The perfect timing

After a good ten-minute run, in which I had to stop a few times, because my lungs were hurting like I had swallowed saltwater, I finally arrived at the bakery. It seemed like nothing had changed since I left, until I noticed that the sign, which told you if the bakery was open or close, was turned around to closed.

I wasn’t the one who had turned it around, so I immediately rushed through the still open door and inside the store. It was quiet inside and I glanced furious around for something that didn’t belong in here. As I didn’t make out something suspicious, I walked towards the back where I found Nancy still lying unconscious at the ground and where we had just left her.

Concern immediately spread through me and I crouched down next to her, shaking her body and calling her name.

“Nancy, please wake up!”

But she didn’t react at all, so I took one of her hands in panic, trying to feel her pulse. For a second I could only hear my own breathing and I felt all the blood pumping through my veins.

But then I could make out that she was still breathing, and I exhaled in relief. She was living, but why wasn’t she waking up?

“Nancy,” I tried again, this time louder and I could also hear the desperation in my voice.

“Nancy!” I was by now screaming her name and only stopped until I heard someone calling my name.

A second later my aunt Lily appeared and as she saw me there crouching next to an unconscious Nancy, silent tears streaming down my face, which I first didn’t notice, she put everything together and immediately called an ambulance.

After that everything happened really fast and in a blur. The ambulance arrived and took Nancy with them to the next hospital. Lily and I followed them.

Almost three hours later we still waited in the waiting room. I was sitting in the corner with a hot coffee in my hands and the guilt about the situation was nagging at my mind.

How could I be so careless? I shouldn’t have left her just like that in the bakery. I was a horrible person and I couldn’t do anything about it.

Lily, who was either standing in the room or passing from one corner to the other, seemed to sense my guilt and sat down next to me, putting one hand on my knee.

“Hey, she will be fine and this is not your fault. You couldn’t do anything to help her,” she tried to convince me, but her words only made me feel worse, because she was wrong. I could have stayed with her and could have get help earlier.

So I nodded to numb to give her a proper answer.

“Celia, Nancy isn’t the youngest person and in her age, it is possible to have a heart attack,” my aunt added.

That was what a nurse had told us that it was a possibility for Nancy to have a heart attack. But I wasn’t so sure about it because of everything that happened before.

And even as Lily tried to hide her insecurities, I could still see through her, because of the way her smile didn’t reach her eyes or the way she was constantly biting her lips.

Nobody was sure if Nancy would survive this day and I couldn’t even tell them the whole truth about the happenings because they would never believe me and I wasn’t allowed to tell anybody about it.

So the only thing I could do was to wait and pray to god, that the woman, who was like a grandmother to me would be fine in the end.

An hour later a nurse, my aunt seemed to know appeared. With a sympathetic smile she waved us out of the room to tell us about Nancy’s condition. The both of us immediately got out of our seats and followed her out of the waiting room.

“Nancy’s state is stable,” the nurse told us and both Lily and I exhaled in relief.

“However,” she continued. “She didn’t wake up, and we had to put her in an artificial coma.”

“Artificial coma,” Lily croaked out and I glanced at her, seeing her heartbroken expression.

“Yes, but we are positive that she will wake up soon,” the nurse tried to cheer us up, with no success.

“Can we see her?” I spoke for the first time and the nurse looked at me frowning.

“We are the only family she has, even if we are not related to her,” I explained feeling suddenly tired.

The nurse looked at me for a moment before she nodded and told us to wait again in the waiting room until she would get us and we could visit Nancy.

As the nurse disappeared Lily immediately embraced me in a hug, placing her head on my shoulders and squeezing me tight. I wasn’t the only one who saw the elder woman as a family member and I knew Lily felt the same way about her.

“She is going to be fine,” my aunt mumbled into my shoulder again and again, stroking my hair with her hands. But I wasn’t so sure if I addressed her words towards me or if she was trying to convince herself.

After a while the same nurse took us to Nancy’s room and then left us alone with her for a while. Lily was the first one on Nancy’s side, taking her hand carefully and squeezing it lightly. I had never seen her acting like that, so vulnerable and careful.

For a moment I was frozen at the door frame and I could only look at the woman lying in a bed, plugged onto different tubes and electrical appliances.

Her eyes were closed and her breath was steady. She looked like she was sleeping peacefully, but I knew better. After a while I made my feet move towards the other available seat in her room and positioned the chair next to her other side, so I could take her hand as well.

It felt so cold, and I tried to not cry again at her sight. Lily and I stayed as long as possible and until they told us to leave to visit the next day again, which we did.

The same night I couldn’t sleep well. Lily wasn’t any better, she had big circles under her eyes that she tried to cover up with make up the next day. She also tried to act happy, and that everything would be fine though I could see through her act. Nevertheless I appreciated her gesture and tried to act like I believed her.

At the hospital we did the same thing like yesterday, sitting next to her bed, holding her hand and even talking to her. Eventually Lily talked about my childhood and the days, in which Nancy and I baked the whole morning. I smiled at the memory and remained silent, just listening to Lily about the past, until I suddenly saw someone standing next to the doorframe.

Lily didn’t notice the person because she was still facing Nancy and speaking to her. I wasn’t sure if I was seeing right because I didn’t get much sleep at night. So I rubbed my eyes and when that person or more Reece was still standing at the same spot I frowned. What was he doing here?

He then caught my eye and mentioned me with his head to follow him outside. Afterwards he walked away not even looking if I was following him.

I glanced at my aunt, who was still talking about memories and got slowly out of my seat.

“I’m going to get some fresh air.” I told her and she nodded not even glancing in my direction as I walked out of the room.

A few feet away he was standing, with his hands in his pockets, wearing dark washed jeans and a simple white T-shirt.

“You look like shit,” he told me after I had reached him, standing just a foot away from him.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, my voice sounding nothing like me and Reece frowned at my answer. He had probably expected something witty.

“Hey,” he said lifting up my chin with one of his fingers and looking straight into my eyes. “She will be fine.”

He said the words to make me feel better, but they only got the opposite effect, making me furious. How could he be so calm and say stuff like that? He knew nothing.

“What do you even know .” I spat. “She is in a coma and this is all my fault. I should have stayed with her and immediately call an ambulance, but instead I went with you,” my voice trembled at the end and again tears streamed down my face.

But this time I wasn’t crying because of Nancy’s condition. No this time I was crying, because I felt guilty, furious and the hatred for myself.

Reece eyes widened at the sight of me and then took a step closer, doing something I would have never imagined him doing. He hugged me tightly, putting his arms around my body and comforted me.