Page 109 of Loving the Legend
“Ishan? Everything o—”
I suck in a breath as I hear the words—Adam, cardiac arrest, hospital.
This can’t be real.
I squeeze my eyes shut and push out a strangled breath. I try to speak but I choke. Clearing my throat, I manage to rasp, “Alive?”
“The paramedics on the scene resuscitated him, but he’s in surgery. I don’t know if he’ll…” Ishan muffles a sob, and it pierces my chest. “I don’t understand. He was right there on my six. Our unit was one of the first to exit the building. I heard a weird sound, and when I looked back, he was lying on the ground. And we couldn’t…” His voice catches.
My vision turns blurry as I imagine Adam losing consciousness.
“…he didn’t have a pulse,” he continues.
I crumple, sliding down the wall to the floor and squeezing my eyes shut to stop the cabin from spinning.
“A-are you still there?”
“Yeah…" I croak. “I’m on my way. Send me the information, please.”
“I’ll send it now.”
“Ishan, wait, do whatever it takes to keep him alive. Insist on the best doctors. His insurance is irrelevant. I’ll pay anything. Please. Make sure they resuscitate him if necessary. Keep him alive by any means. Please. Don’t let them fuck up.”
“Of course. I love him.”
“I know. Thank you for being there with him. I’m on my way.”
After I hang up, my phone buzzes. Seeing Adam’s name makes me lightheaded. My fingers tremble as I read the hospital details.
It’sa quarter past four o’clock in the morning when I enter the hospital. Thank God for Sid’s plane and Nat, who willingly offered to transport me to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. Despite my attempts to shake them, the guys hung back with me while the plane refueled. Nat and I were back in the air in under an hour.
When the plane walls started to close in, I spent the better part of the flight repeatedly muttering five things I saw around me, four things that I could touch, three things that I could hear, two things that I could smell, and one thing that I could taste.
I called Ishan back as soon as the plane landed. I tried to stand, but my knees buckled as the phone rang out. A familiar swarm of unrest had me bolting to the restroom, where I puked up the measly coffee I managed to get down. I flushed the toilet and rinsed out my mouth with Sid’s mouthwash.
I step off of the elevator and into a sea of firefighters. I’m pulled into a hug by Tom, Adam’s best friend.
His eyes are swollen and red. “The son of a bitch scared all of us. He’s got the heart of a lion. If anyone could pull through a cardiac arrest, it’s him,” he says, embracing my shoulder.
“Thanks. I—” I twist my head when a hand pats my back.
“Ty, whatever you need, and I mean anything, you let us know. That’s our brother in there.” Adam’s boss, Chief Johnson, grasps my hand. “Thank you,” I reply, shaking her hand. “It means a lot, you all being here.”
She nods. “Go ahead. I bet you're desperate to go to him.”
I nod and brush past her.
I find Adam’s room with Tom’s help. When I enter, I freeze. There are at least a half dozen cords and tubes inserted into him. I cover my mouth as a sob rips from my chest. There’s a machine with zig-zag lines that I recognize from television. Whenever its alarm goes off, it’s never good.
Ishan’s head whips up. “Hey, hey! It’s okay. He’s okay,” he says, releasing Adam’s hand and darting over to me. “I just called you back. Surgery was successful. He hasn’t woken up yet, but the surgeon said that’s normal. He should wake up in the next couple of hours.”
I shake my head as I suck in air, and hot tears pour down my face.
“He’s okay. He’s going to live,” Ishan repeats.
I retreat, shaking my head. He’s not okay. There’s a tube sticking out of his mouth. His face looks swollen. He’s stiff. If it wasn’t for the plastic bulb thing expanding on every breath, he’d seem…dead. My back hits a wall.
A brick is lodged behind my breastbone, and it hurts to breathe.
