Wronged

? 42 ?

I don't pay any mind to all of the little kids outside in their pajamas, or the caretaker for that matter. I only run towards one of the paramedics.

"Hey! Hey, she needs help!" I shout as I come near. He looks up and immediately goes alert, calling out for someone to bring a gurney. They do so, six of them. Two strap her down and then four pick her up and rush her into the ambulance.

I follow them the whole time, watching as they stick a mask on her bloody mouth and take scissors to her shirt. They cut it off instantly and begin looking at the stab wounds.

When I try to get inside, one of the doctors holds a hand out. "Sorry, sir. We need to work on her with as many paramedics as we can fit."

"What?!" I bark. "Fucking let me in! That's my girlfriend! She's-"

"You can follow us to the hospital. It's three miles from here, just up the mountain. Okay?" She affirms as gently as possible.

Dakota steps around me. "I'm her brother. I need to come."

She shakes her head, grabbing one of the doors as another guy grabs the other. They begin closing them. "Meet us at the hospital."

The doors close, and a second later, the ambulance drives off. I kick the side of the house. "Shit!" I turn to Dakota. "Let's get back into the car. We're going."

He nods, not willing to disagree, before we take off toward the car. We get in just before the caretaker comes to the window. "Wait! The police are-"

"Don't let those kids inside until the police arrive. You can tell the cops there is a dead body in the basement and that most of the witnesses are at the hospital," Dakota says before I drive away. She stands in the rear view mirror, face full of shock.

I high tail it after the ambulance, my grip on the wheel so tight I believe my hands might actually fall off. Eventually I catch up to them within a short amount of time, and we just reach the emergency room in about three minutes. It felt like a fucking eternity.

My parking job is shit, my front tires going into the empty space in front of me and the entire vehicle shifted to the right spot. But I don't care. The "road" isn't even paved. It's just dirt with some painted rocks. I just pray that the hospital is in better shape to take care of Anna than the parking lot is able to take care of jeeps.

Dakota hops out of his side, and me out of mine. We run toward the emergency room doors, where I can see her being loaded out of the medical transport. As her body is revealed, unconscious, battered, wires stuck in her arms and bandages around her torso, I lose my shit.

"Hey!" I yell, trying to step around some paramedics holding their hands out and repeatedly referring to me as "sir," commanding me to stay back. "Hey, why is she so pale?!" No one answers me, causing me to become even more pissed off than I already am. I only now realize Dakota is once again restraining me from jumping through these doctors. "Someone fucking answer me! She needs to be okay!"

"Sir, stay back!" One of the men shout, making my eyes shift over to his darkened face. He towers me by a good foot, but he doesn't look stronger than I am.

"Stay back?" I question darkly. I get closer to his face. "Stay back?! I've stayed back my entire life! I've held back for my entire existence! She is the one thing that makes me move forward, God dammit! And I'll be damned if the one thing that keeps me going suddenly stops!"