Such is the Way
Red. The flashing lights of the ambulance told me something was wrong. I slowed down in front of my house and turned into the driveway. The paramedics were already in the vehicle and working temporary magic on whoever was inside. Just to keep them alive until they got to the hospital. I lived alone, so I didn’t know who was in the ambulance that would have been by my house. I stepped up to the van and quietly knocked on the door, flashing my badge in the window. I’m a doctor; a lot of good it did me now.
Blue. She was wearing a blue dress with blue shoes both of which were stained in blood. We found her committing suicide, they reported mechanically. No aspirin, just a four-inch army knife. This is my house, I heard myself say. But I wasn’t so sure anymore. We decided she was a biology student or doctor in training because with that tiny blade she had managed to saw through an artery and there was very little hope for her now. Blood transfusion is what she needed, but there were so little left because of the war I didn’t know if we’d find enough of her blood type. Siren wailing escorted us to the hospital.
White. Clean and lonely we flew the stretcher into an empty room and bandaged her up. One of the female nurses put her in a hospital gown with my help, ripping her clothes off and carefully putting a new one on to keep the bleeding to a minimum. She woke up the next day and shouted about her boyfriend killed in the war, sobbing until her wounds opened again. I wasn’t there. She collapsed the next day and didn’t wake up again.
