"7. The Lovers"
By robblu (https://pastebin.com/u/robblu)

URL: https://pastebin.com/EUh8851B
Created on: Tuesday 2nd of August 2016 07:19:48 PM CDT
Retrieved on: Saturday 31 of October 2020 03:30:27 AM UTC



7.  The Lovers

It was the happiest day of her life.
Her dream had come true. Julia had said yes and they would fly to Iceland in a few days to get it properly done. Sophie looked at the bracelet on her wrist, a love token from Julia.  Of course, she was still a bit worried if her parents would accept Julia.  Oh, they both loved Julia but a formal marriage?  She was not that sure. After all, they were relatively conservative in that kind of things.  Still, she was of legal age and she could go ahead with it even without her parents’ consent.  But she would phone her mother this evening and used all her tricks to win her to her side.  Up to now, she could not remember her mother refusing her anything she asked persistently.  
That was for the evening, though.
Now, they would just sit back and enjoy their trip together in Bangkok.  Even being caught in a traffic jam could be so “enjoyable” when she could day-dream of their life together. She stole a glance at Julia sitting next to her, taking a nap.  Sophie could not help but to smile to herself.  No wonder. They had been wild the night before.
She decided to let Julia be.
She had grown to love Bangkok. The city was so full of life and the people were all smiling and friendly. The food was also exotic…

It happened so suddenly. 
One moment she was sitting comfortably, though a bit irritated by the fact that the coach had moved barely a few meters for the past fifteen minutes.  Then, she felt a force catapulting her forward towards the back of the seat in front of her.  
“We must have been hit by another vehicle from behind.” She thought.
It was only a few seconds later that she heard the shooting.
Then, all hell broke loose!
Bullets were flying everywhere.  People screamed.  Another explosion.  Flame!
In panic, she tried to make out where the exit door was.  
“Julia, wake up!  We have to run.” She took hold of Julia’s shoulders and tried to wake her.  Her fingers felt slippery.  Blood!  Julia had been hit!
“No! No!” Sophie screamed.
In fear, she felt her partner’s breath.  She was still breathing. Thank God!
But there was little cause for celebration.  The shooting was going on and the rear of the coach was in flames.  If they stayed put, they could be burnt alive.  They might even die sooner than that if the thing blew up.  Besides, Julia was losing blood and she could simply die if she could not get medical help fast.
“Julia! Julia! Please!” She used all her strength to wake her lover.  But it was useless. Julia had lost consciousness.  
Sophie knew she had to act fast.  The coach was little better than a wreck now.  What had been seats were now just twisted metal.  There were people lying everywhere, some moaning, some silent. 
“I have to drag her out!” she said to herself.
She took Julia by the shoulders.  But her lover did not bulge. 
“Come on, Julia! Come on!” 
She tried again.  Then, she realized that Julia’s left foot was trapped by some metal bars.  Sophie bent down to free that foot.  She knew she was fighting against time.  Every second could be a matter of life or death. 
Finally, she got it free and little by little, she pulled Julia from her seat towards the blown-open door.
It was all confusion outside.  She could see men firing AK-47 at anything that moved.  She had to keep low, using her body to have her lover covered.  Some bullets hit so close that she jumped when it bounced off the side of the coach next to them.  The police had arrived and were exchanging fire with the attackers.  There were bodies lying here and there, apparently shot down after they fled from the coach.
The safest way would be to move some distance from the wreck but in a way not noticeable to the attackers.  Sophie knew she could do it alone. But with Julia in such condition? 
She was not going to abandon her; that she was sure.
Crawling, and with a hand dragging Julia by the upper-arm, she headed for a turned over tuk-tuk.  It seemed centuries before they reached it, though it should last no more than two minutes.  With the greatest difficulty, she straightened up the tuk-tuk and managed to get Julia into the passenger seat. They were fortunate that at least two of the attackers had been gunned down and the shooting had moved a bit further from them.
But she knew the crisis was not over.  If she could not get Julia to a hospital fast enough, she would still die.  Besides, the area was still not safe.  The attackers might come back, or there might be a second attack.
She tried to kick-start the tuk-tuk, and managed it after two attempts.  Then, she sped away into the smoke.

She did not know how she could find the way to the hospital but she got there alright.  There was complete chaos there: doctors and nurses rushing here and there, first-aiders too and then the victims, some of the covered with so much blood.
“Help! Help!” She shouted.
Everyone was so busy to pay her any attention.
She saw an empty stretcher-bed with wheels close by.  There was blood on it.  Probably it had been used by another victim who was either being taken care of, or dead.  She got Julia onto the bed and pushed it towards the glass door.  
More chaos inside!
She tried to grab a doctor but he ran towards a nurse who had an urgent expression on her face. 
“Someone is shot here! Help her, please!” She shouted.
Finally a young doctor rushed over with a nurse and looked at Julia on the stretcher-bed.
“Help her, doctor, please.  Do not let her die!  I love her!” Sophie was in tears.
The doctor lifted Julia’s eyelid and Sophie felt her heart miss a beat.  Then, the doctor examined her wound…
“She is lucky. Clean shot near her shoulder.  She should be able to make it if we can stop that bleeding.  We must give her a blood transfusion immediately.  Blood type?”
“I know, A+”
The nurse also found Julia’s passport, with the blood donor card inside. 
“A+” The nurse confirmed.
“Rush her to OT-5.  Doctor Shinawatra is there.”
Two medics came over and pushed the stretcher bed towards a lift.  Sophie followed them all the way to the Operation Theater and watched Julia disappearing behind the door.
She felt so tired that she slumped down on the chair and without knowing when, dozed off.

She woke to the sound of a door opened.  Two nurses were coming out, talking to each other as they walked into the elevator.
“Is she alright?” she jumped to her feet and got in just as the door was closing.
The elder nurse looked at the board she was holding.
“She is lucky.  If she is taken here just a little later, she would have died of bleeding.  Do you know who got her here? ”
“I did.” Sophie replied, “And thank you, thank you!”
She was a little taken back that the nurses seemed so irresponsive. 
“Well, probably their English is not that good…”
How strange?  They were probably speaking in Thai and she could understand them perfectly.
The elevator reached the ground floor and the door opened.
She followed them out.
The situation was even more chaotic than when she arrived.
More victims were wheeled in.
Doctors and nurses were running like mad from bed to bed.
There was one stretcher bed that caught her attention.  She moved towards it but a doctor beat her to it.
He looked a look at the face, felt the pulse and then shook his head.
“No, this one is a goner.” He said to the nurse next to him. "Shot through the heart.  She must have died instantly."  And then, the pair moved to another patient
Sophie approached the bed, her eyes fixed on the arm hanging by the side.  There was a bracelet on the wrist.
She came closer, looked at the face.
She was young and pretty; had been.  Her eyes were wide open in death-stare.  Sophie knew that face.  It was her own.
The Emergency Room suddenly became so quiet.  Slowly, she walked towards the door.  There was a bright light there, waiting…