Angry Night
“What
are we never going to believe?” I shouted.
I
couldn’t stand his beating around the bush anymore.
“They
are evacuating
“What?”
Kevin cried out.
“You
have got to be kidding!” Howie echoed the sentiment.
“Well
no, not exactly,” Nick replied.
At
that moment I wanted to strangle him.
“Then
what!?” Elyssa hollered.
Apparently
we were all starting to lose our cool.
“If
you guys stopped yelling for a moment maybe I could tell you!” he screamed
above us.
We
instantly fell silent.
“Thank
you,” he began. “Well they were saying hurricane Craig was the worst hurricane
that
“My
God after everything else we get stuck in an elevator when the city is being
evacuated. I feel like I’m starring in the ABC miniseries The Tragic Life
of Anita Robinson! When will it end?” I exclaimed.
“We
have to stay calm,” Kevin was already assuming the unofficial position as our
leader. “Nick, when was the evacuation order issued?”
“Two
hours ago,” he replied weakly.
“We
have to get out of here,” he murmured half to himself.
His
eyes darted around the compact room. I suddenly wished that this were a
miniseries. At least then there would be some trap door at the top of the
elevator that we could climb out of or something. On TV they always found
a way out. Suddenly I could hear Elyssa burst out into tears beside
me. She buried her head in her hands and began sobbing. Everyone
just sat there a little shocked.
“Lisa,”
I murmured. “It’s all right.”
“No
it’s not!!” she screamed. “I’m sick and tired of people telling me it’s
going to be all right!! Nothing that has happened to me in the past month
has been all right. We are going to freaking die in this stupid
elevator. It’ll never get better!”
“Oh,
quit your whining,” Nick spat at her. “I’m sick of your bitching.
We are all in the same boat!”
Elyssa
slowly lifted her head and looked at him. Her eyes narrowed as she glared
at him. I could see Nick involuntarily recoil. I had never seen
Elyssa look at anyone in quite that way.
“Nick,
we are not all quite in the same boat!” she began practically growling at him
like an animal. “You may think I am just
going on some type of self pity trip,” her voice was rising in intensity with
every word. “Well then you are
right. But if you had been through as much freaking hell as I’ve been
through in the past month I think you would be too!!” she was screaming at him
now.
I
put my hand on her arm and tried to calm her down but the rage she had bottled
up inside exploded in Nick’s face. Her screams echoed around us.
“First
I get kidnapped by two maniacs, one of them tries to rape me! The other
proceeds to shoot my boyfriend right in front to my damn eyes. Then one
of my best friends gets shot and killed, again while I have to watch.
Then when I think I have escaped the hell hold they have on my life, one of
them comes back to try and rape me again. My best friend commits suicide
and I find her almost dead. Then I'm sexually abused and almost
killed. Then they tell me my boyfriend is going to die. And you
want to sit here and tell me that we are all in the same boat?!”
Her
voice was shrill as she shoved Nick hard against the wall of the
elevator. He winced as he hit the panel. Elyssa’s
mouth opened to finish off her point. But suddenly the elevator
jerked. The emergency lights blinked out and the normal lighting
re-appeared. The elevator began moving.
“You
mean all we had to do was shove Nick against the panel to get this stupid thing
moving again!?” I yelled.
As
the elevator stopped Kevin raised his arms for silence.
“All
right all of you!” he shouted at us. “If we want to get through this then you
have to stop fighting like children and start helping each other all right!?”
All
of us gave a slight nod of the head. The doors slid open behind him and
we slowly filed out onto the ICU floor. The lights were dim and the floor
was eerily silent. Usually the hum of machines could be heard at all
times but even that was missing. I had a feeling this was what it was
like to be on a ghost ship. There wasn’t a single soul in sight. We
skittered down the hallway, making our way to the most central area of the
floor.
“Wait!”
Elyssa hollered. ]
I
spun around. She looked sick.
“They
left him here,” she said softly pointing at a room.
It
took me moments to process that it was Brian’s room she was pointing too.
“You’re
kidding!” I cried and dashed into Brian’s room.
There
he lay much as he had every day since he went into his coma. All the
machines around him were still buzzing. Brian should have been
dead. But you could see the steady rise and fall of his chest. With
the evacuation they musn’t have had time to carry it
out.
“I
can’t believe the bastards left him here!” Elyssa shouted at no one in
particular. “Can they do that?”
“I’m
afraid they can. Since he wasn’t supposed to live anyway he would not
have been a priority. So yes they could leave him here,” I explained,
trying my best to remember evacuation protocol. Anyone interning at the
hospital had to learn it.
“Thank
God he’s still alive,” Howie said always looking at the bright side of things.
“Well,
now what?” Nick asked.
“All
the doors will be locked,” I realized aloud.
“What?
Why?” Kevin questioned.
“I
can’t remember why they do it, but if evacuation went by the book all doors
will be locked.”
“Great,”
Kevin mumbled. “Okay. Howie, Nick and I will check the floor and see if there
is a way off. You and Elyssa stay here and take care of Brian.”
It
wasn’t much of a plan, but it would have to do.
“Be
. . .” I started to spout the words be careful.
But
I stopped myself. Last time I had uttered those two words A.J. had never
made it back.
“Just
come back in one piece okay,” I said looking at Kevin.
“Don’t
worry we will,” he said confidently as they exited the room.
I
only wished I could be as sure.
***
