Alaric woke up to the sound of shouting.

It was barely six in the morning, but the twins were wide awake and a lot more energetic than he could deal with.

“Meghan, Tristan” he groaned from his room turning around to get up. “If you behave this way, I’ll send you back home” he threatened, making the whole flat quiet down.

He knew that was just an excuse to stop them from fighting about god knows what.  He was supposed to drop them off at their place that evening anyway.

It was a wonder Hilary let him take care of them for two days straight. She never let them out of her sight.

“Can we not stay one more day?” One of the twins asked him, as he came into the living room “We will be quiet” Meghan nodded agreeing with her brother. 

“If you mum lets me. Now who is ready for some breakfast?” He asked, already taking the bread out to make some toast.
The twins quickly settled down, at the kitchen table, letting him know they were both hungry.

It was an hour after the breakfast, when the three of them sat in front of the TV, Alaric with his laptop, struggling to write one more chapter, and the twins fighting over who gets to hold the remote control.

He was rethinking his decision to let the kids stay one more day. He loved them, but missed the quiet around the house. 

After an hour of trying to calm the kids down, he gave up. They can fight all they want, unless they start fighting physically, he was not going to step in.

He took out phone to find he had a few texts from Amy. She had texted him just a few hours back.

Was that when she got home from work?

She had texted him about someone named Rose, about the car crash and abuse. She genuinely sounded happy. He was smiling by the end of the texts. He would not know how it feels to save someone; to stop them from dying. He knew the opposite.

That evening, Amulya went to the hospital with a weird feeling in her stomach. It was something between anxiety and excitement. As soon as she clocked in, she headed towards the room Rose was in.

Her nurse was filling her with the details of the little girl’s health.

“She woke up once” the nurse said. “In the morning; just for a few minutes though. She didn’t speak, just looked around and went back to sleep.”

They entered the room. Miss Luca was sitting on the couch on the other side of the room reading through a magazine. She got up and walked towards the bed, when Amulya came in.

“She woke up, Doctor” the mother cried. Amulya smiled and proceeded to check the girl’s vitals, to see if everything was fine.

“That’s a good sign, Miss Luca. She will get better” she said before making sure everything was alright. She told the woman to call for a nurse, if anything was wrong, and went to check in on the ER. 

Half way through her shift, a nurse came and found Amulya.

“She is awake, Dr. Natraj” The nurse said. Amulya rushed out of her office towards Rose’s room.

As soon as she entered she saw the little girl sitting up on the bed, drinking some water.

“Hello” Amulya said to the little girl. “I’m Amulya. How are you feeling?”

The girl smiled and nodded, still a little shy to speak.

“Does it hurt anywhere?” She asked checking the girl’s vitals.

“No” Rose spoke this time, quietly.

“Everything looks fine here, that doesn’t mean she is out of danger” Amulya said to Miss Luca. “She still needs to be observed, so that she doesn’t develop any infections.” She told the woman. She nodded, and Amulya left, back into her office.  She had a few OP’s waiting for her, and for that evening, she was busy with them.

The next morning was just the same. Amulya left to work on time; she took the tube, and reached the hospital. She checked up on Rose who seemed to be doing fine.

“I’ll be back in the evening. You should be a good girl and do not trouble mama. Okay?”

The little girl nodded, wincing as her head hurt. But she was too scared to tell anyone. Her father used to beat her up, when she complained. That was why at the age of six, she learnt to lie. She didn’t want to be beat up again, by telling the doctor she was hurting.

The day passed away quickly, Amulya checked up on Rose few more times. She seemed dim, and less active than before. Amulya felt like something was wrong, but she would tell them if she was in pain, right?

A dull feeling formed in her stomach. She was done with the patients for the day. Amulya checked her phone, just to see she didn’t get any messages from Ricky.

He hasn’t texted her after he congratulated her, that morning. a frown settled on her face.

But deciding not to dwell on it, Amulya decided to head home. He probably was busy. As she was packing her bag, the office door banged open, and a frantic nurse was telling her to rush, it was a code blue.

As soon as they neared Rose’s room, Amulya’s heart dropped. Everyone was rushing in and out of the room. She saw the girl’s mother outside, in tears. The woman has already lost her son, now her daughter may lose hers.

Pushing back the fear, she rushed inside the room to see Dr. Stone already there. It’s as if time slowed down.

“Clear” He said, but nothing. The girl did not move. Amulya can only stand there, listening to the continuous beep of the heart monitor, her eyes trained on the pale girl in bed. Her body motion less.
Dr. Stone, for the first time, had his face twisted in pain. As if it physically hurt him to see the little girl pass away.

“Where did we go wrong?” Amulya asked her mentor. He just shook his head, not willing to talk about it, just then. No matter how long he has been a doctor, it still hurts him the same when patients die; especially the young ones.

“Take a day off tomorrow” were his last words as he left the room, to deliver the news to a crying mother.

Amulya still didn’t feel anything, as she made her way to the parking lot, where she can be alone.

She took the phone out, wanting to talk to someone. But who?

Her fingers moved as if they were in autopilot and she texted Rick.

Rick?
She is gone.

She got a reply within seconds.

Shit, Amy.
Are you okay?
Where are you?

Alaric anxiously stared at his phone, waiting for her next text. He knew she felt alone. But he didn’t know how much comfort he can give her on text.

I’m at the hospital
Can I call you?

~*~
14.04.20