Read Wished Away: A Broken Fairy Tale for Free Online Page B

once they’re done prepping him.” His face is filled with anxiety. “I was…I’m a friend of your husband’s Mrs. Bosi. I’ll do everything I can to save him. I promise.”
    I look up at him with pleading eyes, “Please bring him back to me. Please .” I can hardly get out the words.
    Just when his eyes meet mine I realize who this doctor is. He’s the man at the restaurant the other night. The man who lost his wife in that accident. Someone who knows my grief all too well.
    “I can’t let everyone see me this way. I just can’t. I’m the strong one. Dave’s parents…they’ll fall apart if they see me like this.” I struggle to gain my composure and focus on what the doctor has to tell me.
    He nods his head and clears his throat, and begins telling me of the extent of my husband’s injuries as delicately as he can, but in a very clinical way, making most of what he’s saying right now blur into my desperate thoughts of Dave. From what I can tell, his head injury was not as bad as they first thought, and the bullet only grazed his head, so that gives me some hope that he’ll make it through this. The bad news is that his internal injuries are unknown, and he has lost a lot of blood. He suggested my family and friends start calling for blood donors, and told me that all of the men from the force are already donating their blood. A nurse suddenly pushes through the swinging doors and calls for Dr. Scott. He turns to me and looks at me regretfully, “There are some forms that you need to sign Mrs. Bosi. I’ll have the nurse come and get them from you shortly.”
    He places his hand on my shoulder in a reassuring gesture, and takes off down the hall towards the operating room, towards Dave. Before he pushes through the doors, Joey stops him and says something to him before tightly embracing him. I look down at the papers in my hands, unable to focus on anything through my tears. I begin to shuffle through my purse for a pen when Cam comes over and sits next to me, with Holden and Joey on the other side. Dave’s like a brother to her, and I know this is hitting them hard too. All four of us are only children, and we made each other our honorary siblings decades ago.
    Cam takes the papers from my hands, “The Bosi’s went to get everyone some coffee and will be back in a little bit. Let Holden go through the paperwork. He’ll tell you what you’re signing and where to sign.”
    She knows me so well. They all do. The words written on the paper are all just a blur of information I don’t want to think about right now. I lean into Cam while Holden asks me general questions about Dave’s medical history, insurance, nothing too heavy. That is until he gets to a DNR that Dave had filled out years ago.
    “Was this something that you both have discussed in the past Jess?” Holden looks at me with a heavy heart. This is hard for any of us to think about.
    “Yes,” the words tear at my dry throat as if I was trying not to let them escape my lips.
    I remember laying on the beach with Dave when we had this discussion. I was pregnant with Charlotte and he’d just started full time on the force. We both agreed, whole heartedly, that if we were ever in a position where we would only kept alive by a machine, and were not able to talk or communicate, or in a vegetative state, that we wouldn’t want to live that way. We wouldn’t want the other person left caring for someone who wasn’t really there. It was an easy conversation when we were lying carefree on the beach, with our whole lives ahead of us. But now, when it really matters, I don’t want to do anything to keep him from breathing another breath. I want to run in the room and tell Dr. Scott that I will tear him to shreds if he doesn’t resuscitate him. Dave’s smile pops in my head when I start to imagine all the things I would do to anyone who didn’t save my husband. He always smiles when I start to lose my cool. God, I have to see that smile