ACT IX: HOLD IT AGAINST US

-"We know what you've been through!"-

"Yes, please send an ambulance. He just stumbled on the floor I don't know what to do. Yes, he is conscious, but I don't think he hears me quite well." The shaky voice of a woman said on the phone beside his bed. He opened his eyes, but he became more noxious that all he sees are both mushy and dancing.

"..."

"Okay, I'm holding him now. I'm applying pressure now. Uhuh okay, so I'll hold unto here until you arrive. Please get here fast." He felt the trembling hands of the woman applying pressure in his forehead. His hand felt limp and unmovable, trying to move it felt like moving a big boulder with a small stick.

He looked at his attendant, but his heart was thumping very loud that her word can't go through his senses. Minutes later there was something blue and red lights coming from their porch. With his blurred vision, he can see some men wearing white clothes entering his room and carrying him to a white bed.

The rattling noise of the wheels of the bed drowned the noise coming from the blaring noise coming from a white vehicle where the light was coming from. They opened the back of the van and he was carried inside and was accompanied by one of the men. They put something his mouth and then a feeling of mildly cold air touched his face making his breathing easier. With his memories becoming clearer he opened his eyes that regained their original sight. He looked at what's in front of him thinking he would see someone but only the bright light of the ceiling fixture was the only thing that said hi to him. He tried to look at his side, but he can't, something was restraining his head.

The vehicle rushed through the road and abruptly stopped. The doors opened letting a lot of light like a flashbang which hurts his eyes and his head. He was carried into the emergency room and was rushed into one of the stalls covered in green curtains. A nurse opened the curtain carrying a tray with a bottle inside and packs of syringes. The nurse pierced the bottle and hanged it in a metal rod beside the header of the hospital bed before sitting beside him and getting his hand. He felt something cold and soft circling his hand, the nurse opened a pack of syringe and connected it in the tube hanging from the bottle. The nurse's said something but his thought is still muddled to make sense to what she said but his body instinctively moved and nodded. The nurse held the needle and pierced his hand, he flinched and wanted to scream but cannot muster the energy to do so.

****************

The door opened and a man wearing a doctor's coat entered reading a patient folder. He closed the patient folder and looked at him intently with his blue eyes. "So, Mr. de Asis, how are you feeling now? Feeling any pain somewhere?"

"No, I'm just exhausted from work. Maybe."

"Hmm… Is that so? How about your meals? Are you skipping the again?" The doctor asked while writing something on the patient folder.

Looking down on his lap covered with a white blanket covered with the hospital's green logo, he sighed, "I'm very busy that sometimes I can only spare for two or sometimes only one meal in a day. Dr. Oswald you know that I am a single parent, right? I need to work and take care of my daughter."

" *sigh* Well according to your laboratory results, you have very low sugar. So low that it's a miracle that you just lost consciousness and the shock did not affect much of your motor skills, for now. You will be staying with us for the rest of the week and we will be put for observation so expect for me to come every day, okay." The doctor smiled at him and said goodbye before going out of the room.

The piercing hiss of the oxygen flowing through the tube filled the empty room. And the cold air from the air conditioner was becoming colder than when the doctor was with him. He was shaking but not from the cold air but because he was fearful. He is sad and worried for his family and friends. He closed his eyes and just let the blissful darkness fill him.

***********

The door creaked open as she opened the door to Prince's room. She saw him peacefully sleeping in the soft bed. She opened the plastic bag and put the fruits on the desk beside him. The fresh aroma of the fruits filled the room overpowering the smell antiseptics that was sprayed and used in his room.

She sat beside him and looked at him with worry and held his cold hands, waiting for him to respond but it seems that he was in deep sleep that even her cold tears dripping in his face didn't wake him up. Her head fell into his lap and the blanket started to get soaked with tears knowing that she will never know when he will wake up again and make the smile he used to when she was small.

"You should have stayed in hospital. Why should you be a worrywart of a father? I'm sorry I made you worried. I am sorry that made you discontinue your treatment just to take care of me." Her sadness and her heart were broken that she can't stop crying and exclaiming again and again that what happened was her fault.

The door opened in the middle of the night letting in the bright white light in the darkroom in the hospital's hallway. The fluorescent bulbs flickered as the doctor opened the lights in the room. She rubbed her tired eyes as she opens her to see who visited her father.

"Good evening, Miss Krystle. I'm sorry for visiting you this late but I will be out the whole week next week. You'll be taken cared for by Dr. Jun Castro but of course, I'll be getting in touch with him all the time." The doctor approached Prince and started taking notes of the machines beeping softly beside the bottles of dextrose and IV fluids.

"Doc, do you think he will wake up again?"

"He's lucky to be alive, that's what I'm sure of but if his vitals continuously become better, he might still have the chance to see this world and you, again." The doctor looked at her and continued to pick something in his pocket and gave it to Krystle. "If you're interested call this person. I heard that Siemens laboratory has a clinical trial that may help and save your father."

She took it and stared at the calling card until the doctor said goodbye and left the room. She took her phone and dialed the number.

"Yes, Dr. Okinawa speaking." A man answered the call.

"Please help my father, Dr. Okinawa."

"Oh… Miss de Asis it seems you made up your mind. Alright, I'll be there first thing in the morning."