her entire world crumbled at the sight of him.