Chapter 14 - The Sirens Came Back
I called 911.
By the time the ambulance arrived, Sophie was struggling to stay conscious.
I rode with her.
Every second felt like punishment.
At St. Vincent, doctors moved quickly.
Chest scan.
Blood work.
Oxygen.
Questions.
Dr. Patel arrived thirty minutes later.
“Pulmonary embolism.”
I stared at him.
“A blood clot?”
“Yes.”
“From the cancer?”
“Cancer and chemotherapy both increase risk.”
“Is she—”
“We started anticoagulation.”
There was that language again.
Careful.
Controlled.
Never promising what medicine couldn’t guarantee.
Sophie was admitted to intensive monitoring.
I sat beside her bed.
Hours passed.
At some point, General Lawson called.
I ignored it.
Then Sophie opened her eyes.
“Answer.”
“No.”
“Ethan.”
“I’m here.”
“And I’m not dying this second.”
“That is an incredibly low standard.”
“Answer the phone.”
I did.
Lawson had news.
The promotion board had moved up.
I was expected in Washington in four days.
I looked at Sophie.
She could hear enough from my side of the conversation.
Afterward, she said nothing.
“I’m not going.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No.”
“Ethan.”
“You almost died.”
“I almost got hit by a city bus when I was twenty-three.”
“This is different.”
“Of course it is.”
She reached for my hand.
“But the whole point of us trying again is that neither of us disappears inside the other person’s fear.”
I stared at her.
“What if something happens while I’m gone?”
“Then Rachel calls you.”
“And if I can’t get back?”
“Then you live with being human.”
Her eyes softened.
“You don’t control everything.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She squeezed my hand.
“You’re beginning to know.”
Four days later, I boarded a military flight to Washington.
It was the hardest plane I had ever stepped onto.
I called Sophie before departure.
“I hate this.”
“I know.”
“Don’t say that.”
She laughed.
“Go earn your star, Colonel.”
The board lasted three hours.
When I walked out, my phone showed twelve missed calls.
Nine from Rachel.
Three from Dr. Patel.
The world stopped.
I called Rachel.
She answered on the first ring.
“Ethan.”
“What happened?”
Her breathing was ragged.
“Sophie collapsed during treatment.”
I was already running.
“Is she conscious?”
Rachel began crying.
May you like
“No.”
And Washington suddenly felt farther away than any battlefield I had ever crossed.
