Chapter Twelve - Nick

I find Oasis’ family in the stands and take my seat next to Olivia. She passes me a copy of the program and I see that Oasis is coming up after two other people.

“I just seen Oasis and she was a bit nervous,” I say to Olivia politely.

“She’ll been fine, Nick. She’s always nervous before she competes but once she gets in the arena is fine,” Olivia tells me with a smile. “She was so happy that you can come.”

“I’m glad I could be here,” I say to her with a smile.

Just then the commentator announces Oasis and Marina and she goes into the arena. She starts leading Marina through her routine. She is halfway through her routine when I hear two gunshots ring out through the area. I see Oasis fall off Marina’s back and hit the ground. Everything goes into the slow motion and I see Marina bolt away and collapse.

“Nick, I need you to go with Oasis,” I hear Elliot say to me, as he gives me a push towards where Oasis is. “I have to make sure that Marina is okay. She would kill me if I didn’t take care of Marina. She loves her too much.”

“I’ll make sure she’s safe,” I say and run off through the crowd to where she is laying.

I get there just as the ambulance does and I wait nearby until they start loading her in to the ambulance. I race over to the ambulance and start climbing in, as I climb in the officer in the back looks at me with a funny look. “I’m going with her,” I tell him pointedly.

“I’m here, Oasis, I’m not going anywhere,” I say to her, as she loses consciousness.

“She needs IV and fluids. Let’s go,” the male ambulance officer says. “I need to you to sit over there,” He says pointing to the seat near the door.

I sit down and watch as he hooks her up to a heart monitor machine. He then pulls out gauze, needles, tubing and a bag full of clear liquid. He slides the needle into the vein in her hand. Just as he hangs the bag on the hook in the roof, the machine starts beating erratically.

“She’s crashing,” He shouts to the driver as the machine flat lines.

“What’s happening?” I ask panicking and standing up. “Is she going to be okay?”

“Sir, I need you to sit down,” the officer says.

I sit down and watch with panic curling in my stomach. I sit there silently praying for her to survive. The officer starts doing CPR. After doing it for about thirty seconds, the machine registers a heartbeat.

“She’s back,” the officer calls.

The ambulance stops and suddenly the doors are flung open. I see the other ambulance officer, they carefully push the gurney out of the ambulance and rush her into the emergency room. I race in behind them hoping that Oasis would be okay.

“We have a female shooting victim. One to the abdomen, she crashed on the way here. We got here back, but she’s still in critical condition,” The male ambulance officer tells the doctors, as they rush her to one of the beds.

I race over to her bed and try to grab her hand, but I can’t because of all the nurses and doctors bustling around her. When one of the nurses sees me, she gently grabs my hand and leads me out to the waiting room.

“Sir, I need you to wait out here,” the nurse says quietly. “I’ll let you know when anything happens.”

“Thank you, Patricia,” I say looking at her id tag.

She walks back through the doors. Once she is gone, I carefully walk over to the seats near the door to the ward and sit there with my head in my hands. I sit there praying that she’ll survive. I hear the doors open and look up to see her family walking through the door.

“How is she?” Minerva says worriedly, sounding panicked.

“They have her in the emergency room. One of the nurses led me out here and told me that she would let me know when anything happened,” I tell her family as calmly as I can handle. “They nearly lost her in the ambulance.”

I burst out in tears and Minerva hugs me and starts crying herself. After a couple of moments we are all crying and hugging each other. Just then Patricia, the nurse from earlier, comes out of the emergency room with a stony look on her face.

“The doctors wanted to tell you, but I wanted to since I told you I would,” Patricia says in a soothing voice. “They have to operate to remove the bullet.”