Chapter Twenty Two – Katy

I breathe a deep sigh and collapse against the wall as soon as I leave the meeting room behind me, having come to some sort of agreement. I definitely don’t think that was my best work since I didn’t have Evan with me and my head wasn’t fully in the game, but I’m content with what I’ve achieved. I think it’s the best thing I can get for the time being and I have more time to work on things.

I take the moment with my eyes closed to adjust from ‘meeting mode’ back to reality. I’ve fought so hard, all on my own, and now it’s time to bring myself back down. I know that I need to speak to Evan right away to let him know what’s going on, but I just need time to cool down first. I don’t want to speak to him all frantic and worried when he’s already going through so much.

God, I really hope that Liam is okay, I think as it all comes flooding back. That’s the most important thing here. All of this is nothing compared to that panic.

After a few moments, I collect myself together and I make my way outside. The cool air brushes past my skin and whips my hair around, waking me up a little bit. I wish I had a car since I have all this paper work with me, but I suppose a cab will have to do. I can’t complain that Evan drove me and he had to leave, that just is what it is. Can’t be helped.

I drop what I can to the ground by the side of the building and I tug my cell phone out of my pocket. I hit dial on the first number in my recent call list, which is Evan. It seems that I’ve been calling him a lot recently. I tap my foot on the ground as it rings, internally begging him to pick up. I know he said to leave him a voice mail, but I don’t know how I’ll handle not being able not knowing what’s going on. I need to know what’s happening with Liam, I can’t hack it.

“Hello?” As his stressed voice answers the phone, a little bit of me feels relieved. I don’t know what I would think if he didn’t answer the phone. “Katy?”

“Hi, Evan, I erm… I just wanted to talk to you about the meeting.” I shake my head. What’s the point of talking about that now when there’s so much else to worry about? “It went well, I’ll tell you the details later on. How are things with Liam? Is he okay?”

I bite down on my nail as I wait for him to answer, massively freaking out as I do. He seems to be taking far too long to answer which is horrible, it can only spell bad news. My brain flickers up the most horrific images it can find, almost as if I’m trying to prepare me for what might happen. It makes me sick and anxious, I can barely handle it at all.

Please don’t let this be anything, I beg silently inside my brain. Please let everything be okay.

“He needs a blood transfusion, Katy, and I’m scared,” he finally tells me. “He needs A positive blood and I don’t have that. They can’t seem to find any in the system either. The doctor told me that they might bring some over from another hospital, but it feels like that might take much too long.”

My heart pounds, this sounds serious, but it’s also something that I can help with. “I’m A positive,” I gasp. “I can donate some of my blood. Can I do that? Will they let me? Oh, my God, I need to call a cab right now…” I’m flapping, I can hear myself but I can’t seem to stop. The words are flooding out of my mouth at a million miles an hour. “I need to get to you.”

“Katy, I can’t ask you to do that,” Evan insists, but I can hear a tremor in his voice that means he needs this. “I mean the offer is amazing, but you can’t do this. It won’t be good for you.”

“Evan, I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this for Liam. Now I have to go because I need to call a cab. I need to get to you as soon as possible.”

I hit the hang up button on the phone despite the fact that I can hear Evan still speaking to me and I search for the nearest cab number. My whole body is shaking all over, I can feel it from my head to my toes, but it feels like it’s a good thing. I want to do this, I need to help. I’m pretty sure I would feel this way no matter what, but the fact that I have such strong feelings for both Liam and Evan really amps up my need. I have the right blood type, it’s like this is after.

I book a cab rapidly and move to the edge of the sidewalk while I wait impatiently for it to arrive. I’m all on edge, but in a really good way, like I can’t wait for this to happen.

***

The nerves don’t kick in until I step out the cab door and I stare up at the hospital. That’s when it all becomes very real. I haven’t spent a lot of time in hospitals, I haven’t had to have check ups or injections, or anything like that. I was never a sickly person, and no one in my family ever was either. I guess this will be the first time that I’ve ever really had to have something serious done.

You can do this, I convince myself as I struggle to keep hold of all the papers I still need to keep. You can do this for Liam, he needs you. I have to be strong, for him.

With that I start making the brave steps towards the hospital doors. My heart still pounds so hard against my rib cage I think it might burst out at any given moment, and my mouth might be so dry I can barely breathe, but I ignore all of that and I keep on moving. I have someone who needs me.

As I get inside I can see a massive queue waiting to speak to the receptionist, but since I don’t know how urgently I’m needed, I don’t bother to stand in it. I move to the front desk and I put on my best, most apologetic smile.

“Excuse me,” I call out to the lady sitting behind a computer screen. “I’m really sorry to interrupt and also to jump the queue, but I’ve just had a call about an urgent blood transfusion that’s needed for a child, and it’s one that I share the right blood type for. I need to get to that room quickly before the doctor starts calling around to other hospitals to get the blood delivered.”

“Oh right, well that’s just wonderful.” Her face lights up. “You are saving us a lot of hard work and money here. What room is it you need?”

“The room of Liam Debroils.” She gives me a funny look as I say this, but I chose to ignore that. “Thank you so much, your help has been invaluable.”

She taps on the computer screen for a few moments. “Your room is two four one. Good luck.”

I give her a grateful nod and say goodbye before I race off down the hallway to find the right room. I drop some papers as I go and they scatter to the ground, so I have to stop and pick them back up again. No matter what’s happening, I need to keep those in my hands. There’s some really private stuff in there.

“Would you like a hand, ma’am?” A handsome doctor smiles at me as he bends down to pick some of the papers for me. He has sandy blond hair, high cheek bones, and nice blue eyes. Maybe once upon a time I would have found him attractive, but now, compared to Evan he’s just bland. Evan has ruined all other men for me! “Looks like you have some really important stuff there.”

“Oh right, yeah.” I’m too distracted to talk to him properly. I can barely think of anything aside from what’s about to happen next. “Thank you for helping me.”

“Are you okay, miss? You look like you’re shaking?” He grabs onto my arm and squeezes. “Are you sick? Do you need help?”

If I was going to be honest, I would tell him that yes, I feel dizzy and freaked out, but I don’t want to get stuck here talking to this doctor. I need to get to Liam, I need to see Evan, I need to help. I can’t get lost in fear and a slightly freaked out brain, I just need to be brave, that’s all.

“I’m fine.” I pull away from him. “Thank you. I have somewhere to be, but thank you for all your help.” I try to clutch the papers to my chest so I don’t make the same mistake again. “Bye.”

With that I turn on my heels and I continue running towards the room. As soon as I reach the door I don’t pause for even a second. I hammer my elbow against it and I push my way inside. There I see Evan slumped over a tiny little Liam stretched across a hospital bed, with his back shaking because of tears. He looks like a broken man which just tears my heart to shreds.

“Evan, I’m here,” I say quietly to him as I put all the paper work on the side. “I’m here to help, let’s get the doctor in so we can do this.”

He turns slowly, and with his red rimmed eyes he looks at me with sheer terror in his eyes. “Oh my God, Katy. Thank God you’re here.” He pushes himself up from his chair and he grabs hold of me to pull me in for a deep, unexpected hug. “Thank God you’re here, Katy. I can’t do it alone. I can’t do this without you.”

As he presses my head into his chest I can hear his terrified heart beat. He’s in an even worse state of panic than me. It makes me wrap my arms tightly around him, to comfort him in any way that I can. I cling to him, I hold him, and as I do I try to keep my tears inside.

“Go and get the doctor,” I hiss to him, needing to get this started now. “I’m here, I’m ready. Let’s get this started. Let’s save Liam.”

I can tell Evan is struggling as he hears my words, but thankfully he doesn’t try to fight me on it. He knows as well as I do that this is Liam’s best shot. Sure, it might leave me shaky for a while, but that’s hardly the worst thing that could happen, is it? The much worse option would happen if I decided not to do this and the hospital couldn’t get any blood sorted.

“You are everything,” he whispers softly to me. “I am so grateful to you.”

With that I push him off me and I point towards the door so he’ll go out to get the doctor. My nerves won’t hold forever and the last thing I want to do is back down now. How awful would that make me? No, I can’t do that.

Once Evan is gone, I move over to Liam’s bed and I stroke his hand sadly.

“Sorry this happened to you, buddy,” I mutter sadly. “This really sucks, Liam. But you need to be a superhero now, and guess what? So, do I.” I wipe a stray tear from my eye. “It’s just a good job that you showed me how the other day when we were playing. I think I can just about do it.” I gasp a couple of times trying to get some air into my lungs. “I can do it for you, buddy. We just need to get through this together.”