Today was just a regular Thursday at the hospital. In fact, it was relatively quiet, considering it was early afternoon on a work day, and the lunch hour rush had just ended. Normally at this time, the halls would be bustling with life as doctors, nurses, patients, gurneys, and equipment fought against time to get to their destinations before the clock ran out. Today, however, there was only a thin, steady trickle of incoming patients, and the usual sense of urgency seemed considerably more controlled, as if moving to a less frantic tempo than normal. It was a chilly winter day outside, and the weather seemed undecided as to whether it ought to be sunny or cloudy, so it would change periodically, almost as if on a whim. The wind tugged playfully at the hats, newspapers, and scarves of those wandering the streets of the city and eventually drove them to seek shelter from the frigid gusts.
Back inside the medical facility, a small flurry of flustered activity made its way down a tiled hall towards the ICU, and judging by the agitated aura surrounding the small group of people, they were rolling in a new patient for immediate treatment. Hovering over the small group of nurses was a tall, blonde-haired woman with the air of a harried hawk as she half-jogged alongside to keep up, her expression anxious, focused solely on the person who currently occupied the gurney which was being rolled at a breakneck pace (but controlled, nonetheless, thanks to practice) down the hall. Clearly, the nurses’ attempts to get her to wait in the waiting room had been fruitless, since she had been adamant about staying with her companion, so they had no choice but to let her tag along. The patient was almost completely obscured from view under the swath of blankets in which she was enveloped, but what little of her face that could be seen seemed bleached of all warmth, tinted with an unnaturally blue pallor. Her eyes were closed, and the dark hair which framed her pale face was wet and bedraggled.
“Come on, Auri, stay with me.” The blonde woman’s voice was clearly agitated as she eyed her friend worriedly, clearly more concerned with her than where they were going. She hardly noticed when the entire group skidded to a near-halt to abruptly change direction, darting into the ICU. “Don’t you dare give up on me now, we’re almost there.” The bundle stirred slightly, and her companion opened her eyes blearily, blinking up at her. “Gala, I’m fine. Everything’s going to be alright.” The young woman’s voice was slightly hoarse, but her lips twitched slightly in her best attempt at a reassuring smile, although her muscles felt heavy and resisted her. Despite the cold which pervaded her body, she felt oddly warm and wanted nothing more than to simply drift off into the welcoming embrace of sleep, but she knew that if she did, she might not wake up again.
“Yeah, tell me that when you’re not on the verge of turning into a human popsicle,” Galatea mumbled, her brow furrowed in a troubled line. “Did you really have to go jumping in? That had to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” Despite her cold-induced lethargy, Auri still managed to turn a solemn look on her concerned friend. “And would you have left that child to freeze to death instead? I was just doing what any decent person would have done.” To this, the woman had no reply, but instead, simply pursed her lips, biting back the other troubled words which bubbled to the surface. The two of them had been chatting on a bench on the dock when a mother with three children had come along. As she was tending to the baby in her arms, one of her little boys had reached a little too far to try and pet one of the passing ducks, only to take a tumble into the frigid water. Of course, Auri being Auri had immediately jumped in without a second thought for her own safety to pull the child out, and long story short, it had wound up with her being here (the little boy having already been tended to first) being wheeled to the ICU.
The group came to a sudden halt, and all of the nurses seem to scatter in a million different directions, each with his or her task to tend to to help stabilize their patient. Galatea, not having anything else to help with, simple settled for keeping her friend company while they waited for the doctor to arrive, forcing the nurses to work around her as she hovered at Auri’s bedside. Auri was a trooper, and she would pull through. She had to. She was her best friend, and Gala had no idea what she would do if something were to happen to her. But everything would be alright, just as she said. Right?
{This makes me feel so bad for Auri. XD But hey, we'll set her to rights in no time, right? ;3}