Page 120 of Veil of Obsession
But then the second alarm hits. Louder. Sharper.
Matteo’s head snaps up. Mara jerks beside me, eyes finally blinking to life.
A nurse rushes past us. Then another.
Then a man in scrubs shouts, “Code blue! Room three! Patient’s crashing!”
Three. Ma’s room.
I’m on my feet before I can think.
We run. Me, Matteo, Mara. Eli’s already halfway down the corridor when the third alarm blares, flat and unbroken. The line that means no rhythm. No heartbeat.
No life.
We reach the door just as two nurses shove it open, yelling for a crash cart.
Inside, chaos reigns. The machines are screaming. A doctor is barking orders. A nurse is pressing compressions onto Ma’s chest so hard I think I hear ribs crack.
“No, no, no,” Eli mutters, frozen in the doorway.
Valentina appears beside him, her face pale, hands fluttering uselessly.
“Charge to 200. Clear.”
Ma’s body jerks.
The line stays flat.
Again.
Again.
And again.
Half an hour. They don’t stop for half an hour. Every slam of the paddles shakes the floor beneath my feet. Every “Clear!” punches through my chest like it’s being aimed at me. Every beep, every shouted instruction, every moment of silence after the shocks…it all builds until it’s no longer sound.
It’s pressure. It’s suffocation. And then…
“I’m calling it.” The senior doctor lowers his hands. “Time of death, 9:47 PM.”
“No.” The word comes from Eli. Low.
The doctor steps back, exhausted. “We did everything we could?—”
“No.” Eli lunges.
He grabs the doctor by the collar, slams him back against the heart monitor. The machine whines in protest.
“You don’t get to quit! You don’t get to stop!”
“Eli!” Valentina shouts, rushing forward.
“Keep trying!” Eli roars, his voice breaking apart, veins bulging in his neck. “You don’tfucking stopuntil she wakes up!”
He shakes the doctor hard enough that the man stumbles.
Valentina throws her arms around her husband, yanking him back. “Eli, please stop. Stop.Stop.”
