Chapter 4
It had been nearly five hours since Alex had been admitted into the intensive care unit at the Lion Heart Hospital. Both Claudia and her partner, Gareth Michaels, sat in their respective seats within the small nurses’ station. Claudia was busy writing up the progress note for Alex while Gareth scrolled through the computer screen he was reading.
‘Well, we have the initial blood test results back,’ Gareth told her. ‘She had alcohol reading of .07 but that shouldn’t be enough to cause any major issues.’
‘I don’t really understand it,’ Claudia frowned. ‘Her sister said she didn’t have any heart problems so she shouldn’t be having arrhythmia.’
‘Maybe she accidentally ingested something she shouldn’t have,’ her colleague speculated. ‘If that’s the case, this is either a case of attempted suicide or attempted murder.’
‘Don’t even go there. We’re not here to judge anyone. Lets just wait until the toxicology report comes back.’
Gareth was about to say something when Alex’s heart monitor started to alarm.
‘I’ll go,’ Claudia volunteered and made her way to Alex’s bed.
Looking up at her patient’s monitor, she noticed the blood pressure was much higher than usually and decided to test her pupil reaction. It was here that her concerns were raised significantly.
‘Gareth,’ she called out. ‘We’re going to need James here again.’
‘What’s wrong?’ was the question as Gareth made his way to the bed.
‘Her pupils aren’t reacting and her BP is slowly increasing.’
Gareth raised his eyebrows. This could mean one of several scenarios but brain swelling was the most likely for Alex’s current condition.
‘Her heart rate’s dropping as well which means she might have increased ICP. You better give her some Mannitol. I’ll call James.’
‘Can she actually hear us?’
There were certain objects that belonged to the natural exhibition of a musky ancient cave. Rock and brown dirt blended in perfectly with the environment. A CB radio, however, did not. As soon as Alex registered the voice, she opened her eyes and looked at the radio with intense curiosity. Was she still dreaming or did she actually hear Beth’s voice coming from it? There was a short silence.
‘No one knows for sure but we do know that the hearing is usually the last to go.’
Alex recognised that voice somewhere. It was the nurse who had been talking to Beth in her previous dream. What was her name? Claudia … Alex stared at the radio in wonder. Claudia’s voice was coming from it too. Did that mean …?
‘She just looks so vulnerable lying there ...,’ Beth’s soft voice continued.
Alex’s heart almost missed a beat as she scrambled excitedly for the radio. If she could just get their attention, maybe she can work out what was happening to her and get out of here. With shaking hands, she activated the radio and spoke into it, hopefully.
‘Beth? 'That you?’
The voices did continued in conversation without any indication that she had heard her but they were no longer coming from the radio, instead resonating around the echoing cave. It was all very confusing.
‘There is some good news,’ Claudia continued. ‘Her pulse is still strong so there's a very high chance she can still hear you. The best thing you can do for her now is talk to her.’
Good news for whom? Alex thought distastefully. What’s going on?
Alex slowly put down the radio and looked around the cave, listening intently. The whole thing was getting a little too weird for her liking and she longed to just get out of there in one piece.
‘Do we know what happened? I mean, how she ended up like this?’ Beth asked, curiously.
Alex had had enough. After all, there wasn’t anything stopping her from leaving, was there? She got up and ran to the month of the cave. There was something odd about the mouth. Normally, the mouth of a cave led out to a path or clearing of some description but this one didn’t. Alex stopped at the mouth and looked down, realising nearly too late that there was no ground following the cave mouth but a mountain’s cliff edge. If her heart wasn’t beating as fast as a drum before, it certainly was now. Saying she hated heights was an understatement and she was on the verge of hyperventilating. She slowly stepped back in terror with the sudden realisation that she was trapped.
‘Just get me out! Please!’ She screamed, hoping that someone – anyone – would hear her.
‘We found some toxins in her body. Do you know what she ate before she collapsed?’ was Claudia’s query.
Now, that got her attention and she needed a moment to think what they were talking about. What did Claudia mean by “collapsed”?
‘Toxins? What toxins?’
There was a short pause before Beth responded.
‘I made her some spaghetti before going out to hang the washing,’ she said then continued in haste. ‘But I made it the way I always have.’
There was something very unsettling about seeing a loved one hooked up to a mechanical ventilator and heart monitor and being observed around-the-clock by trained medical staff – especially if the loved one was someone much younger than you who still had their whole life in front of them.
Beth was usually a confident woman who took life with both hands and just lived it to the fullest. At thirty- eight, she wasn’t one to let lost opportunities let her down. In fact, she always made sure that they were never lost in the first place. However, seeing Alex lying in a hospital bed at the intensive care unit stopped her in her tracks. Alex had always been the weaker of the two - not least because of her disability – and Beth felt obliged to care for her. Alex’s well-being, for the majority of her life, had been her responsibility and she was half terrified that their formidable mother would find out what had happened.
Debra was currently on holiday in the United Kingdom visiting her sister and was due back within a week. Beth knew their mother had certain expectations during her absence, one of which actually involved keeping Alex alive when she returned home. While Beth was a fairly strong individual, their mother never failed to make her feel inadequate at the most inopportune moment. It was something in the latter’s personality that demanded respect and gratitude but Beth couldn’t quite work out what it was.
Beth stared numbly at the fragile figure in front of her. Alex’s pale face reminded her of a delicate porcelain doll which needed to be handle with care whenever touched. That in itself wasn’t far from the reality of the present situation.
Claudia, an elegant older woman in her late forties, was busy injecting some antibiotics into Alex’s intravenous line. Presently, she looked up and noticed Beth’s anxiety. She gave her a sympathetic smile, taking note of the unease of having a loved one in such a predicament.
‘Hey, it's okay,’ she assured her in a distinctive British accent. ‘I'm not trying to lay blame on anyone. I'm just trying to help you work out what happened.’
Beth just smiled sheepishly, partly in guilt and partly in uncertainty. Claudia looked up at her thoughtfully. Maybe time to try another tact – alleviate any further anxiety.
‘So, what does she do? For a living?’ she offered, conversationally.
‘Um ... she's a model. For posters and catalogues and stuff ... Her eyesight's not the best,’ Beth wondered where the conversation was heading.
She didn’t get a chance to find out though because a heart monitor went off elsewhere in the unit which Claudia had to attend. The registered nurse made her apologies and informed Alex she would be back with some medication. With that, she disappeared around the corner, leaving Beth alone with her sister. It took Beth some time to gain enough courage to take a seat next to the bed. Without even realising it, she began tapping on the bedside railing.
Tap. Tap. Tap-tap-tap.
‘I don't really know what to say,’ she told Alex, meekly.
‘It just feels so weird talking to you but not knowing if you can actually hear.’
In fact, the whole thing felt utterly ridiculous. Who knew if Alex could actually hear her? For all Beth knew, she could be completely wasting her breath. All the medical professionals had done was speculate that a comatose person could hear them but there was no actual evidence that it was even true. Even if there was, most people who woke from coma usually forgot what had been said to them anyway. Besides, what was the point of talking to someone if they couldn’t even reply?
It was like talking to a brick wall. The longer Beth sat there, the more guilty she felt about the whole thing. She knew exactly why Alex was in the situation and there was nothing she could do to reverse it. She instinctively looked at away.
‘It was a really, really stupid thing to do,’ she admitted.
‘You know I don't usually do things on a whim. I don't know what came over me. It just ... happened.’
She looked back at her unresponsive sister as if to expect some form of forgiveness from her. Of course, Alex didn’t move an inch and Beth started to become slightly desperate.
‘Don't die on me,’ she pleaded sincerely. ‘Please? I feel really awful about this. You have to believe me.’
To a surprise, a reaction was registered but it wasn’t entirely the type she was expecting. Alex’s body started to twitch and her unfocussed eyes slowly opened. Beth watched her closely.
‘Alex?’
The heart monitor alarmed making her jump. As a general rule, Beth didn’t like the sound of alarms and this one was no exception – especially when it was directly associated with her sister. Her nervousness turned to fear when the nurse returned and glanced at the monitor just as Alex’s invalid body stiffened.
‘Can you hear me?’ she asked with baited breath.
Then without warning, Alex started convulsing. Within ten seconds of the alarm, Claudia had returned to her bedside.
‘It's okay,’ Claudia assured her as she silenced the alarm. ‘I'm just going to give you some valium to relax those muscles.’
She then proceeded to fill a nearby syringe with fluid before attempting to inject it into Alex's intravenous line. Unfortunately, the severity of Alex’s convulsions made it virtually impossible to access the line without help.
‘Gareth! I need a hand here!’ she called out as the ventilator started to alarm, causing her colleague to join her by the bed. ‘She’s moving too much. I can’t get a clear shot.’
After some effort on both nurses’ part, Alex eventually relaxed and her eyes closed once more, as she returned to her unconscious state.
‘I’ll go write it up,’ Gareth informed his partner and returned to the nurses’ station.
‘That’s it. Just try and sleep it off for now,’ Claudia assured Alex gently, stroking her hair.
Beth, who had been watching the situation unfold in silent horror, finally found enough courage to voice her concern.
‘What just happened?’
‘She suffered a severe seizure, possibly from the brain swelling,’ Claudia informed her, taking down a few notes on Alex’s progress chart. ‘She’s not out of the woods yet but we’ll need to keep a close eye on her.’
Beep. Beep. Beep-beep-beep.
Claudia looked up at Beth who was taking out her phone from her trouser pocket in annoyance. Flipping open the casing, she read the message in dismay. She was already late for work.
‘Oh, crap ...’ Beth stood up and gently stroked Alex’s golden hair. ‘Hey, I gotta go to work but I'll be back later, okay?’
She stood there for a moment, staring blankly at Alex. She had lost the momentum of the conversation she had before the alarm went off. She couldn’t very well continue it in front of Claudia without the nurse making any assumptions about her. She could feel Claudia’s eyes boring into her and, suddenly uncomfortable, hastily made her exit.
It had been three hours since Beth had left the hospital. She was now seated behind the desk in her office at work, feeling utterly insignificant. Given the events surrounding Alex’s condition, it was fair to say that Beth’s concentration had dwindled somewhat and it didn’t help that she actually had to teach the chest compressions to her students. In fact, she had faltered so badly at that stage that someone else had to replace her for that section of the class. After all, she had put theory to practice on her own sister and going through the motions in front of a group of prefect strangers was a little too close to home.
‘What the hell happened out there?’
Beth just groaned. She just didn’t feel like confronting her boss about her what she’d just gone through again. It was embarrassing enough as it was.
‘Hank, please!’ she responded, looking up at him. ‘I know I stuffed up so can we just leave it at that?’
Hank Meyers was leaning against her desk, perplexed by her reaction. Beth was one of his more dedicated workers and he couldn’t understand what had come over her.
‘Come on, Beth,’ the American coaxed. ‘Help me understand. You did great with the theory but when it came to the CPR ...’
Beth hung her head. There wasn’t anything she could really say that didn’t involve telling Hank what had actually happened.
‘I'm sorry.’
‘Well, I hope for your sake the students don't demand a refund. We're in enough trouble as it is.’
Beth didn’t say anything. Hank looked straight at her, searching. She wasn’t usually like this.
‘You can tell me, you know,’ he told her but Beth just shook her head.
‘I can't. It's ... personal.’
Hank waited for a moment, hoping that Beth would open up to him. Nothing came. He gave up. Sometimes trying to get Beth to talk was like trying to get blood out of a stone.
‘Okay, I won't push you but I do need you to be on the ball here. Especially with the meeting tomorrow. You will –‘ he asked, uncertainly.
He had every right to be. The company was in financial crisis and everyone was counting on her to negotiate a deal with their creditors. Beth knew that and just nodded her head impatiently.
‘Yes, I'll be there.’ There was a slight pause. ‘Look, I'm sorry. Maybe I just need a good night's sleep.’
Hank appraised her slightly. He did sympathize with her, knowing how much pressure she’d been under lately.
‘Try not to overdo it, okay?’ he told her softly.
Beth just nodded absentmindedly, thankful for the retreat. Her glance drifted to the framed photograph of Alex, herself and their parents beside her work computer. Beth remembered the day well. It had been taken approximately last year during the Christmas and New years period. The memory still fresh in her mind, she could almost feel the fresh sea breeze caressing her face. It was one the happier moments in her life.
Hank couldn’t help but notice Beth’s concentration had wavered. He followed her glance towards the photograph. He didn’t know the beaches of Adelaide very well yet, having only just migrated to Australia from California five months prior. The jetty in the photograph, however, looked vaguely familiar.
‘Glenelg?’ he hazarded a guess.
‘Huh?’ Beth blinked, quickly returning to the present.’ Oh, yeah. It was taken a few months ago before Dad died.’
It had been on Alex’s insistence that they invite their mother to spend the day with them. Alex might have been the weaker of the two but, when she set her mind on something, there was little anyone could do to change it and their father was no exception. Beth doubted Alex had realised just how far their parents had drifted apart over the years but she knew her younger sister had always been their favourite and would do anything for her. Beth often felt cheated by their parents but knew Alex’s love for her was paramount which provide some comfort to her.
‘It’s such a beautiful place,’ she sighed, pushing her parents’ rejection to the back of her mind and concentrating purely on the tranquillity of the beach.
‘Enough to go take your mind off things for a while?’ Hank queried.
Beth just gave a sad smile.
‘You could say that.’
She would probably need more than just a sea-change to take her mind off what she was going through but the idea was a good start nonetheless.
‘Look, why don’t you take the rest of the day off?’ Hank decided. ‘I’ll take care of things here.
Beth looked at him curiously but his facial expression left no room for discussion.
‘Take a trip down there to clear your mind if you think it’ll help,’ he continued. ‘But I don’t want to see you back here until tomorrow.’
Beth gave a grateful smile and nodded. She knew she could always count on Hank to look after her well-being.
