Chapter
11
Alexa suddenly felt a sharp pain run through her body. But then it was
gone, just as soon as it had come. "Something's wrong," a
little voice in the back of her mind seemed to say. She jumped up from her
chair and raced down the hall to Elisa's room. She peeked in and saw her mother
still sitting beside Elisa's bed, holding her hand tightly. The green line on
her sister's heart monitor still rose and dropped steadily. Everything was
still as it was when Alexa had left the room. She walked slowly back to the
waiting room down the hall and sat back down, unable to get rid of the feeling
that something bad had just happened. "It's just being at this
place," she told herself. Little did she know what was going on just a
floor below her.
***
"Clear!" a doctor shouted. Jackie Littrell watched her son's
body jump as electricity surged through him. She watched the flat green line on
the monitor next to him, willing it to rise. It stayed flat.
"No pulse," a nurse cried.
"Charging at 200," the doctor yelled. "Clear!"
"No pulse!"
Jackie stood in the hallway, watching through the window. "Please
God, bring him back," she prayed silently, crying harder as she watched
the doctor shock Brian over and over.
She felt as if she had gone back in time to when Brian was only five.
The same thing had happened then. But God had brought him back that time. Would
he do it again?
"One more time! Charging at 600! Clear!" the doctor shouted.
Suddenly, the line peaked.
"We got him back," the nurse said. Jackie burst into fresh
tears, but these were tears of relief. The nurse walked out into the hallway
and saw Jackie standing there.
"Oh, ma'am, why don't you come with me," she said kindly,
putting an arm on Jackie's shoulder.
"Is he going to be alright?" she asked, her blue eyes filled
with worry.
"They're taking him up to ICU. There, they'll be able to monitor
him more closely," the nurse told her. "Come with me. I'll take you
up there." Jackie followed the nurse into an elevator for the ride up to
the next floor, ICU.
***
Mrs. Morgan walked out of Elisa's room and saw her other daughter
slouched in a chair in the waiting room. "Oh, Lexi, there you are,"
she said, taking a seat next to Alexa. She put her arm around her daughter.
"Are you alright honey?" Alexa nodded, but said nothing.
"Listen, hun, the doctor told me that they want to run some tests on Lisa
now. They told me the best thing to do right now is to just go home and come
back tomorrow, since the tests could take awhile."
"Okay," Alexa said, standing up.
"Lex, baby, I now this is going to be tough on all of us, but we
have to get through it together, okay?" She hugged her daughter tightly.
Alexa nodded and hugged her mother back.
"Let's go home," she said. Together, they walked down the
hall to the elevator.
***
Jackie Littrell stood up abruptly as Brian's doctor came into the ICU
waiting room. "Dr. Simms, how is he?" she asked.
"We have him stabilized," he said, "but he's still
unconscious."
"What happened to him?" she asked.
"It was a heart attack," Dr. Simms replied. "His heart
is giving out. He desperately needs a heart transplant."
"How soon will he get one?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"I don't know," he said. "We just have to wait and
see."
"Well, we can't wait much longer. His life is on the line
here," she cried.
"I know, Mrs. Littrell, but there are many other patients waiting
too."
"I know," she said softly. "I'm sorry."
"That's all right," Dr. Simms said kindly, resting a hand on
her shoulder. "I understand."
He turned and left the room, promising Jackie she could see her son
shortly.
***
