My Hometown Love

Chapter 34 - Superman

Kevin’s P.O.V

I watched the heavy cement chunk slowly making its way through the tent roof and aiming for little Ashley’s bed below.

Nurses and patients start scrambling away from the tent to get as far as possible from this potential disaster.

The next few seconds after this went by in a blur as my impulse takes over. I desperately push everyone aside to reach Ashley.

“Move! Move! Move!”, I shout as I run as fast as I can to reach her, occasionally jumping over wheelchairs and carts.

RRRRIIIIP!!!

The sound of the final tear echoes in my ears as I lunge forward over the bed and grab her in my arms before flipping over away from the bed.

CRASSHHH!!

The cement chunk crashes on the bed, crushing it and sending its pieces flying across the room.

I quickly shift my back towards the crash to protect us from the cement shards as I bury Ashley in my chest to shield her.

PLANNGGG!!

A cement shard hits an IV pole next to us and sends it crashing over us. I quickly raise my right arm above my head to stop it from hitting us and push it away with all my might.

Silence creeps through the whole tent as everyone waits for the disaster to stop. I slowly carry Ashley in my arms and look around to check if the coast is clear before standing up. Everyone slowly starts coming out of their hiding spots and re-entering the tent cautiously.

A couple of contractors suddenly run inside the tent, alarmed as they looked at the crushed bed under the cement chunk.

“Is everyone alright?”, a contractor asks as he removes his construction hat.

“Are you kidding me?”, Dr. Freeman yells at him as he confronts the contractor.

Dr. Freeman’s confrontation drives himself and the contractors’ outside as the sound of his yelling slowly fades.

I reluctantly and gently pull away from Ashley to see her face full of tears as her eyes shut hard. I kneeled down in front of her and gently touched her face.

“Ashley, it’s all over now. You’re okay.”, I said softly.

She responded by slowly opening her eyes and looking around frantically. Before I could say anything further, she flung her arms around me and hugged me tightly. I responded by hugging her tight and carrying her. I walked over outside to Dr. Freeman approaching the tent.

“My gosh, Kevin! Are you okay? How’s the girl?”, he says as he checks Ashley’s head.

“We survived, narrowly.”, I said as I looked around for a nurse.

“Nurse, here. Take her and get her admitted, then run some scans. Page me when you have the results.”, I say as I shift Ashley into the nurses’ arms.

“Nooo!”, Ashley cries out as she stretches out her arms to me.

“It’s okay. You follow this lovely nurse and I’ll come to visit you soon, okay?”, I say as I ruffle her hair comfortingly.

I watch as the nurse carries her inside the hospital. Suddenly all the adrenaline rush in me dies down and I feel a sharp pain in my left arm. I look down to see my white coat sleeve slowly turning red.

“My God! Kevin, you’re bleeding.”, Dr. Freeman says as he puts himself under my right shoulder and carries me to a nearby wheelchair.

I watch silently in pain as he rips my sleeve to see a deep cut on my forearm. As he runs to go get help, I think back to how when I flipped off the bed, I crashed next to a metal shelf. I must have cut myself with upon impact when I landed there.

I was starting to feel a little light-headed, probably due to my loss of blood. I blurry watched Dr. Freeman wrap my arm in a bandage before wheeling me inside the hospital in a hurry. 

**************

Lexie’s P.O.V.

I was sitting on my beanbag chair in my room, reading a book when I suddenly felt a shiver run down my spine. I immediately put my book down and stood up as I ran my palms over my goosebumps on my arms.

I don’t what it was but I had this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I have never had this feeling before but all I know is that my gut was telling me that either something bad has happened or is going to happen.

I bolted towards my bedside table and unplugged my charging phone. I quickly dialed Mom’s number and anxiously waited for her to answer my call.

Mom: "Hello sweetie!"

Lexie: "Mom! Thank goodness. You’re okay, right?"

Mom: "Yes, I’m okay. Why?"

Lexie: "Just asking. Is Dad okay?"

Dad: "Yes, pumpkin. I’m okay. What’s wrong?"

Lexie: "Nothing, nothing. Just checking in."

Mom: "Okay then. We’ll see you in a few hours."

Lexie: "Okay Mom. Please be careful and take care."

Mom: "We will, sweetie."  

I quickly texted my group and Priya to check if everything is okay with them, before dialing Jake’s number.

After Jake and I had fairly the same conversation I had with Mom and Dad, I looked down at my phone to messages from my friends, saying that they were okay.

There was one person left. I dialed Kevin’s number, hoping he would answer. Despite panicking, I tried comforting myself by telling myself that he must be busy with patients. I texted him and hoped he would reply soon. In the meantime, I desperately struggled to continue reading my book as I tried to ignore the bad feeling raging in my gut.

*************

Kevin’s P.O.V.

I opened my eyes slowly to a blue ward in front of me. I looked around to find myself hooked to an IV and a blood bag. I pulled myself up to sit up but jerked in pain when I put my weight on my left arm.

“You shouldn’t be putting weight on that.”, Dr. Freeman said as he walked into the room.

“How is it?”, I asked as I looked at my bandaged forearm.

“It was a nasty cut but we managed to clean it and stitch it up well. It’s gonna be bandaged for a few weeks until it heals. You also have some dark bruises on your right arm but those will be healed in a few days. You lost a lot of blood due to the deep cut, so we’re going to be refilling you till your stats go back to normal. Besides that, you’re okay.”, he explains calmly.

“And the girl? Is Ashley okay?”, I ask curiously.

“Yes. The girl is doing well besides some bruises. You saved her, Kevin.”, he says as he gently clasps my shoulder proudly.

“I had to. I couldn’t just leave her there and expect someone else to save her. I promised her I would be right back.”, I said as I choke back a sob, thinking about the traumatic event.

“I know. You saved her life while risking your own. That’s very brave.”, he said as he sat down on the bed.

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of my loved ones back home and what they would do or go through if I didn’t make it. All I was thinking was of the boulder and Ashley. My impulse took over and the next thing I know, I was flying over the bed and crouching in a corner.”, I said before sighing deeply.

“Well, it’s all over now. All renovations have been halted. The board is dealing with the construction company. As for you, you will remain admitted for a few days for us to monitor you and your arm. After that, we’ll discuss your next steps. Oh, by the way, we found your phone destroyed near Ashley’s bed. We’re working on getting another one for you.”, he said before walking towards the door.

I nodded my head in response.

“In the meantime, do you want me to call someone for you?”, he asked as he checks my chart.

“No no, please. I don’t want them to worry. I can manage.”, I reply immediately.

“Get well soon, Dr. Walker.”, Dr. Freeman says before walking out the door.

I close my eyes hard as I try to push the traumatic event behind me.

“He’s sleeping, sweetie. Maybe another time?”, I heard a voice whisper.

I open my eyes to see little Ashley holding on to her mom’s hand as she tries to stand on her tippy toes to look at me. 

I use my right hand to push myself up and straighten my back as I wave them to come in. Ashley jumps to sit next to me on the bed as her parents stand close-by.

“Dr. Walker, thank you so much for saving our little girl.”, Ashley’s father says as he steps forward and grips my right arm gently.

“Yes. We are forever indebted to you. We don’t know what we would do if we had lost her like that.”, her mom adds, as she holds back her tears.

“Hey, it’s okay. It was my duty. I’m just happy Ashley is safe.”, I say as I ruffle Ashley’s hair.

“What happened to your hand?”, Ashley asks as she points towards my bandaged arm.

“I had a little boo-boo, but I’m all better now.”, I say as I smile through the pain.

“Here, she drew you this earlier.”, Ashley’s dad says as he passes me a drawing.

I looked at the picture she drew of me flying with my doctor’s coat as a cape while I carried her across the bed and a big boulder hanging over us. Below it, I could see Ashely’s handwriting.

My Superman! Love, Ashley.

I smiled sweetly as I held the picture close to my chest and whispered ‘thank you’ to Ashley. I watched her parents slowly carry her out of the room as my meds started kicking in and I floated into dreamland.

*************

Lexie’s P.O.V.

It’s been almost a week since I posted my blog article and, 5 days, 7 hours, and 30 minutes since I texted Kevin. It was already terrible enough that I had an aching bad feeling in my stomach and he is the only one that didn’t respond back, which made it even worst.

I had spent the whole week pestering Jake if he had heard anything from Kevin, watching the news if there was any problem in Salem, occasionally popping by the hospital to ask when his team was coming back, and praying that he was fine.

Honestly, I was so worried that I haven’t been eating or sleeping well. I couldn’t even work on my blog properly.

I crashed on the living room couch and turned on the TV to check the news.

DING DONG!

The sound of the doorbell rang through the house as I reluctantly got up from the couch to go open the door. As I dragged my feet towards the door, I mumbled to myself.

Ughh. Must be another delivery.

I swung the door open and looked up to the figure standing in front of me.

“Hey, Lex.”, he said with a husky voice.

“Oh My God. Kevin!”