if this is the end

Macy felt as if she was missing something. It was like she was on a very bad drug trip. Although, she didn't use drugs. Still, she felt dizzy. She could hardly breathe.

When Gage scooped her up, she thought he might have been Superman. They had to be one of the first to go down the stairwell in the freshly lit hall. The dark floor was shiny and it felt like being part of a science experiment

From dark to brightness.

"Are we in the right place?" She unwrapped herself from him, looking him over as if he might be a little spaced out and scared too.

"Yeah, of course, we are." He was still close with his arm wrapped around her, as if they made out they'd somehow be transported to a safer place in their mind. But Macy would have none of it as she took a good close up look at his face.

She'd been wanting to get this close to him all summer. Yes, Macy liked studying Gage from afar, but the map of his face shown that he was as much of a baby as she was. And she'd hoped he would have been..well..she didn't know the answer to that.

Finally, a few others trickled in. They were not alone, but he still held on to her as if they were in this together.

"It's probably nothing." Gage shrugged, and he smiled at her as if they'd been old friends for an awful long time.

Of course, just a few minutes ago, he was arguing with her about everything she touched at the pizza station. He sounded as if she was an annoying little girl that he despised. Now he was holding her hand. He wouldn't let go.

"Yeah, probably nothing." She sighed as they finally sat in the floor next to the cold white wall.

She wondered what her friend Chandler would think of this. Did it mean anything? She wanted to text him. After all, he was her best friend in the world. They told each other everything. But she was pretty sure if Chandler were here, he would be kissing Gage right now. Yeah, that was the kind of guy he was.

Oh, he talked about having a boyfriend, all the time. She almost smiled thinking what she would do if she were Chandler.

"What are you smiling about?" Gage winced.

"Nothing." But she could live with this..in a crisis.

They heard the winds coming like a train wreck about to happen.

Asa didn't like this. The lights went out. Then they came on. Why couldn't he be with them in the surgery? They'd swept Jane away on a metal bed down the well lit hallway of the hospital.

He kept a prayer in his head. He wanted to scream it. What were they doing to Jane? Was she OK? What was happening?

Finally, they let him in, but he couldn't touch the baby. It was so tiny, and it wouldn't wake up.

He knew they wanted to operate on the infant. He stared at it under glass. The doctors were still with Jane. He felt so lost. Still his tired body wouldn't dare sit. Which one was he to go too?

Something was wrong with Jane. He heard the sound like a mournful cry of the machine, gripping him as if there would be no tomorrow. It stung him deep.

This was Jane who made him smile even when she didn't try. She could be so somber. She wouldn't likely ever complain. Yet she'd never wanted diamonds nor expensive things. But he always imagined, she enjoyed being a nurse.

Asa kept staring back at the table of doctors cloaked in blue, talking in codes he did not know.

 He felt so numb as the tears shed down his face. He was certain he was going deaf as they worked harder to bring her back.

Finally, he heard the rhythm thump into a song. He looked at the tiny thing, yawning, still in peace. It was living. So was Jane. He smiled, thankful they were all still here.