What was going to be a quiet morning, full of changes and the beginning of a new stage in my life… was actually absolutely fatal.

The quiet morning of a sunny Monday, ideal for enjoying the silence or sleeping, was suddenly interrupted by the overwhelming siren of the ambulance, whose sound could be heard several blocks away. The vehicle was moving quickly through the streets of the neighborhood, and there, a few meters behind… I was.

"Hey! Wait! Wait!" I shouted in vain at the ambulance, more precisely at her.

Making a superhuman effort, I was going faster than I had ever gone before. I was racing a few meters behind the ambulance, without taking my eyes off it for a second, and with my head permanently tilted forward in concentration. And then was when I wondered… how had it all ended up like this?

The paramedics came very quickly, thank God. Being just a few blocks from a hospital certainly helped in the rapid intervention of professionals. I couldn't see neither when they got out of the ambulance nor when they arrived, only when they tapped me on the shoulder asking me to move away from her. I couldn't think of anything else. I just thought about that girl, so radiant and energetic, who was now lying with her eyes almost closed and being unable to breathe.

"Please hold on..."

We didn't have to travel many blocks before arriving at the general hospital, the huge medical center that acted as a receiver for many medical emergencies, especially from the south of the city. It was a huge white building, about seven stories high, taking up the entire block. It was a good hospital, so I knew she would be in good hands. If she was able to get there, I thought, because in nervous situations I wasn't always the most optimistic person.

"Please hold on..."

The ambulance turned the corner and rushed into the hospital, past the security checkpoint. I saw the barrier begin to lower, but I didn't care and entered the ambulance corridor just behind it.

"Wow… Hey! You can't get in here!" I heard a guard yell at me behind my back.

"Please hold on..."

The medical vehicle stopped a few meters ahead, next to the emergency entrance reserved for mobile transfers. I quickly braked the bike and got off. Several doctors came out to open the back of the ambulance, while the paramedic who was assisting her spoke to the rest of the doctors.

"Heart attack. Get her inside, quick"

"Let's go!"

The medical crew began to push the stretcher in.

"Hey!" I yelled to draw their attention.

I quickly felt my shoulder being grabbed. One of the guards had followed me.

"Hey you! This area is for authorized personnel only!"

"I need to go with her! " I said while trying to to free myself.

"You can't go there!" He tightened his grip, without letting me move an inch.

"Hey! Hey!" I tried to shout at the doctors who were transferring her. I still don't remember for what purpose, simply out of desperation.

I kept trying to reach for the stretcher where the girl was being transported, but it was useless. While the guard was holding me back, another person appeared in front of me. It was one of the doctors who had come out to assist the girl.

"Sorry, but you can't come in here. This part is the entrance to the emergency room of the ambulances" he explained to me in a calm voice.

"But, I must see her!"

"Calm down. You will be able to see her, but you have to enter through the visitors' entrance. Here we have to work to help her. Please"

I understood perfectly what they wanted to tell me. Actually, I had always understood that, but something compelled me to pursue her no matter what. I calmed down and, although I was still worried as I watched her disappear through the emergency door, I stopped resisting. I just had to hope that everything went well.

Time really didn't seem to go by in the waiting room of the inpatient ward. Every now and then I checked my cell phone, either to check the time or as a simple symptom of my anxiety, heightened by the situation. Every time I checked, four, six, five, three, and once, a whopping nine minutes had passed. Each time, I kept my serious, concerned face and stared at the floor, hunched forward.

The long corridor was almost empty, making it impossible for any noise to break the overwhelming silence. It had no windows, no doors opened and, despite being fully lit, I felt in the middle of the dark, like in those horror movies when the power company causes a blackout.

The door in front of me, where the girl had entered, had never been opened since I got there. I didn't know exactly what time she went inside, as I wasn't very aware in that situation, so I had no idea what was going on. I couldn't hear anything from inside either.

"Hahahahahaha, what do you mean you are in college? You look really young to be in college."

I stared at the floor.

"I'm sorry... if I would had been more careful when riding my bike... you would..."

I stared at the floor.

"That's a nice way of thinking about it, I think…"

As I remembered my encounter with the girl, I just stared at the floor.

"God…" that was the only thing I managed to say.

Suddenly, I heard a noise. With the speed of lightning, I raised my head to the front. The door had opened, and two doctors came out. Without saying anything to me, they walked to my left down the hall. Meanwhile, I followed them with my eyes, surprised.

"You were the one with her, right?"

In front of me, unnoticed, appeared a third doctor, in his forties, with straight brown hair and round glasses.

"Yes," I agreed without further ado.

"Well then…

The doctor paused. My heart raced so much faster than when I was riding my bike really fast this morning, even faster than when I narrowly missed the incoming bus. My nerves were on edge.

… she is fine"

My eyes glew up and I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't react too much on the outside, but it felt like my soul had returned to my body.

"She is going to have to stay under observation at least for today. Although she does not have any fractures or serious injuries, it was a strong hit. You bumped into her, right?"

I nodded again, without making a sound.

"You should be more careful, you know? It doesn't matter if it was your fault or not," he told me calmly, with no visible anger or irritation.

"Yes, I'm sorry" I accepted the fatherly advice he gave me.

"They already checked you, right? Does something else hurt?"

"Oh yeah. I'm fine, don't worry about me"

Upon entering the hospital and telling what happened, the nurses on duty checked me in case I was seriously injured. It was not the case, and luckily they only had to bandage me on some scrapes and bruises.

"Well… do you want to talk to her?"

"Huh?"