Chapter 3 - Code Blue
The shrill alarm of the heart monitor pierced the quiet room like a siren. Dr. Harrison leapt to his feet, shouting for assistance into the hallway intercom while pressing the emergency button on the wall. Within seconds, a team of nurses rushed through the door, their faces taut with professional urgency. Maya felt the room spinning violently, the edges of her vision darkening into a deep, suffocating void. The photograph slipped from her limp fingers, floating down to the floor as nurses swarmed around her bed. Someone ripped the blanket back, adjusting her IV lines while another nurse placed an oxygen mask over her face. Through the blur of white coats and flashing overhead lights, Maya caught a glimpse of movement through the small glass window of her door.
Ethan stood in the hallway, watching the frantic lifesaving efforts inside her room with absolute, chilling indifference. He didn't call for a nurse. He didn't look panicked. He simply stood there with his hands tucked into his brown pants pockets, nodding slightly to himself before turning around and walking away down the corridor.
"Stay with us, Maya! Look at me!" Dr. Harrison’s voice boomed over the chaos, sounding distant and muffled as if underwater.
Maya tried to scream Ethan’s name, to tell them what he had done, to expose the cold-blooded murderer walking away down the hospital hall, but no sound came out past the oxygen mask. Her chest burned as adrenaline flooded her system, fighting against the fading light. Every heartbeat felt like a hammer striking her bruised ribs. She fought against the darkness with every ounce of strength she possessed, refusing to let him win, refusing to die quietly in this sterile room while he walked free with his mysterious lover.
Then, just as abruptly as it had begun, the roaring in her ears subsided. The continuous shriek of the monitor shifted back into a steady, rhythmic beep.
"Sinus rhythm is stabilizing," a nurse announced, wiping sweat from her forehead. "Blood pressure is coming back up."
Dr. Harrison let out a long breath, pulling off his latex gloves and tossing them into the nearby bin. He looked down at Maya, whose chest rose and fell in heavy, exhausted gasps beneath the oxygen mask.
"You're a fighter, Maya," Dr. Harrison murmured, resting a reassuring hand on her arm. "Whatever is happening outside these four walls, you need to survive it first."
May you like
Maya nodded weakly, her eyes heavy with exhaustion. As the medical staff slowly filtered out of the room, leaving her alone once more, she shifted her gaze toward the floor. The yellow envelope lay near the nightstand, but the photograph of Ethan and the unknown woman was gone, vanished during the chaotic scramble of the medical emergency.
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