Through Crimson Eyes

by Level Dasher

Chapter 29: Timing, Timing...

As I put the light back on the side table, I felt a small gurgle in my stomach. When I sat back against my pillow, I put my hoof to my gut, and felt it again.

Dad leaned to me and whispered, “Crimson, are you alright?” When I nodded, his narrowed eyes told me that he wasn’t convinced. “Alright. I need to go use the phone down the hall for a minute, but I’ll be right back, okay?” I nodded again, and he headed out the door. I thought I saw him stumble on his hoof, but I wasn’t sure.

Tess hopped up and leaned on my bed to get a good look at me. “Are you okay, Crimson? You don’t look very happy.”

I groaned and looked at my stomach. “I dunno, actually. My stomach’s hurting again. Could be from lunch— the food is really crummy.”

“Do you want me to go get your dad?”

“Yeah, could you?” No sooner had I said that, a loud alarm went off, causing us to put our hooves to our ears. “Aah! What in Celestia’s name is that?!”

A moment later, I saw a bunch of nurses galloping down the hall. I barely made out one of them yelling, “Code blue in five-thirty-two!”

The second the last nurse ran past my room, I felt something jump up in my throat. I pointed to the sink, which had a plastic bucket right beside it, and shouted, “Tess, grab me that, quick!” Tess’s eyes popped and her mouth flew open, then she rushed to the sink, grabbed the bucket, and rushed back. Just as I got the bucket in my lap, up came my lunch.

As I sat in my bed, panting, I looked toward my door. The alarm was still going off, but I thought I heard the sound of galloping hooves again. I looked at Tess, who looked back at me with raised eyebrows and pointed at the door. Right after I nodded at her, the door opened and Dad hurried in, just as I brought up breakfast.

Dad rushed to my bedside right as the alarm turned off. He sighed, “Thank Celestia that’s over.” He caught one glimpse of the bucket on my bed, nodded, then pushed the call button on my bed and asked, “Crimson, what happened? You said you were feeling alright.”

I stared at the green goop in the bucket for a second, then took a deep breath before I said, “Well… I was. That came out of nowhere.”

“Well, you said your stomach’s been bothering you; this could be why.” Dad turned to the speaker next to the call button. “Why haven’t they answered?” He trotted to the door and poked his head out. When another nurse came rushing by, Dad stopped her and asked, “My son just vomited. We need help in here. Why hasn’t anypony answered at the call desk?”

I heard her out in the hall as she responded, “I’m sorry sir, but we’re about to lose a colt in the other room, and we need as many hooves as we can get. Somepony will be with you in a few minutes,” then she galloped down the hall.

I kept my head hovering over the bucket as Dad trotted back to my bed and shook his head. “You couldn’t have done this before I called your mother?” He sighed and rubbed his left shoulder. “Timing, Crimson. Timing.”

I shook my head back at him and clutched my stomach. “Sorry, Dad. I swear, that came out of nowhere. I hope that colt is alright.” Tess nodded her head.

Dad sighed. “Me too. You keep that in your lap while we wait for a nurse.”

As we waited, Dad kept tapping his hoof. “I understand there’s an emergency, but they can’t spare ONE nurse? Seriously, they should— ahh…” He rubbed his left foreleg, then began breathing deeply.

I didn’t like the way he looked. “Dad, are you alright?”

He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth as he took in a sharp breath. “I don’t know, I—” He suddenly fell to the floor, clutching his chest.

“DAD! Oh geez, somepony help me in here!”

I slammed the call button again before I realized there wouldn’t be any help. I turned to Tess and shouted, “Tess, can you go down the hall and— shoot, they’re dealing with that colt!” Dad’s breathing became fast and sharp as he laid on the floor, gasping. He turned and laid on his back, then he stopped breathing completely as his hoof flopped to the floor. “GAH! What do we do now?!”

Tess frantically looked around the room before she spotted something on the wall next to me. Her eyes lit up and she shouted, “I know!” She squeezed her eyes shut as her horn sparked and glowed. I turned around and saw two handled paddles, surrounded by her copper aura, levitating toward Dad. “He was grabbing his left foreleg and clutching his chest; he was having a heart attack!” I stared at her as she held the paddles aloft. “I know what to do— my grandpa had one! Hit that button on the wall!”

There was a big, red button on the wall that said ‘Defibrillator’ right under where the paddles had been. Luckily, it was just within my reach, so I smacked the button. Tess rubbed the paddles together, then hovered them onto Dad’s chest and yelled, “CLEAR!” I leaned over the side of my bed, staring at Dad on the floor, then I saw his chest leap up as the shock went through him. Nothing happened. “Shoot! CLEAR!” Tess yelled again as she shocked Dad a second time with the paddles. Still, nothing happened.

I panted again, still holding the bucket beside me, when High Flyer came through the door and asked, “What’s going on in here?” He saw Dad on the floor and Tess holding the paddles. “What in Eques—”

Tess screeched, “CLEAR!” yet again and sent another shock. At the third jolt, Dad started coughing and turned over, breathing sharply again. “Oh, thank Celestia!” Tess dropped the paddles on the floor and turned around. Just as High Flyer was going to say something, Tess pointed at Dad and shouted, “Heart attack! He needs help!” When High Flyer lifted a hoof and furrowed his brow at her, she said, “He rubbed his left foreleg and clutched his chest before he fell to the floor— I’m telling you, it was a heart attack!”

High Flyer’s eyes went wide before he shouted out the door, “Call somepony from Cardiology! We need a gurney, stat!” He turned to Tess and me and asked, “Crimson, why didn’t you call one of us?! Your friend shouldn’t have—”

I felt tears leaking down my cheeks as I shouted, “I DID! You were all in the other room and nopony answered at the desk! What else were we supposed to do?!”

High Flyer started, “You should have—” He cut himself off and sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Somepony is coming right now; we’ll take care of your dad. I—” He sniffed the air, then spotted the bucket on the side of my bed. “Crimson, did you vomit?”

I took a deep breath. “Yes, but worry about my dad right now. I’ll talk about that in a minute.” High Flyer was about to protest, but a pegasus mare wearing scrubs came in rolling a gurney.

The nurse stopped short at the door, then turned to High Flyer and asked, “It was the parent?” Dad was still gasping on the floor.

High Flyer nodded quickly as the nurse rolled the gurney into the room. As he helped her lift Dad, he said, “Get him to the cardiac wing, then call the family’s house number. I need to help the patient.” The nurse nodded as the two of them laid Dad down.

As I sat there with Tess leaning on the side of my bed, and High Flyer helping the nurse get Dad on the gurney, I brought my legs to my chest and put my head in my hooves. I could feel the warm tears dripping down my cheeks as one obnoxious thought ran through my mind.

Happy Birthday, Crimson…

Comments

[Dreams of Ponies]

Stress is a powerful thing, really.. unless there was another reason for his dad's retirement, uh-oh...

And yeah, timing is a douche sometimes