17 CHAPTER 17: The Emergency

[Sasha Shadows]

30 minutes.

That was the remaining time for me to answer my readers' and followers' questions and messages, especially clecartwrt.

I owed him an answer and I seriously should explain this in a mature way. And then, an idea popped up like a weasel, allowing me to keep my fingers working.

shadowriter_: Because the way you talk is a little similar to a boy I have loved since high school.

No reads, no reply.

He must have fallen asleep then. Yes, when people reply to my messages late, I tend to understand their situation more instead of grumbling about their attitudes. Heaving out a sigh, I clicked on the other unanswered messages and replied to all of them as quickly as possible. As time flew faster than an eagle, I was left with 5 minutes.

Looking at the answered messages, I could see almost all the conversations were ended, except that one which was left unanswered by the other person, clecartwrt. I turned to look at the clock, realising two minutes had passed. As can be seen, the time left for me was scarce. Before the period of this wish expired, I decided to make a quick announcement regarding my proceeding hiatus status on this writing platform.

I did not know how long I would vanish from the realm of social media, but I hoped I could find my way back to my own body and wake up from this dream.

Soon, I couldn't feel my hands touching the laptop anymore as they penetrated through the keyboard. "Too bad, time is up." Isabelle said as she appeared beside me. "At least you'd tried your best, Shadows," she soothed, sending light pats on my back.

I could do nothing but to nod with a sad smile. However, my vision began to turn blurry. The only thing I could see was a mixture of colours, the type which a person with long-sightedness can see after taking off his or her specs. There I blinked once, and then twice, but my eyes were getting watery and painful.

Had I been crying?

But my head was aching. I could not hear, nor I could reply to any questions. With my eyes shut tightly, I pressed my index fingers on my temples and couldn't stop rubbing them, hoping to fix the pain. However, it worsened.

The sudden invasion of the pain made me scream in agony. I couldn't stop asking what was going on with me when the girl in front looked at me with her shocked expression. Her face was flushed when tears of fear rushed out of her eyes. She seemed not to have encountered such a situation before.

My consciousness was fading while my head was heavy as lead and so did my eyelids. Dizziness made me see stars circling above my head. I'd never felt so bad in my entire life - was my last thought before the surrounding changed.

The sunlight no longer pressed itself through the windows and neither did the noises from the neighbourhood sneaking through the wall gaps. Everything turned dark and utterly silent. But-

"Sasha," Isabelle's whisper was clear as the running stream to my ears, telling me that my consciousness had regained. ��The pills."

"What?"

"Eat it." Obeying the little girl's advice, my hand snaked into the pocket of my hoodie jacket before my fingers touched the cylindrical container. The label of the pills became visible.

"Memory capsules?" I whispered to myself while sending Isabelle a doubtful look.

"Faster, before the keepers arrive," urged the little emissary as I took out a capsule and tossed it into my opened mouth with my shaky hands.

Soon, black smoke began to creep through the door gaps when the sound of the chain brushing the ground was audible. The greyish gas accumulated in front of us until two tall human figures were revealed.

"Sasha Danielle Shadows," one of them pronounced with a sonorous voice. "It is time for you to hand over your memory as the price for your 5 granted wishes."

***

[Hansel Duncan]

The bright day looked positive, yet the atmosphere in the cab was full of negativity. My chest hurt when I could only feel how upset my buddy was without knowing what to do. There in the cab, the driver was speeding with all four of us seated in the vehicle. Clerence was losing his rational thinking and patience because of one call from his employer.

Nope, he wasn't being fired but yes, it was because of the girl. All I roughly know was the manager received a call about Shadows from the hospital. Again, as the manager was unable to go to the hospital right away, she assigned Clerence to present on behalf of her and there we were, together in the vehicle.

The extreme solemness began to squeeze the air out of my lungs and covered the whole vehicle in dead serious silence. However, this didn't stop my heart from stamping rapidly on my chest. The cab driver soon made a sharp turn, urging us to hold on tight. Right there, under the shield of golden sunlight, the hospital shone like a ginormous diamond.

Due to how emergent the case was, Clerence stuffed a handful of 5 bucks into that driver's hand and hopped down the vehicle without even closing the door. "Sorry," I apologised for him while the driver handed me the change with an understanding smile.

"It's okay, I understand," was what he said before I closed the taxi door.

As I turned, I could see Greg and Doc, with their empathetic looks plastered on their faces, tailed behind the sprinting boy into the hospital. As fast as I could manage, I followed suit. Not long after, the four of us reached the reception counter with our heavy breaths and sweaty shirts. The same administrative girl sat behind the divider, facing the desktop as usual.

After listening to Clerence's requests about seeing Sasha, she immediately checked the girl's data using the desktop. At the same time, she also asked us to register ourselves just like last time. "Sasha Danielle Shadows, right?" she confirmed.

"Yes," answered Clerence with his rough breath.

"We need a guardian to sign this consent for operation form for Miss Shadows as she needs to undergo an emergency surgery right away," said the admin girl when she indicated that Clerence could not sign the form for Sasha.

"But we couldn't contact her guardians at this moment. Her manager isn't available now as well. Just let me sign the consent form, I'm her brother, please." The rest of us were shocked to hear what Clerence had just said. The words were pronounced politely unlike his usual self. We all knew when Clerence was stressed out and anxious, he would fail to control his emotions.

But at that time, he'd succeed in controlling them. He'd done a good job in fixing his bad habits.

Not long after, the counter girl stood up from her seat with an unreadable expression plastered on her face. "This way, follow me." We all followed her until we reached the third floor to meet Sasha's doctor.

"Thank you, lady," thanked Greg as the admin left us. Soon, the doctor started discussing about the operation needed for Sasha with us before allowing Clerence to give his informed consent.

***

[Dominic Williams]

The red emergency light of the ICU hadn't extinguished yet, telling us that such an incident was serious as it involved someone's life. Sasha's life. With his hands covering his face, Clerence sobbed silently beside me as we were seated on the cold plastic chairs to wait for the news.

He'd never showed us his vulnerable side. Not in such a state where his face was wet with tears. His sniffle pulled me back to this dimension and eventually did not stop me from patting his back to give him comfort. "She'll be alright." I whispered to him, but he shook his head and denied my reassuring statement.

"No…" Clerence's voice was so broken that it shattered all our hearts. "Doctors never lie."

The doctor told us that Sasha was suffering from cerebral hypoxia. The situation was not optimistic and even if the surgeons managed to save her, she might end up losing all her past memories as that was where her brain was damaged.

"I prayed for her every night," Clerence muttered as he wiped his face with the tissue offered by Hans. "I wished she'll be good…" His eyes were blood-shot due to crying. "If she dies, how am I supposed to live? My life will be shielded with regret and misery, guys… I am the one who caused this… I am the murderer…"

"Stop it," Greg interrupted sternly as he stared straight into Clerence's eyes. "You tried your best, bud. She will be okay." His voice was desperate. "God will hear you." It was surprising for me to find Greg's voice shook, but yes, he was scared as well. He was afraid that his words would worsen the situation.

After who knew how long we'd been waiting outside the ICU, the red light finally turned green. The surgeons, all suited in their required attires – medical masks and white caps, large, white uniforms each laced with a plastic apron, whatever terms you call, came out of the room with their gloves all taken away. "How is she?" asked Clerence worriedly.

To be honest, it was fast of him to reach the doctor in such a short time.

The leader among the surgeons took a look at Clerence, and then at the three of us who followed from behind. As his black eyes fixated on Clerence again, he cleared his throat and answered, "We managed to remove the clotted blood from her injured brain area, but due to the severity, she might suffer from selective amnesia once she wakes up. She-"

"Wait a minute, doctor," interrupted Clerence with hope hidden in his voice. "Did you say that the girl will wake up?"

"Maybe, but we are more than 50% sure about this," said the doctor with his firm tone, meaning that he had discussed this issue with his colleagues about Sasha's condition.

After a short pause, Clerence uttered, "I am glad to hear that."