IndieSouth

When he was finished and walked back into the living room, Nadine was passed out and limply sunken into the couch with the cord from the halogen lamp standing next to the couch hanging loosely around her forearm, just above where the needle still stuck from her arm.

“Nadine,” he said. She didn’t respond. He hurried to the couch and pulled her up into a sitting position and shook her. “Nadine!” He put his ear close to her nose and mouth and waited, but didn’t feel any breath. “FUCK!” he screamed, and pushed her down and started beating on her chest like he had seen on TV. She still wasn’t breathing.

He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, flipped it open, and then paused. He looked around, at his kit lying on the coffee table, the bag of heroin. Past that he could see the red ear of a stuffed rabbit poking out of the doorway to Daniel’s room. He didn’t want to get arrested.

He grabbed his kit and the heroin and threw them into a garbage bag, and then took the bag out and dropped it down the garbage chute in the hallway. He picked up Nadine off the couch, rescue style, and wrestled her out the door and down the stairs and into the car. The hospital wasn’t far away, just about ten miles. She was still not breathing.

He pulled out into traffic swerving in and out between vehicles, and managed to make it out of town and onto the freeway. He stood on the gas and headed toward Portland General.

He came up behind two cars, side by side, and couldn’t pass. He decided to take the right shoulder, and passed the cars quickly, but didn’t notice the Maine State Police car parked in the center median. The Maine State Police saw him.

David took the exit for the hospital, and noticed the cop behind him, lights flashing. David kept going, sped up, and pulled into the hospital parking lot and headed toward the Emergency Room. He screeched to a halt in the ambulance bay, and laid on the horn. Two orderlies came running out, and David jumped out of the car and told them to hurry. One of the orderlies went back for a stretcher while the other one helped David get Nadine from the car. The stretcher arrived and the two orderlies began wheeling her into the ER.

The state policeman pulled up behind David, and he hurried up to ask the orderlies what was wrong with the woman. The orderly pointed out the puncture marks in Nadine’s arm, and said, “Looks like an o.d.”

The policeman went back to David, who was still standing by his car.

“Have you taken any drugs, sir?” the policeman asks.

“No, uh, I was just trying to help my friend,” David answered.

“What’s she on?”

“Heroin.”

“Do you have drugs on you, sir?”

“No.”

“I have probable cause to search you and your vehicle, sir. At this time you are not under arrest. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” David replied, and let the cop search him. The cop searched the inside of the car, the wheel wells, the hood, and the trunk, and found nothing. The cop’s radio crackled, and he said, “Wait here,” and walked off a few steps. David listened to the cop talk cop-speak, 10-4, codes and whatnot, and then he was surprised to see the cop walk back over to the patrol car. He heard him say “Fucking junkies,” under his breath as he got in and sped away, keeping his red and blue lights on.

David got into his own car, drove it out to the parking lot, and then walked back in to the ER. He walked up to the desk nurse and asked about Nadine.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

This entry was posted on Friday, February 1st, 2008 at 2:11 pm and is filed under Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.