Her breaths were still rapid, the wheezing and rattling worsening as she gasped for air. She parted her lips, but no sound came out before she weakly lifted her hand, gesturing to her chest.
“Your chest,” I spit out with a nod. “Your chest hurts.”
My head snapped around the interior of the car, and I spotted her stethoscope on the floor of the passenger side, partly lodged under the seat. I quickly reached for it, yanking it free and putting it on, slipping it beneath her scrub top and pressing the diaphragm to her chest.
There wasnoair movement on her right side.
Fuck.
Haley had a collapsed lung, which was the cause of the wheezing and rattling, and her gasping for breath. Her chest cavity was filling with air.
“Shit!Shit!”
My head whipped around, mind racing.Anything—think of anything. My eyes landed on her glove compartment.
I reached behind me and yanked the glove compartment open. All of the supplies Haley had shoved in there over time spilled out. Rain sluiced my face and clothes from the broken window above as I sifted through gloves, gauze, tape, alcohol wipes, flushes, syringes, and...blunt filter needles.
I slipped on a pair of gloves much too small for me, stretching them around my hands. Then I dug through the supplies until I found a fourteen-gauge needle. I took the wrapper between my teeth and grabbed a couple of alcohol wipes.
“Hold on for me, Haley. Hold on.”
Stretching my arm, I reached into the back where her bag was. I tugged it closer, unzipped it, and reached in until I foundher scissors. With the alcohol wipes in my fist, I gripped the collar of her scrub top and cut down the front of it, enough to give me open access to her chest in the limited space I had, and at the worst fucking angle possible.
Haley’s breaths were frantic and shallow, panic thickening the air as each inhale grew harder.
I was quickly forced to realize that I couldn’t live in a world where she didn’t exist. Ineededto save her. Not just for her or for everyone who loved her, but, selfishly, formyself.
“I know, baby,” my voice cracked. “Iknow. Just hang on for me, okay?”
I ripped open the alcohol wipes, sliding two fingers from her clavicle down to the second rib before cleaning the space beneath it as best as I could. Then, I tore open the package containing the needle.
I blew out a shuddered breath, my eyes darting from hers to where my finger marked the spot I needed.
And then I pushed the needle into her chest.
As I leaned down, I turned my head to listen. I was barely able to make out the hissing of the air rushing from the needle over the wind and the rain, but it was there.
And I saw Haley’s breathing slowly begin to improve.
I took the stethoscope, listening again just to be sure. “Okay,okay,” I whispered to myself. I didn’t even realize until that moment how hard my heart was pounding as I removed the inner needle, keeping the catheter in her chest and securing it as best as I could with tape.
I wanted to reach for her, to cut her loose from the seatbelt, to get her the fuck out of that car and carry her up to mine, but I knew I couldn’t move her. I had to wait for the medics, no matter how hard it was.
I saw her eyes closing, and I leaned forward, gently running my hand over the top of her wet hair as my other hand gripped her wrist and pressed two fingers against her pulse point. “Haley, hey—hey, stay with me. The ambulance is on the way.”
At first, I thought the drops clinging to my face belonged to the rain, but then I tasted salt against my lips and realized it was tears sliding down my cheeks.
“You gotta stay with me, okay? Stay with me, dammit,” my voice broke as I carefully pressed my lips to her temple. “You want those lazy Sunday mornings and dancing in the kitchen? And more random drives and impulsive trips, right? And I want—God, I want to be the person who givesallof that to you, baby girl. But I need you here to do that. So you gotta hang on for me, okay?Please.” My breath hitched, my teeth clenching hard as I tried to keep myself together. “I-I can’t—Ican’tlose you, Haley. I can’t do this life or the next without you. Please…pleasejust hang on.”
I wasn’t even sure how much time had passed since I’d made the initial call, but I could hear the faint sound of sirens in the distance, growing closer and closer.
“Hear that? They’re coming, baby. They’re almost here. Just hang on.”
The sirens grew louder, and not just one, not two, butthree—police, fire, and medics. I heard them stop at the bridge, and I moved, reaching up to pull myself through the window. “Down here!”
Trey, one of the officers I recognized from frequently bringing people through the ER, was the first one down the hill. He shielded his eyes from the rain. “Dr. Pierson?”
“It’s Haley!”
