Ghost In Red

---    

My hands were shaking as they covered my mouth, seeing the person so dear to me lying on the cold concrete while her blood began flooding around her. Shock is an understatement of what I am feeling right now, and all I can do is hope that this is not the reality, that I am just dreaming, a bad, tragic dream, a nightmare, indeed.    

"This is not real. This is not happening. Oh, my gosh! Syd?" I muttered, my voice breaking while I could feel my knees getting weaker, and I slowly fell on my knees.    

I couldn't dare to look at her face right now, and I tried to touch her left leg. She's not moving, and all I can hear is something ringing in my ears as my surroundings move so slow while my vision becomes blurry.    

"Sydney? Hey, talk to me. Are you okay? Tell me you're okay. Please? Syd?" I sobbed and tried to shake her leg, but I couldn't touch her.    

I lifted my gaze to the person who went near my precious girl and held her right wrist. It's a woman.    

"She's alive! Did someone already call 911?"    

"They are coming!"    

"Step back, please!"    

"Stay back! Keep walking, people!"    

I could now hear voices and noises around me, and I squinted my eyes and tried to calm myself down. And a smile in relief slowly formed on my face as what the woman said earlier sunk in my understanding.    

Sydney is alive. She's alive! She's going to be okay! She's going to be okay. I know that. She's a strong girl. She wouldn't leave me. I know she wouldn't.    

—    

When the ambulance came, people with the same clothes carefully lifted the unconscious girl, whom I couldn't dare look at with her tragic situation right now. But I could see her clothes got soaked in blood.    

I even tried to unhear what the people around me had kept on saying about my girlfriend's horrible condition.    

"Her left arm was badly injured. The tires must have run over it."    

"The skull might have been broken."    

"Poor girl. I hope she'll survive."    

"That's a lot of blood."    

"I saw her running away from a guy."    

"Maybe they were trying to steal from her. Look!"    

"Does this bag belong to this girl?"    

"The police are coming."    

I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer for Sydney's safety while I sat beside a nurse in the ambulance, and I let out a heavy sigh.    

"I'm so sorry, Syd," I whispered and felt the vehicle begin running.    

---    

I anxiously waited by the corner of the emergency room while there were about five people surrounding my girl, and I had a strong faith that they could save her. She will be okay soon. I know that.    

The moments passed, and I didn't notice that it was almost two hours now, yet the doctors and nurses are not done conducting surgery on Sydney. Now, I wonder how bad her condition is. But I strongly hope she's doing fine.    

I went on walking back and forth, in and out of the ER, and kept whispering prayers for her.    

I wouldn't mind dying. I just want her to be okay. I would rather be gone totally than lose her like this. She doesn't deserve this tragedy.    

Another few hours had passed, and she was finally about to be transferred to a room.    

While the medical team and information officers wondered how they could contact Sydney's relatives through her locked phone or know who she was, I went straight to follow which room the other nurses were settling her in.    

I gasped when I finally saw her face. Her head was wrapped with white gauze while there were bloodstains, her left arm was in a cast, and a tube was inserted into her mouth.    

Then I remembered what one doctor mentioned earlier that Sydney got stabbed on her back, and luckily it's on the right side and not near her heart. She also lost a lot of blood, her left arm was broken, and her head got severely injured.    

This is outrageous.    

Damn it! She must have gotten a worse condition than mine. Hopefully, not. No. It can't be.    

This couldn't have happened to her if we had never gone here. This is all my fault. I am the one to blame. I can never forgive myself for this that is happening to her.    

"Hey, Syd. Can you hear me?" I asked her as I tried to touch her right hand, and I looked at her chest slowly rising up and down.    

My gaze turned to her face, and all I could hear was a beeping sound from her heartbeat monitoring machine.    

"I know you can hear me, Syd. I just want to say I am so sorry. Please, keep strong and get well soon. I will never leave your side. I'll be right here for you. I'll watch over you. I'll be here, okay? Stay with me, please, and never leave. Please."    

I inhaled deeply to calm myself because all I know is I am crying, yet no tears were falling from my eyes. All I feel is my chest tightening as I stare at her and see her like this and hurting.    

Time flies by so slowly while I look at the every movement of the clock's hands on the wall.    

It was past midnight, and I could still feel my system shake with the accident I witnessed that happened to Sydney. It's something like in a movie, but worse, and I feel so guilty of being the one to blame for everything. But no, she's the one who was so stubborn about keeping on helping me find my mother. If we could have just accepted the truth and my destiny that I should be dead, this couldn't have happened to her. We could have chosen to enjoy every last minute of my life happily doing what we wanted. This shouldn't have to be like this.    

Instead of stressing my mind, thinking this and that, and blaming people, I sat on the edge of Sydney's right side of the bed, and then I began humming the tune of the song that I used to sing to her when she was going to sleep.    

I smiled when I remembered the precious moments we shared and all the bad ones, too, when we were still younger. I admit we both were dumb idiots. But she's the dumbest. She's the worst person I have met in my whole damn life, but she's undoubtedly the best at the same time.    

I turned my head right to look at her, and I brought my right hand to gently caress her cheek while I started singing the lyrics of the song.    

I only wish she could sleep peacefully till morning and that she will hopefully open her eyes when the sun rises later.    

When I remembered how much she hates it if the lights are on whenever she's about to sleep, I levitated to where the light switch was and turned the lights off. I know she can now sleep properly.    

I continued singing the songs I'd like to dedicate to her, and I didn't notice the time passed so quickly.    

The sun had begun beaming its rays, and some were passing through the window at the right side of the bed, hitting my lovely Sydney's skin, and I waited until it hit her face so she could wake up.    

It's always been my favorite moment when she first opens her eyes in the morning, and all I want to do is drown in her beautiful ocean blue eyes. And I don't know if I could see them sooner, but I am hoping.    

—    

I don't know if time will be my friend or my enemy, but it's surely in a hurry and keeps on passing by so fast that it's almost evening again.    

Nurses and doctors went in and out of Sydney's room to monitor her vitals and do something else, and I never left her side. I can't lose her from my sight.    

I want to be just beside her always until she opens her eyes again. I want to hear her voice again and see her smile. Her smile that people rarely see, yet I have seen it like a hundred times already, and I will never get tired looking at it and feel the butterflies in my tummy.    

With all the time I spent with her, I realized that she appeared like a moon during a new moon phase and slowly turned into its brightest phase. It's immaculate. She's the definition of extraordinary.    

Seven in the evening came, and there were still no signs of my girl waking up soon.    

It's almost sleeping time again, and I have never left her side. I only kept holding her right hand with both hands, and I had been telling her lots of good things that we would be doing once she could finally wake up and feel better. It's another bucket list—our bucket list.    

I was about to stand up and bent to kiss my pretty girl's forehead when the door slammed open, making me flinch in surprise.    

Who the heck is...    

"Sydney?!!! Oh, no! Syd!"    

It's her best friend.