BROKEN STILL

Photo by Piron Guillaume on Unsplash

Freda had a certain odd look on her face. It was a mixture of her brave face and sympathy gaze. She usually reserved those for her patients.

"What?" He asked even though he didn't really want to know.

"There's been an accident" She said cautiously.

"And?" He was getting impatient.

"Maybe it's best you go see this for yourself."

"O-kay?" He walked away from the nurses' station.

"Bed five." She stood and went with him.

"I don't need you to babysit me." He snapped. She kept walking. When he saw who was in the bed, he understood why.

"Like I said, I don't need you, Freda." He saw her hide the hurt on her face before she retreated.

Ken stood behind the cardiac table and flipped through the blue folder splayed on it. "Hi, I am Doctor Martinez. Can you walk me through..."

"How do you do it?"

"What?" Ken turned the folder. "Raymond, right?

"How do you do it? You know, live with yourself..." he said through clenched teeth, "Tell me! How do you live with yourself knowing you killed your child and your grandchild?"

Ken grasped the cardiac table."She was pregnant?"

"Right, you didn't even know Joe was pregnant!" Raymond spat.

The white walls began to spin.

"Can you, ah..." He couldn't find his bearing. "Can you give me a second?" Ken groped around to find the door.

Immediately Freda saw him lurch into the hallway, she came to him.

"Just breathe." She repeated over and over again as she led him into her chair. He put his head on the desk. What was happening to him?

"Maybe you should take the day off."

"It's fine." He swallowed the bile which was rising in his throat, "I'm fine. Can you get me some water?"

Before he said the last word, Freda was already getting a plastic cup. She filled and handed it to him.

"Here."

"Thank you." He emptied the cup. "I am sorry about earlier."

She put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay."

She said it as though everything was going to be okay. He shook his head.

"No, it's not."

He stood and went back inside. He looked at Raymond's CT and read his notes.

"We'll have to detain you for a while. I'll order an MRI just to be sure." He scribbled into his folder. "And Raymond, wear a helmet next time. She'll want that."

He walked away, heading towards his office. Suddenly, the hospital felt small. Its sterile scent of death felt all too overpowering. He went to his car instead.

He drove around for a while and ended up at her grave -- a single sunflower in his hand.

"I failed you twice over kid." He placed the flower on her headstone and carressed the cold rock.

---

Hello there dearest reader,

I just thought I should do this because, the story won't stop bugging me. It demands to be fully told. I hope I can wrap it up after one or two more.

The first part of this story was written yesterday. Check it out so you can get a better understanding of this one.

Thanks for reading and if you have any comments, kindly let me know.

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