Chapter 200 Still Breathing
The ride to the hospital was a blur as Andrea tried to keep her focus on praying for Case and the other drivers who were injured. The black screens were never a good sign. If he was gone… if she never saw him again… she had no idea how she would go on.
She thought about telling him goodbye at the car right before the race. She hadn’t had a bad feeling or anything, only excitement. His car had been good all weekend, through practice and qualifying. She was looking forward to a potential victory, not at all thinking she might end up here.
Now, even if he was alive, he could be hurt so badly he might never be able to race again. She couldn’t imagine how he would handle life without racing. It had been a part of his life since he was a little boy, and he’d started racing in soapbox derbies. Asking him to give that up would be like asking him not to breathe.
But then, she’d be thankful just to hear that he was breathing. That’s all that mattered at the moment. They’d find a way to deal with everything else.
Brad was driving an SUV. She didn’t know whose it was or where he’d gotten it. She could hardly even remember getting into it. A few of the team members were in the back, and she thought she overheard the team owner was also coming. As they pulled into the hospital parking lot, a helicopter flew overhead, and she had a feeling Case was on it, maybe Bill, too.
The vehicle had come to a stop and the other doors were opening, but Andrea didn’t move until Brad had his hand on her shoulder again. “Andrea, come on, honey,” he said softly.
Coming back to her body, Andrea shook her head and opened the door. One of the other guys had his arm around her shoulders, but she didn’t even turn to see who it was.
They rushed into the emergency room, and Brad led the way to the nurses station. Andrea was blinded by her own tears, but she heard the woman say she didn’t know anything yet. They could have a seat, and she would let them know as soon as she heard something.
Andrea heard the nurse’s instructions, but once again, she couldn’t move. Someone ushered her to a seat, and she made contact with the chair, but she felt as if she was floating around somewhere outside of her body.
The hospital wasn’t a large one, and Andrea could hear the commotion down the hallway as they brought in at least one person off of the helicopter.
The fact that the doctors and nurses were rushing might’ve been a good sign if she’d had any idea whether it was Bill or Case they were trying to save of both of them. She stared at the closed door that led to the hall where all of the noise was coming from. She couldn’t make out a single word any of them were saying.
Minutes passed, but they felt like hours as she stared through her tears at that door, praying for someone to come out and tell them what was happening. Her staring and praying was doing no good, though. She just needed to know if Case was alive….
Behind her, the door to the emergency room flew open, and she jumped, turning her head to see Charlie, still in his fire suit, and Leslie, running in. “What’s going on? Have you heard anything?” Charlie asked, breathless.
Brad got up and went over to him, trying to calm him down. “We haven’t heard anything yet.”
“God, d*mnit,” Charlie said, his shoulders shaking. “This is all my fault.”
“Calm down, Charlie.” Leslie patted him on the back, but Andrea knew her sister well enough to know she was agitated. She’d probably already said that a hundred times on the way here from the track.
Brad was assuring Charlie it wasn’t his fault. More people came in. The car owner, other people associated with racing. Andrea turned back to the door, hardly registering it when her sister’s hand came down on her shoulder. Leslie was sitting beside her now, whispering that it would be all right.
But she didn’t know that. No one did. Only the doctors in the back would know, and maybe even they couldn’t tell at this point.
Andrea concentrated on breathing. It was the only thing that she could count on. She prayed that as long as she was breathing, Case would keep breathing, too. If he stopped, she would stop. How could she go on if he was gone?
What seemed like hours later, the door opened, and a short man in scrubs came out. He was a doctor. She could tell by the air of importance that surrounded him. He pulled his mask down and looked around. His eyes landed on Andrea’s face, like he recognized her. Maybe he did. “Ms. Sparks? May I speak to you for a moment?” he asked.
Her breath caught in her throat, and Andrea could no longer concentrate on her breathing because she wasn’t anymore. Did that mean Case wasn’t either?
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