Twenty-One and Invincible

I woke up at about five in the morning in a bed that wasn’t mine. I shot up, clutching the sheets with me. I looked to my left and saw Patrick lying there asleep. I remembered everything we did--every feeling, every sensation, every kiss, every touch. Looking at Patrick’s adorable sleeping face, I regretted nothing except the fact that I had abandoned Gabie without letting her know.

I quietly slipped out of bed and gathered by clothes off the floor and sloppily threw them on. I checked my cell phone in case Gabie had texted me. She had. The message read:

Looks like we’re both getting lucky tonight! You go girl!

Evidently she was too...er, busy to really care about my absence. I laughed to myself silently and tiptoed out of the room. Before I left though, I decided it would be best to leave Patrick a note. I went into his kitchen, found a pad of Post-It notes and scribbled, Had to go back home to check on my grandparents, don’t hesitate to call :)

I wanted Patrick to know that I didn’t think that what we did was a mistake or just a one-night thing. I really did like him and I wanted him to be aware of it.

I wondered if Gabie was awake or not yet. She was, out of the people I knew, the undisputed queen of one-night stands. With her, it was always in and out--literally. She never really had a relationship that lasted longer than a couple of months. She always told me that once she found ‘The One’, she would know and she’d settle down.

I sent her a quick text message asking how her night was and put my phone back into my clutch before quietly leaving Patrick’s house. It was cold and windy out, but luckily I lived just across the street. I scurried across to my front yard as fast as I could in my heels and quickly unlocked the front door and went inside.

Removing my heels, I sighed and went to my room to change into my pajamas. I wanted to get as much sleep as I possibly could since it was Saturday morning, but then I decided to get a glass of water first.

I tiptoed down to the kitchen so I didn’t wake up either of my grandparents and poured myself a glass. I sipped it and rubbed my tired eyes, then cursed to myself when I saw the smudged makeup on my fingers. I had yet to look in the mirror, but after the night Patrick and I had, I could only imagine that I looked like a mess.

I was about to put my empty glass in the sink and head back upstairs when I heard footsteps shuffling across the hardwood floor. I looked over and saw Grandpa coming into the kitchen.

“Grandpa?” I asked. “What are you doing up?”

“I could ask the same of you,” he responded. “Finally back?”

I blushed. “Yeah.”

Grandpa grunted, not really wanting to know. He cleared his throat, lightly pounding the side of his fist to his chest.

“Do you need some water, Grandpa?” I asked, getting a new glass from the cupboard. He started one of his coughing fits and just nodded.

I turned my back for about ten seconds to pour some water for him and heard his coughing get worse. His throat sounded raw and the coughs got louder. I turned and saw Grandpa with a hand on the kitchen counter, the other over his heart.

“Grandpa?” I asked, starting to get scared. “Here, Grandpa, drink this.”

He took the glass from my hand and tried to take sips of the water, but he couldn’t stop coughing. His hands started to tremble and the glass fell to the ground, shattering all over the floor. Grandpa fell to his knees and I ran to his side, stepping in shards of glass in the process that dug into my feet and cut them open.

“Grandma!” I cried out, hoping to wake her up. “Grandma, help!”

Finally Grandma came running from upstairs in her night gown and gasped, putting her hand over her mouth as she saw what was going on in the kitchen.

“Call 911!” I cried as Grandpa started coughing so hard that blood was on his hands. His grip on the counter loosened and he collapsed fully. I held him up off the ground, the stinging from the glass shards stuck in my feet making it hard to support his weight.

Grandma was frantic on the phone.

“I need an ambulance! M-My husband, he’s just collapsed and my granddaughter has glass stuck in her feet...there’s blood everywhere...please hurry!”

She told them our address and quickly ran off to get a pair of shoes so she could help me without stepping in glass herself. She helped me lift Grandpa up so that not all of his weight was resting on me. I checked his pulse to make sure he was still alive. It was there, but it was slow. Extremely slow. I looked into Grandma’s eyes. They were glossy and full of fear. I’m sure mine weren’t any more comforting.

“How long until the ambulance gets here?” I asked in a quiet, shaky voice after a few minutes of silence. I needed to be strong. For Grandma’s sake.

“They should be here soon,” was her quiet reply. Just as she said it, there was a knock at the door. She sprung to her feet and walked around the broken glass and blood and went to the door.

Paramedics rushed in and everything beyond that is kind of a blur.

I remember one of the paramedics asking Grandma what her name was, what Grandpa’s name was and what my name was. I remember another paramedic asking me if I was okay and if I could walk. I remember telling him no. He lifted me up and placed me on a stretcher and wheeled me out of the house. Then they took Grandpa and carefully lifted him up onto another stretcher and injected him with something and then hooked him up to an oxygen mask.

They wheeled us out to the driveway where the ambulance was parked. Grandma followed after us, grabbing some coats while still in her night gown.

They loaded Grandpa’s stretcher into the ambulance first, then mine. My feet ached. I suddenly became very aware of the different sized glass shards that were stuck in my skin. I guess the adrenaline had been pumping so heavily before that I didn’t really notice the pain. But now, it was overwhelming.

The paramedics let Grandma come ride with us in the ambulance. She climbed in and sat beside Grandpa’s stretcher, placing her hand over his. His eyes were closed and his breaths were just barely there.

My hands started to shake from fear.

What was going to happen?

What was wrong with Grandpa?

What if we lost him?

So many questions that couldn’t be answered.

I heard sirens go off.

The ambulance started up. The paramedics came and shut the back doors before climbing into the front and driving away.

I could have sworn before the doors closed that I saw Patrick standing by his front door with a vacant expression on his face. But I could have just been imagining it. I’d lost a lot of blood.