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I gasped and rushed over, pushing my way through the people crowding around. Matthew was on his back, his face contorted in pain. He was grasping at his left shoulder, moaning in pain. I knelt beside him. “Matthew!”

He turned his unfocused gaze my way. “Hurts,” he grunted. “Jesus, it hurts.”

I yelled for help and checked him over, an instinct directing me to his abdomen. It was rigid under my fingers. His skin cold and clammy, his pulse rapid but weak. “It hurts to breathe,” he panted.

“Help is coming.”

Seconds later, I was surrounded. Matthew was lifted onto the gurney that hit him, and he was rushed to the ER. He reached out his hand, and I grabbed it.

“Don’t let go,” he begged.

“I won’t.”

Then his eyes rolled back in his head and he was out.

Matthew

One moment, I was walking, then suddenly pain hit me. It happened so quickly, I was confused.

In agony.

All around me were gasps of shock, feet running, voices talking. My body felt cold, disjointed. My abdomen was on fire. My shoulder screamed in pain. My mind was jumbled, trying to figure out what was happening. Where the pain was coming from. Why I was on the floor. Who all the people were around me.

Then I heard it. The one voice that I needed. The one voice that could reach me.

“Matthew!” Maddy begged.

I turned to her, gasping. “Hurts,” I grunted. “Jesus, it hurts.”

She yelled something I couldn’t follow.

“It hurts to breathe,” I begged.

Was I dying? Having a heart attack?

Years of training deserted me. I couldn’t concentrate enough to list my symptoms. To analyze the pain and figure out the problem.

I could barely remember my name.

I grasped at the hand I could see, feeling the warmth of her close.

“Maddy,” I moaned.

“Help is coming.”

I cried out as they lifted me, the relief of being laid on a stretcher huge. The lobby flew past as I was moved, and I held on to her hand like a lifeline.

“Don’t let go.”

“I won’t.”

The pain reached a crescendo, and I gave in to it and let the dark take me away.

I forced my eyes open, squinting at the bright light above me. People milled around, instructions being barked, followed, and administered. I groaned, and a familiar face leaned over mine.

“Matthew.”

“Mark?” I questioned, perplexed, wondering why a surgeon was looming over me. “Where’s-where’s Maddy?”