Chapter 4 - The Operating Room
The hospital corridors were a blur of bright lights and shouting nurses.
Nathan had driven like a madman, breaking every speed limit to get Sarah to the trauma center.
He kicked the emergency room doors open, carrying her limp body inside.
"I need an OR prepped, right now!" Nathan roared, his voice commanding absolute obedience.
Nurses rushed forward with a gurney, transferring Sarah and immediately hooking her up to monitors.
"Dr. Pierce, you cannot operate on your own family," Dr. Evans, the chief of surgery, argued as he ran alongside them.
"It is against hospital policy, Nathan!"
Nathan grabbed Evans by the collar of his scrubs, his eyes burning with fierce determination.
"She has an epidural hematoma, and she has less than ten minutes before her brain herniates," Nathan stated coldly.
"I am the only one who can do this fast enough."
Evans looked at the monitor, saw the dropping heart rate, and nodded slowly.
"Scrub in," Evans ordered.
The next two hours were the most agonizing moments of Nathan's entire life.
He drilled into his little sister's skull, fighting to relieve the massive pressure on her brain.
His hands, usually so steady, threatened to tremble every time he looked at her pale face.
He had to completely detach himself, pretending she was just another patient on the table.
He carefully evacuated the blood clot, stopping the hemorrhage with expert precision.
When the monitors finally showed a stable, steady rhythm, Nathan stepped back.
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He stripped off his bloody gloves and collapsed against the tiled wall of the operating room.
He buried his face in his hands and wept for the first time in seven years.
