The smell of rain on the concrete; I was struck with that scent, electrifying me as if it were the lightning I could see in the ashen blue colored sky. The moon was blood tinged, ambient, and full. It was gleaming with light and although it is supposed to be the sun's counterpart, this night in Detroit it was a red dwarf star. Tall buildings in the distance were shadows beneath the sideways rain. All but the glass windows which were reflecting the fighting between the different colors of the night sky. When the lightning would strike, the branching bolts would take on the hue of the moon. It was pure, magnificent, and breathtaking. To be perfectly candid though, it seemed too difficult to find the words to describe its magnificent beauty.

Thunder gradually followed, shaking the parking garage that I was walking in. I could feel it faintly with every step I took. The wind sprung rain sideways and rained in by the gallon. Puddles that filled the worrisome potholes danced with ripples in every roar of thunder. Around every ten feet were loud buzzing orange fluorescent lights that flickered on and off.

The pitter patter put me in a great deal of a trance walking along the metal rails. Stepping past every taken parking space, I would run my hand along the rail flinging the droplets in every direction. I was getting closer and closer to the elevator at the end of the driveway, lit with the same flickers of orange light. I cannot emphasize enough that the flickering was more chaotic than the lightning itself. My hand covered my mouth in habit of me yawning and sighing as I was ever closer to the elevator. I was relieved that the night of vigorous studying was almost to an end.

Three, Two, One:

I was there, at the end of the garage, snapped out of the trance and found myself half asleep pressing the button for floor 3; where my dorm was. One full minute is what it took for the elevator to reach me. The minute felt like ten as I was getting fatigued exponentially by the second. The doors slowly opened as I barely managed to keep my eyes open. Floor one. There was a girl already there in the elevator.

The mood shifted, the roaring thunder somehow became dismal. The lightning filled the elevator but left the girl in darkness as a silhouette.

Sobbing was what I heard from this girl and utterly dismayed was what I felt.

"…Because Austin, I can't take this anymore"

Said the girl over the phone.

Suddenly, I was now completely awakened from my trance of the thunderstorm and my attention shifted toward her phone call.

"I-I just don't want to be treated like that anymore… you've demeaned me in ways that…"

A great pause was established for some time. Lightning flashed as bright as the morning sun then of course the thunder came and at that time the glass window from the elevator shook violently. Floor two.

"Wait?! You're apologizing?…"

The girl said this in such a way that it was as if her tone washed from disheartened to shocked.

"I really don't know what to say honestly."

Sniffled the girl almost crying this time.

The same flickering lights from the parking garage carried over to this shaking elevator.

"You've said you would change before though…"

The girl looked over at me briefly then her tone changed again for some reason. She looked like a timid girl, at least the way she presented herself with her body language. She was guarded and kept her head down the whole time. Although being timid, she was beautiful. She had a pretty face, long caramel hair and glowing blue eyes. She had on a black coat, wet from the rain, and she was carrying what looked like coffee in a Starbucks plastic cup with a metal straw.

"No. I can't do this anymore." 

Almost shockingly asserted the girl as she wiped away her tears

"I am breaking up with you Austin." 

Floor three. The doors opened.

Hit with a familiar appearance was this man standing right outside the elevator door on the skywalk. He was a tall, stocky man that was wearing a certain smile that just did not feel right to me. His hair was at one point a buzz cut but it was outgrown and matted. He had on a brown bomber leather jacket, baggy blue jeans with dirt all over them, and steel toe carhartt boots. The man had his arms to the side as if he were praying, reciting the 'Our Father'.

"Sammy!" 

Said this man in an overly caring tone of voice.

 "I was worried sick after the party! You left and I couldn't find you" 

He said while again overdrawing the concern in his speech.

"I told you over the phone Austin and I was clear. We're breaking up" 

Said the girl in a somewhat robotic tone. She was shaking and her voice was quivering but she had no real emotion when she said that.

The man glanced over at me. He stepped aside to the stairwell to let me out. He looked me in my eyes but I did not look back. I tried not to give him much thought but I could see in my peripheral vision that he was glaring at me. I walked past the two about to walk the skybridge to the dorm rooms.

I looked off in the distance over the large glass panes in the skybridge. This was obviously a matter between the two but I kept thinking to myself that everything seemed off about that girl and her boyfriend. He was there waiting for her when they were still on the phone. Why would they call each other if they knew they were going to meet here? Why was she trying to break up with him?

*Flash* another strike of lightning and *Boom* The thunder came loud and growling. The glass panes would shake from the storm and judging by how far away the lightning and thunder were apart, the storm was getting closer.

"You've been talking to your sister again right? Come on Sammy, we don't have to do this"

Said what I gathered was Austin in their conversation halfway down the bridge.

"It's been a long day baby! Why don't we just talk about it in the morning?" 

He said in that same over sympathetic tone of voice.

"I can make you that tea you like and I can make you some breakfast. It'll be like it used to be!"

I heard that last part only faintly as I was approaching the end of the hall.

"I told you no" 

said the girl

I opened the door to the dorm side of the building complex. To the right was a long wide hallway that had the dorm rooms either side. The hallway was dim, lit with yellow and white lights. There were 'popcorn' ceiling tiles covering the hallway all the way down to the end. The tiles were stained with rust and wet with water damage. Walking along to my dorm I could smell that mildew from the tiles as if it were following me to taunt me. I resented the smell but it did at the very same time tell me I was back at Wayne State.

I was there at my dorm; dorm 233. The lights were off so my roommate Brandon wasn't there. He was probably out in the thunder storm bar-hopping around the city. We both have an exam tomorrow so it doesn't bode well with him, I tried to tell him earlier.

I was just about to open the door with my keycard from my wallet when a flush of embarrassment kicked me in my ass. I found myself, half asleep, frantically patting down my pockets until I came face to face with the fact that I left my wallet in my car.

I walked back to the skywalk and the storm was at full throttle. Thunder and lightning were now every other second. The glass was shaking violently. Bursts of color came from outside in the apparent electric playground. Red like the Red Wings and Pistons, Orange like the Tigers, Honolulu Blue like the Lions.

What seemed even more violent than the storm was the 'conversation' that was happening between Samantha and Austin at the other side of the skywalk. I could see through the rectangular glass pane but only slightly and it was faint to hear. Samantha and Austin were now in the service stair-case. Austin now had his back turned, obscuring my view of Samantha.

"I told you this SO MANY fucking times but you don't EVER listen to me. That wasn't my fault and you fucking know it. I HAD to do it, I had no other choice. That little creep was going to snitch on me!" 

Yelled Austin spitting into Samantha's face.

"You did have a choice Austin, you can't live with it so you make it my problem. My sister was right about you 4 years ago and she is right now. You play victim to get your way"

Austin grabbed Samantha by the collar of her raincoat and put her to the edge of the railing.

"I warned you about disrespecting me." 

rather eerily said Austin in a calm tone to Samantha. Austin slapped Samantha across the face.

"Austin stop! You're hurting me" 

Screamed Samantha

"Who's the victim now?!"

Yelled Austin with a smile, sadistically laughing

I slammed open the door, nearly drawing the whole hallway with silence. The oddest thing was that even the storm grew silent after my entrance.

"Do NOT lay another hand on her!"

I shouted across the bridge

Austin slapped Samantha with the back of his hand immensely harder than the last. The lightning flashed blue as Samantha wept uncontrollably. Austin pushed Samantha into the rail and her cup of coffee fell off.

I ran as fast as I could across the skybridge. I was midway through but the thunder rumbled the whole thing like an earthquake. The lights went out and all that could be seen now was the concert of elements outside and the stairwell. Right before me Austin grabbed Samantha by the throat and threw her over. Red, Orange, Blue… She was thrown down the stairs and immediately after, Austin ran away.

"NO-OOO!!!"

I belted at that poor excuse for a man.

The stairwell was now illuminated crimson from the moon.

I ran past whatever kind of demon of a person that was, through the open door and focused on the stairwell toward Samantha. My heart sank for a girl I knew nothing about. The door shut behind me and now it was pitch black.

I couldn't see anything, I grasped the railing and went down one step at a time. With the door shut the stairwell was extremely silent, all but the elevator shaft creaking like planks on a ship. I made it around the corner of the landing, around 8 steps down. My heart dropped. I was looking up at the railing where she was thrown off of. "She should be right here," I thought to myself. "Unless…" I walked down the other eight stairs of the helix quickly. 1, 2, 3, 4; the corner stair. My hand, m-my hand was wet. Lightning flashed the whole stairwell white from the window of the bottom service door.

I knew instantly why my hand was wet, it was covered in blood, Samantha's blood. I lost control over the railing when I realized and slipped. I hit my head on the rail hard.

"Motherfucker that hurt"

I got back up then I saw her. The image haunts me to this day. She was lying on the concrete. Blood was coming from the top of her head and trickling down her body. Her forehead, down to her shoulders, legs, and feet. Her eyes were wide open, blinking normally. She had stridor respirations, gasping for air around every 12 seconds. She must've broken a couple of ribs, or gotten a pneumothorax, or worse both. Her left arm was broken; her ulnar was protruding out of the flesh of her forearm and the blood pool from below connected with the one from her forehead. The only bones in her body that seemed 100% unscathed were her legs.

"Samantha!"

I yelled in a panic. I was waiting for a response for around 10 seconds.

"It's y-y-you"

She quivered out in pain, gasping and coughing. I was relieved, only for a spare second that she was responding. She spat out blood and gave a long drawn out gasp for air. Then I noticed her trachea was deviated to the left. Samantha most likely had a tension pneumothorax. A collapsed lung.

"Samantha, I am right here. I am going to call 911 and get you to the hospital"

I said, trying my damndest to be reassuring. I got my phone out and dialed 9-1-1.

Ring* Ring* 

"You have reached 911. DO NOT HANG UP. Due to a higher than normal call volume, all operators are currently busy. Please stay on the line"

"Dammit!", I thought to myself. The cell towers must be out. I left my phone on speaker in between me and Samantha. I was kneeling down next to her head. There was no more time to waste time. Samantha needed more. I took out my pocket knife, took off my T-shirt, and started cutting off strips. I took the longest one and wrapped it around her head 4 times and made a knot over her forehead. She had a huge laceration on her head, considering the amount of blood. I put pressure on that with one hand. To my relief, the back of her skull seemed fine when palpating.

"You have reached 911. DO NOT HANG UP. Due to a higher than normal call volume, all operators are currently busy. Please stay on the line"

Samantha spat up more blood and her respirations became short, rapid and gasping. She was breathing at 60 respirations a minute, 1 tiny breath every second. Even with the little light that was shining on her from the road, I could see that she was turning blue. Her coffee cup was right there. I took the metal straw out and started scraping the end up against the concrete ground until it was sharp. I placed my hand on her collarbone to the middle of her clavicle and counted 1, 2. 2nd intercostal space. I stabbed her right there with the straw.

"Hhhuhhhuhhhh!!"

Samantha gasped one big deep breath of relief. She looked right at me.

"What.. did.. you do?"

She asked. Her voice sounded clear this time but still quivering and in agony. Her respirations were back to normal. 16 respirations a minute.

"I just took the pressure off of your lung"

I said back to her.

"No. What.. the fuck.. did you just do?! That was amazing!"

She was coughing up blood still. The same amount of blood.

"You have reached 911. DO NOT HANG UP. Due to a higher than normal call volume, all operators are currently busy. Please stay on the line"

I looked at her as the prompt from my cell phone said that. With worry in her eyes from what she just heard, she looked away and started to cry.

"Samantha, we need to get you to a hospital but we've been on the line for 5 minutes now"

I stated. Realistically with the storm, the response time from DFD, and the amount of blood Samantha already lost. I thought to myself that waiting seemed more and more like a bleak option.

"I know. Right now you're about the only person I trust and I don't even know your name."

She coughed.

"My name is Ricky but we need to focus on you. I'm going to make sure you're ok. First; I'm going to try to find something to stabilize your neck, Second; I am going to swadth your arm, and Third; I'm going to carry you to my car and drive you to the hospital."

I explained to Samantha. She attempted to lift her legs but they gave out immediately. She was now whimpering in pain. I have not ever heard so much pain in my life up until that moment. The screams coming from her mouth, the tears running down her face. It was heart wrenching to say the very least. She was now in shock. I took one good look at her coffee cup again. I grabbed it and walked to the corner of the stairwell. I placed it underneath my foot.

"What are you doing?"

Samantha asked in tears.

"You said you trust me right?"

I stomped on her coffee cup. The sound pierced the echo in the stairwell. I broke it in 4 which is what I was hoping would happen. I took each piece and put one on the right side of her neck then one on the left. I arranged the broken pieces like a 'H' with the middle pieces being placed under her head and over her neck so that the grooves would cross over. I then took the next largest strand of my shirt and started wrapping. First wrap: over the right shard of plastic and through the shard down the middle. Second wrap: under the left plastic shard and back through the middle shard on top, in motion of a figure 8. I wrapped her neck 7 times over and tied it securely. This made it so that she wouldn't move her neck and there would hopefully be no further injury to her spine when moving her. It was only a matter of time Samantha's blood loss started to affect her being coherent.

 "You have reached 911. DO NOT HANG UP. Due to a higher than normal call volume, all operators are currently busy. Please stay on the line"

I hung up my phone. I squatted down and picked Samantha up one leg over my back and her head resting on my shoulder. Samantha's voice echoed and curled through the whole building. Whimpering and tearing painful cries. I was at the end of the doorway. It wasn't long until my shoulder became soaked with blood. I walked out of the doorway back in the same parking garage that I saw her silhouette in. Right by the elevator door with the orange fluorescent lights. How I wish nothing happened to her, that she was exactly how I first saw her. I wished that this ex of hers would have suffered her pain instead. I wished I could take her pain from her so that she wouldn't have to endure the agony. Apprehensive to take step after step in light of the pain Samantha was in, we were halfway to my car. The rain and wind from just out of the parking garage was hurling together in a dramatic song and dance of fire and water. I had her over my back and doing everything I could, I opened my passenger door to my Honda Civic. I was able to carefully sling her into the passenger seat and buckle her in, then I quickly made it to the driver's side. I made no hesitation in driving straight to Henry Ford Detroit.

"Samantha, are you ok?"

I asked looking back at her. No response.

"Samantha? SAMANTHA"

I yelled at the top of my lungs. She was nodding off. I was just now driving out of the parking garage.

"Ricky"

She muttered underneath her breath as we crossed Kirby Street.

"Don't worry Samantha, you're going to be ok!"

My car bounced with every pothole we took. The streets were flooded but I was still going 10 over the speed limit. I could barely see out of the windshield with how much it was raining. I was just glad it was pretty much a straight shot because turning would surely have us hydroplaning. Street after street I become evermore worried for Samantha. The bright colors of Downtown Detroit filled the interior of my car like a lava lamp. Then after every intersection the colors changed as if each individual street corner had a different mood. Ferry, Palmer, Hendrie. Straight across I-94. Harper, Piquette, Endicott, Baltimore. Street names whipped past us as the water came up from the wheels like a busted fire hydrant. And all the while Samantha looked past this light show completely dazed.

There it was, in front of the most treacherous lightning storm I have ever been in, Henry Ford Detroit's ER.

She was keeping her head up which was good, and my rigged collar did the trick for now. I made the turn into the parkway for the ER. It was a road full of potholes. I drove extra carefully down the road in fear of causing any more damage to this poor girl. Next turn into the ER roundabout. At this point, I had two options; 1. I could go to the Emergency Patient entrance on the other side of the hospital a floor up or 2. I could bring her straight to the Emergency Room where she needed to be seen. I chose option 2. I pulled straight into the Ambulance Entrance. When I parked I took the farthest space. Loud sirens could be heard echoing in the distance. Samantha started to speak.

"Are we here?"

She asked in a relieved tone.

"Yes we're here"

I said looking at her most likely with concern in my eyes.

"Then you did it.. *cough* .. You saved my life. You're my hero!" 

I kept thinking to myself and even to this day that I wasn't saving her life but rather that I was bringing her to people who could. So for her to say that to me made me open my eyes at what I actually did. Nevertheless, I knew deep down that is what anyone should have done. I unbuckled myself from my seat and opened my door. Ambulances from every different organization were here. The wind was so powerful it almost pushed me into the ambulance parked next to us trying to get around the car. The rain itself was striking me like a pressure washer. The lightning was red against the moon and illuminated the whole side of the hospital. I opened Samantha's door and slung her over my back like I did in the parking garage then started to head toward the ER entrance.

I was quick but careful. In seconds we were drenched from the rain. I couldn't risk slipping again with her in my arms.

I walked right up to the ER doors. There was an ambulance right underneath the vestibule. It was a Detroit Fire EMS truck with the doors open. The red ambulance against the red colored sky, it was hard to discern the two. Where did the ambulance begin and where did it end? There was a medic in the truck on the bench seat going through the IV bag. He was a black man with short hair and a proper demeanor to him. The way he kept his shoulders back even slouched over. He was wearing a typical Detroit EMS uniform, a t-shirt and BDUs. The man looked right at me carrying Samantha with a scowling look in his eye.

"Buddy, this is the EMS entrance. You have to get checked in upstairs."

I didn't know just what to think or to say. Surely he sees that I'm carrying someone who needs an ER. I grew enraged with the time. She needed more and I wasn't about to go back the other way.

"Sue me, and every Doctor here can too. Bottom line is she needs a trauma center. Her ex threw her off a staircase. I saw it right before my eyes before I could save her but I immediately got to her as soon as I could. She has a collapsed lung, most likely a spinal cord injury, a broken arm, and has already lost more than a liter of blood."

The man looked at my shirt where Samantha's head was still bleeding and he must have noticed the pool of blood. He quickly bolted up from his bench seat and flung himself out of the ambulance using the foot of the stretcher and the door as leverage. He landed right in front of us and he stood tall.

"Get her inside! Come on, I'll be with you two until they can get her a bed. WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU CALL 911?"

We were running in together as he was yelling in my face.

"I tried! I was on the phone for 15 minutes but she already lost like 500 milliliters of blood. Why wouldn't I take matters into my own hands?!"

The man looked me up and down. Then as the security guard waved her down. The doors opened.

"Let's just get her inside."

The medic said in a disgruntled tone of voice. We ran in and the medic and I were stunned with bright white lights, walls, and floors. It was a tiny hallway that had double doors immediately in front of us. To the left was a narrow L-shaped hallway that must have been another side of the ER. There were beds along that hallway all in disarray and patients in gritting conditions. Through the double doors there were different 'bays' that were separated by walls and curtains. The medic stepped in front through the double doors and signaled me to follow. The man walked up to the counter.

"Hey Carl, sorry about the impromptu patient report. This patient and this Good Samaritan were outside in the rain out in the bay"

Said the paramedic to the Registered Nurse at the ER desk. The RN was a middle aged white guy, he had gray spikey hair and a full beard. He had a concerned look on his face as he looked right at me carrying Samantha.

"Haha, It's quite alright Desmond. It's going to be a busy night regardless. Go to Bay 3 and go ahead with your report.

-I need a trauma team here stat!"

The RN looked at the interventions I placed on Samantha then gave me a wink and a smile. The whole time throughout all of us talking we were moving Samantha to the bed.

"We have an approximate 20 year old female, who has decreased LOC with a GCS approximately of 12. Patient looks to have a major laceration on the temporal region of her forehead and a left protruding ulnar. The Good Samaritan seems to have controlled the bleeding on both sites with some cloth, he states she's already lost around 1 liter of blood. Patient was thrown off of a staircase by what the Good Samaritan describes as the patients 'ex boyfriend'.

We had Samantha in the bed. She was breathing normally still at 16 breaths per minute but she was looking all around and not saying anything other than obvious agonizing moans.There were RNs, techs, and Doctors all around her taking her vitals. The RN, Carl- he stepped aside and assessed the whole situation. The RN looked right at me with a confident expression.

"You must have been with her from the very beginning of this happening. You put her arm in a makeshift sling and wrapped her bleeding head. It looks like you did the best you could with stabilizing her neck. Then you carried her to safety and brought her here didn't you? There is still one question I have for you though young man."

I was soaking wet from the rain and could see a whole puddle of water forming underneath myself and Samantha's bed.

"Anything you need answered Sir."

I stated back to him in respect.

"Why does she appear to be stabbed underneath her collar bone with a metal straw? Did this ex-boyfriend do this?"

Asked RN Carl.

"No, it was me. I stabbed her. When I found Samantha she had a collapsed lung. Her trachea was deviated to the left and she had jugular vein distention. Her respirations at that time were 60 breaths per minute but they were short and gasping. She was quickly becoming cyanotic so I needed to act fast. She had a Starbucks cup and a metal straw. I was scraping the straw against the concrete until it became sharp then used it as a pleural decompressor."

The medic- Desmond, and RN Carl looked at me as if they both had just seen a ghost. With the most baffling looks on their faces they both looked me up and down. I was drenched in mud, blood, rain, and sweat. They both patted me on the back.

"Good work kid."

They said in sync. Samantha's vitals were to be expected; her blood pressure was 74/40, her heart rate was 130, her SpO2 was 93%, and her blood glucose level was 63. They already inserted an IV on her and were now hanging fluids.

"We need to take her up to the ICU. Page Dr. Vent and get a transport team ready."

Stated this one Doctor at her bedside.

"I want to stay with her until her family comes. I don't want to leave the hospital until I know that she's going to be ok. She shouldn't be alone!"

I shouted and pleaded to RN Carl.

"Kid, the only reason she is ok is because of you. Have the police collect your statement, go home, and get some rest. You did far too much.. in a good way that is."

Desmond turned away from the monitor and toward me.

"What's your name?"

He asked.

"Ricky, my name is Ricky."

"Let's take a walk to my ambulance Ricky, we can wait for the DPD in the back cab."

Desmond instructed.

 I still planned on waiting at the ER to hear if there was anything else they could tell me. She didn't deserve to go through any of this alone. No one does. We started walking out as they rushed Samantha away. I gritted my teeth, accepting that I could not go with her. White tile after lit up tile and ceiling we walked over to the ER exit doors. The same ones we came in from. The storm got unimaginably worse. Rain was crashing down as if there was a huge waterfall in the sky. The sky was illuminated in red, blue, and orange lightning from every corner in the night sky. Desmond had me climb in the back as he got in the driver seat.

"I'm going to park us out of the way of the entrance alright Ricky"

Desmond did just that. The ambulance growled as he turned the keys into the ignition and we parked coincidently right next to my car.

"You driving this Honda Civic?"

Questioned Desmond back to me turning his head slightly.

"Yeah that's mine"

"I'll make sure it doesn't get towed!"

He sarcastically said with a laugh to himself.