Shaurya

I take deep heaving breaths as I finally sit in the car, resting my head against the headrest. Looking from the front view mirror, I see Nathan and Emma looking at me with widen eyes. "Dude, are you okay?!" Nathan shrieks.

"Anika... stretcher... attempted suicide... gonna pass out," I gasp out.

"Wait, what?!" Nathan and Emma both scream at the same time.

"Yeah..." I whisper. "What am I going to do?" I mutter to myself.

"Well, we obviously have to follow them to the hospital," Nathan suggests.

"Yeah, obviously," I breathe out. "But I can't drive. I don't think I can with the thought that Anika attempted suicide," I trail off.

"Bro, it's okay," Nathan peacefully replies. "I'll take over." He turns towards Emma. "Baby, do you mind sitting back here alone?"

"It's okay, baby," Emma gleams. "I don't mind."

He nods his head as my shaky hands open the door. The cool breeze hits my face as I close my eyes, meandering my way to the passenger side door. I pull myself in, lean against the seat and slouch. I can't seem to get the haunting words out of my mind...

Anika Desai...

Hospitalized...

Attempted suicide...

Conspiracy theories start to form in my mind. What if her father caused this? What if he abused her to the point where she just gave up? What if she thought about her mother and got upset?

My heart beats erratically out of my chest as Nathan reverses from the curb. Suddenly, the ambulance zooms past us, blaring loud noises and bright blue and red colors reflecting off of the car's windows. I screech out, "Go! Follow it, NOW!"

"Okay, jeez! I am!" Nathan whines as the car lurches forward. Emma and I screech as our backs hit the seat violently. "Sorry!" Nathan apologizes. I cast Nathan a dirty look as he looks towards the ambulance, following its every move.

We reach the hospital in five minutes, and luckily we managed to get past traffic and all of the traffic lights because, one there isn't much traffic 9 o clock at night here in Oakland, and two there's this rule where we can pass red lights after 9, which is very convenient at this current situation.

Nathan parks the car by the visitor's parking lot as I watch the ambulance drive into the emergency area. I quickly climb out of the car and find myself running to where the ambulance is, but Nathan pulls me back. "Whoa, dude! Where are you going?"

"I'm going to Anika!" I hiss.

"Shaurya, you can't go there," Nathan explains. "It's a confined area."

"Yeah... I know that," I huff out. "I'm sorry. I'm just really nervous right now. I hope she's okay."

"She will be," Emma reassures me. "Just don't fret too much. We're here for you."

"Yeah, man," Nathan claps my back. "Let's just go in to the main entrance and just calmly visit Anika in a nice and disciplined form, okay?"

"Since when do you do anything nice and disciplined?" I reply, a smirk forming on my face.

"I was just about to say that!" Emma giggles and I grin. Nathan rolls his eyes. "You too, babe?"

"Ah, c'mon!" She punches his shoulder. "You know I love you."

Nathan admits defeat and kisses Emma on the cheek. "And you know I love you too," he mumbles. "But let's get going inside!" I sigh to myself, walking forward as I, once again, third wheel with Nathan and Emma.

We walk inside the revolving doors as I get a glimpse of the hospital environment. The last time I was ever in a hospital was when I got a concussion from playing on the varsity football team in high school. Ever since then, I haven't really gotten the 'taste' in being in the hospital environment, but I actually despise it though because it's just so scary and overwhelming sometimes. The overuse of the color white and frantic doctors running back and forth, about ready to jump off of a cliff... yeah, I can't deal with that.

My 'fear' of hospitals is mainly why I don't want to become a doctor.

Anyway, Nathan and Emma walk up to the receptionist desk. A petite young lady with short blonde hair in a ponytail has her glasses pushed to the bridge of her nose as she types rapidly into the computer. Once she finishes couple of seconds later, she looks at us and takes her glasses off. "Welcome. What brings you here?" Ugh, her voice is so... nasal.

"Well, our friend has been checked in recently into this hospital," Nathan clears his throat.

"What's her name?" she sighs, turning to the computer, ready to type like the speed of lightning again.

"Her name's Anika Desai," I blurt out. The lady glares at me and I scoff, spelling out her name.

After she types it up, we anxiously wait for her to reply and she takes a deep breath. "Miss Desai was recently checked into ICU, but I'm afraid visitors are not allowed at the moment."

"What the hell?!" I groan. "You have got to be kidding me, son of a bitch!"

The lady looks at me in utter surprise. "Excuse me, but sir, words like those are not allowed in this hospital."

"Sorry," I gasp out. "But you... you have to let us visit our friend."

"I'm sorry, but that is against the rules," she explains. "You could wait until tomorrow morning and maybe, depending on her conditions, visitors are allowed--"

"I can't wait until tomorrow!" I demand. The lady gasps again and I blurt out, "You said I had to watch my language, not my tone!"

"Dude," Nathan pulls me to the side. "Maybe you should go a little easy on the woman."

"Sorry," I mutter. "But I just want to see Anika and make sure she's okay."

"I know that," he nods his head, "But you have got to stay calm. Okay?"

"Okay, fine," I groan. I look at the lady and take a deep breath. "I'm sorry for my behavior. I just, I just really need to see her, she's a close friend of mine and I want to make sure she's okay--"

"Wait." Nathan and I both look at Emma in shock as she steps towards the counter. We look at her confusingly as she brushes us aside, as if she's saying 'I got this.' Then, she clears her throat and looks towards the lady. "What's your name?"

"Uh, my name's Pauline," the lady smiles.

"Pauline," Emma nods her head. "That's a wonderful name, I have to say. Very unique."

"Why, thank you," the lady, or Pauline, blushes. "You know, many people don't like my name."

"And why is that?" Emma leans on the counter, pretending to look intrigued in her conversation.

"I don't know," Pauline shrugs. "My husband once told me Pauline sounds like a name for a 89 year old grandma."

"My god!" Emma gasps. "That's horrendous. Why would your husband ever say that?"

"I don't know," she whines. "In fact, we've been on and off for the past few years."

"And why is that?" Emma questions.

"Because," Pauline pauses, "We haven't been performing very well lately... in sexual ways."

"Ah," Emma nods her head. "And why would that be?"

"God, I don't know!" Pauline fusses. "He hasn't been wanting to touch me, that's why! Is it because my boobs are saggy? Or my skin's looking old now? Or maybe because my hair's graying?"

"No, of course not!" Emma confides. "He's just being a jerk! You know what?"

"What?" Pauline leans forward.

"You... you should divorce him!" she suggests. Then, Emma looks towards us and gestures for us to run towards the visitors room. Nathan and I nod our heads and scram towards the doors. "How did she do that?!" I ask him.

"God knows," he shrugs. "She's just perfect like that."

I chuckle and stop by the hallway that has plain looking doors that basically look the same. I cuss to myself. "Shit! We don't even know where Anika is. And to add a cherry on top, all these doors look the goddamn same!"

"Alright, let's just take a breather before we lose our marbles here," Nathan tries to calm me. "Let's think. Pauline did say that Anika was in the ICU, right?"

"Right...?"

Nathan groans and smacks me upside the head. "Let's just look for the ICU in the directory, dumbass!"

I take a deep breath, grabbing my head in pain where Nathan smacked me. "Oh. Right."

Nathan leads me to the directory where we see the ICU mapped out on the second floor. "Alright, let's just take the elevator to the second floor and we'll find our way in."

"No, not the elevators."

"Why not?"

"Because they're gonna take long!" I yelp. "Let's just take the stairs."

"Okie dokie then, lead the way mister." I roll my eyes and see the sign for the staircase. I walk over to the sign and open the door beside it, revealing a fresh set of staircases that lead up. My feet run up the stairs, the metal clanging rhythmically in response.

Once we reach the second floor, I take a deep breath and find a sign which says the ICU room is to the left. Nathan and I scram to the left and see two huge double doors that have a huge sign on top of it that reads ICU.

"Bingo," I breathe out. I go to open the doors but they remain locked. "Shit," I curse. "It's locked."

Nathan frowns and looks to the right. "There's a keypad scanner to the right, which indicates that--"

Suddenly I see a huge group of surgeons running to the ICU room. They don't seem to acknowledge that two college kids that have no interest in pursuing a career in the medical field are standing right beside them, since they seem to be stressed about a completely different reason. As they start to go inside, I gasp and pull Nathan towards me as I start to follow the group of surgeons. "Shaurya, what the hell are you doing?" he groans.

"Just follow me," I hiss.

Once the surgeons disperse into a room, we gasp and acknowledge how there are so many rooms in the ICU. Then, in front of all those rooms is a check-in desk which has multiple computers lined up. And conveniently enough, there is no one sitting at the desks.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Nathan whispers to me. I almost immediately nod my head.

Nathan stands by the desk to keep watch while I sit on the swirly chair and prop myself by the computer. On the computer there are multiple spreadsheets open that seem to indicate where each patient is located. I see different names, different ages, different symptoms and different rooms are piled up into different spreadsheets as I huff to myself. Drug overdosages, car accidents, heart attacks, severe pneumonia... Jesus Christ.

I read different names, trying to find Anika's name. I realize the order is based on arrival date, so I go to the top. Gasping, I see Anika's name on the way top.

Anika Desai | Age 21 | Attempt Suicide: severe bruises and internal bleeding | ROOM 202

"Oh God..." I breathe out. I quickly note down where Anika is located and rush Nathan. "Let's hurry before anyone sees us." He nods his head. "Where is she, by the way?"

"Room 202," I quickly reply. To the left are rooms 101-109 and on the right are rooms 201-209. We walk to the right and see the second door located on the left of room 201.

"Shit," I gasp. "This is it."

The room door is closed, but I hear constant voices in the inside. I hear doctors, nurses, and different consultants talking in hushed voices. God, I hope she's okay.

The room's window, which possibly gives us a view into the window, is blocked off by curtains. I take a deep breath and place my hands on the curtain. "Shaurya, what are you doing?!" Nathan hisses.

"Dude, chill, I'm not gonna open the whole thing," I scoff. "I'm just peering inside."

"But isn't that... a little creepy, though? And against the laws in... I don't know... the medical industry?"

"Possibly on the against the laws part but I disagree with you on the creepy part," I raise my eyebrows.

"Whatever suits you," he shrugs. "Just don't count me in though."

"Your loss," I reply. I place my shaky hands on the curtain as I slowly pull a small part out, revealing a little portion of what's going on in the inside. Leaning towards the glass, I look into the room and actually see at least two nurses, a doctor and a couple consultants frantically walking back and forth. But that's not what captures my eye the most.

I see Anika laid across the bed, completely unconscious and relying on a machine to breathe. There are multiple tubes going in and out of her body, which is just so scary how her life is dependent on a machine and a bunch of tubes. My breath catches in my throat as I realize her life is on the line since she attempted to commit suicide and... no. This cannot be happening.

From here I see that her eyes are closed, her soft brown hair sprawled out in different directions. Her full lips are curled in a frown and I feel my heart squeezing with pain as my eyes intake what's going on.

Suddenly, the door abruptly opens as I jump up from my position. I see a middle aged Indian man looking at me and Nathan furiously, but mostly at me. "What the hell are you doing here?! This is a confined and secluded area!"

I immediately start to apologize, but I stop myself as I realize who this is.

Anika's father.

*

A/N:

Wow. All of that JUST to sneak into the ICU, huh?

Also, that cliffhanger I left you guys on was completely necessary, btw ;)

Stay tuned for the next chapter as we see how Shaurya reacts meeting face to face with Anika's father, and finding out if Anika's going to survive... or not.

-Ru <3