Novel Square
76
He was stuck.
That only left me.
When I turned toward my door, someone was opening it.
“Is everyone all right in here?”
“No!” I gasped. “Call 911!” I pushed myself off the seat, rushing past the person who had opened my door, and yelled, “I need a doctor!”
My ears buzzed, and my eyes blinked as I took in all the chaos.
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Cars.
Everywhere.
A mix of voices, a jumble of words I could barely make out.
But enough that I heard, “Call 911.”
“Break the fucking window.”
“Shouldn’t we wait until the ambulance arrives?”
“What if she dies?”
“They’re on their way. Two minutes out.”
I put my hands over my ears, trying to block out everything everyone was saying.
But the moment I had them secured like earmuffs, there was a hand on my arm, shaking me, forcing my attention toward them.
It was a woman.
She was now holding my shoulders and said, “Help is on the way. We called 911.”
I clung to her arms. “She needs help,” I panted. “Everly needs help.”
“Don’t worry, honey; they’re close. Can’t you hear them?”
I shook my head. “Hear them?”
I tried to listen.
But there was too much noise.
Too many people.
Too much movement.
Ford.
Oh my God, Ford.
I let the woman go and turned toward the car, leaning into the opening. “Ford, the ambulance is on the way.” I dropped onto the seat, my hand going to her cheek. “Eve.”
Her face was becoming paler.
Her skin damper.
“They need to hurry!” I yelled out the door.
Questions then came from behind me.
Voices.
More than one.
“Is everyone all right?”
“Does anyone besides the little girl need help?”
“I think your arm is broken, buddy.”
I ignored them and rubbed Everly’s cheek, up to her forehead, whispering, “You’re going to be okay.” I then looked at Ford and added, “She’s going to be okay.”
Her little sounds were what bothered me.
The whimpers of pain.
The way she appeared so delirious.
And the way Ford’s arm was angled, the way his hand was hanging.
“Paramedics here. Can you let us in?”
Paramedics?
I turned around, and there were two men at the base of the door, dressed in black.
“Sydney, let them in!” Ford shouted. He then addressed the paramedics and said, “Help my daughter right now!”
I slid off the seat and backed up as one of the men reached inside the SUV.
“She’s going to be okay, honey.”
I turned toward the voice.
It was a woman.
Was it the one from before?
I didn’t know.
But she continued, “The paramedics are going to fix her right up,” she said.
She was holding my shoulders.
She was staring me in the eyes.
“She’s not good,” I whispered. “Her skin …” I swallowed. “She’s so pale.”
“Don’t you worry.” She nodded behind me. “Look, they’ve got her now, and they’re going to help her.”
I turned around, and Everly was being carried out of the SUV and placed on a stretcher.
“Daddy,” Everly cried. “I want my daddy!”
I didn’t know if the tears had been in my eyes this whole time or if seeing Everly on a stretcher had caused them, but they were streaming, and they wouldn’t stop.
“Be careful with her!” I shouted.
As they started to wheel her away, Ford climbed into the backseat and came out the door.
I threw my arm around his back. “Are you okay?”
“I just need to be with her.”
“Your arm-”
“It’s fine, Sydney.”
“It’s not fine,” a woman said, stopping us before we even took a step. Her uniform told me she was also a paramedic. She held his arm with gloved hands. “It’s definitely broken.”
He pulled his arm away from her and said, “I need to be with my daughter.”
“Then, I’ll look at it when we get in the ambulance.” Her gaze moved over to me. “Were you in the car with them?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Do you need to get checked out as well?”
“No, I’m okay.”
“You two, follow me,” she said.
As I held Ford, we hurried behind the paramedic, weaving around the people who had pulled over to watch or help along with the firemen and police.
When we arrived at the back of the ambulance, a paramedic was standing there, gripping the doors.
He asked, “Who’s going with her?”
“I am,” Ford replied. He looked at me. “Meet us at the hospital.”
The hospital.
I tried to find my breath, my chest pounding. “How? What hospital?”
“Cedars-Sinai,” the paramedic replied.
He helped Ford into the back of the ambulance, and the doors shut, the vehicle pulling away.
I couldn’t take a deep breath.
The flashing lights were now blurred from the wetness filling my eyes.
“The hospital,” I exhaled. “Will someone take me?”
“I will,” I heard.
I didn’t know I had even asked the question out loud.
I didn’t know who had agreed.
But when I turned toward the voice, there was the woman.
“Come on. My car is right over here. We’ll follow the ambulance.”
I said nothing as her arm moved around my back, taking some of my weight, helping me to her car. She opened the passenger door and set me inside, closing it once my feet were in.
Once she got in the driver’s seat, she wasted no time, pulling out and catching up to the ambulance.
“Oh God,” I cried as the rear lights flashed across my face. “I can’t believe this happened.” My chest felt like it was going to cave. “We were just on our way to get ice cream.”
A hand was on my back, rubbing circles over me. “She’s going to be all right.”
My brain was spiraling.
Fear was filling it.
In a way that was almost paralyzing, causing a wave of nausea to rush up my throat.
I wrapped my arms around my stomach, rocking back and forth.
“Is there someone you should call?” she asked.
I looked at her.