HER MEMORIES

ChApTeR OnE

Inside the white-walled sterile clean room on the small bunk like bed lay a frail figure with small patches

of white hair, one beautiful green eyes now dull and grey, with no form of life sparkle in their depts.

Cheeks bones out and prominent, cheeks hollowed out due to loss of fats, body so thin that it can

easily be blown away by the winds, the ribs obvious through the transparent hospital gown covering the

tiny frame. The room itself filled with various machines some hooked up to the figure on the bed, use

for monitoring her.

She landed in the emergency room a few days back due to a bad case of pneumonia. She was

diagnosed a few years ago with breast cancer, unfortunately when it was discovered cancer has

already spread to her lung, and has been a battle ever since.

Beside the bed of the sickly figure sat a tall frame who looked more shabby than the figure on the bed,

eyes dull and full of shadows due to lack of sleep and worry. Worry for the woman on the bed who has

been her partner for seven years.

Jericho couldn't bear it anymore, staring at her wife lying on the hospital bed a shadow of her formal

self, wasting, weak, and in pain, with several monitoring machines hooked up to her.

She stood up from the chair beside the hospital bed, pacing from one corner to the other, her long legs

eating up the small 120 sq ft room in seconds. Her emotions pouring off her obvious in her agitated

pacing, as the helplessness of the situation overwhelmed her.

Her wife had been a renowned trauma surgeon in the city, vibrant and full of life. She had a lot of

energy that sometimes Jericho found it difficult to keep up with her, but that hadn't bothered her

because she had fucking loved her wife and adored her hyperactive tendencies.

When they had received news of her breast cancer, Christy had braved the news with aplomb like she

handles everything, promising Jericho who had been scared shit the t of her life at the news that they

win against this deadly disease, and Jericho had stared into the pale green eyes of her wife and

believed with her, trusting the conviction she saw in those eyes.

That was two years ago, and instead of improving Christy has been getting worse.

Jericho could see the tiredness in her wife's eyes but she tries to keep on fighting and is killing Jericho

to see her wife suffer like this, and not be able to do anything to help her

Christy helplessly watched her wife pace from the bed, if there was anything she could do to spare her

wife from this ordeal she will do it.

It hurts more than the pain of the illness to see the hurt and sadness in those blue eyes and watch her

try to hide it from her, just so I wouldn't know how much she was hurting.

"Baby, you need to take a break, " she said to her wife who has been with her for two straight days, no

rest no break. Now that she is out of danger, Christy wants to get her home at least for a shower.

" I don't want to, " Jericho whispered sitting down back on the plastic chair beside the bed.

She was scared if she leaves she might come back to meet her wife gone. Not being there for her last Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

moment was Jericho's worse nightmare.

Christy took the long slender fingers in her left palm clutching them weakly, she held her wife's gaze

understanding her fears, "I promise I am not going anywhere without saying goodbye first, so go take a

break, get something reasonable to eat, I am sure you are tired of the hospital food, and you can also

take a shower you stink baby, " she teased her making the other woman lips to turn up in a slight smile.

Jericho leaned towards her wife and kissed her delicately on the chapped lips, "I will be back soon, "

she whispered close to her lips before pecking her one more time and rising to her feet, throwing one

more loving glance in her wife's direction left the hospital room.

Adele's rich deep soulful mezzo-soprano voice belting out hello rang out loud from the speaker of ash-

colored Rav4 2000 model with the driver a long brown hair young white female singing loudly along a

bit off-tune as she sped through the expressway, with cars zooming past her in the same and opposite

direction.

At the intersection, she drove through the green light unaware of the big truck that just ran a red light

heading in her direction.

All Rachel heard as she was lost amidst Adele's strong powerful athletic voice was the ominous sound

of something crashing into the driver's side of her car.

This caused her heart to leap high off her chest, tearing out the most painful fearful scream from her

throat, the next thing she was blacking out from shock.

When she came to herself she was in a huge world of pain, a pain she has never experienced,

everywhere aches so badly that wished it to stop and the erratic movement from the object underneath

her was not helping at all.

She could hear voices screaming above her head but their words sounded as if coming from a distance

with only a few who rds penetrating through, something about a young white female involved in a motor

accident with multiple injuries, and then she slipped into darkness.

"What do we have here? " a tall black A and E attendee in a blue scrub asked running towards the

stretcher, bearing the female bleeding from her head among other places.

"A young white female in her early twenties, hit by a truck, found barely conscious at the site of the

crash, bleeding from a cut to her forehead B.p 80/50mmhg, PR 140b/m has a fracture of the femur with

possible hip dislocation and rib fracture, " the tall male middle-aged paramedics, who had pushed the

stretcher along with two of his colleagues into the emergency unit of Saint Mary's hospital, and

watched compassionately as the doctors took over with the nurses wheeling the young woman into one

of the emergency rooms.

Jericho who just came in through the hospital door watched as an injured woman was wheeled

hurriedly past her into the emergency unit, but a beep from her phone made her forget all about the

young woman as she hurried towards the room holding her wife her, heart her throat.

She has been summoned by a nurse, who told her that her wife was asking for her. It can be time

already, Jericho thought in panic hurrying faster.

Christy who realized that she couldn't hold on any more signaled for her wife to be called, she has

promised to never leave without her being here and she wants to keep that promise.

Waiting for her wife arrival she suddenly felt unable to breathe, she tried but couldn't get in the air, and

then a hard cough started raking over her system making it more difficult to breathe.

Jericho ran into the room to see her wife struggling to breathe, she ran to her side, eyes filled with

panic, screaming for the doctors and nurses in a panic-filled voice.

"She is crashing, " screamed a nurse as the young woman was laid on the emergency table.

"What is going on here?" a doctor asked running into the room.

"I met her coughing like this, unable to breathe, " Jericho rushed out in a fear-filled voice, giving way for

the doctor to look at her wife...

The doctor quickly took out his stethoscope to check the woman's lungs.

"There is no pulse, " the nurse commented again looking at the EKG machine hooked up to the young

woman.

"Get the defibrillator, " the attending doctor ordered while cutting the woman's clothes off to expose her

chest.

"Help move her to her left and can someone get in the suctioning machine, " the doctor yelled, before

assisting the nurse remaining in the room, to turn the woman coughing on her left.

Jericho stood aside with tears and worry filling her eyes as she watched her wife battle for her life.

"Clear, " the doctor with the defibrillator yelled before hitting the young patient's chest.

No response.

"Again, " the head doctor screamed and the defibrillator fell again on the chest eliciting no response

"Where is the damn machine?" the doctor screamed, his voice having an urgent note as he noticed his

patient turning blue.

The nurse quickly placed the suctioning pipe in his hand.

He tried to suction but the woman got worse and the next thing everywhere grew quiet, the cough

suddenly ceased, with the woman's chest no longer moving.

The doctor leaned off the frail woman with a sad look on his face as he turned to the patient wife.

"I am sorry, " he muttered compassionately.

"Clear, " the voice yelled again.

The defibrillator fell again for the third time eliciting no response.

All the attending health workers stood aside with a resigned look on their faces as they stared at the

unmoving body of the young woman.

"Time of death is....."

"Wait someone said..."