Borrowed Time

by Antonio D. Sommerio

  “Alright man, this doesn’t have to be hard. Gimme your wallet and everything else in your pockets!” began a gruff and heinous voice.

  “Wait…what?” Jacob replied as he looked up trying to distinguish the identity of the voice.

  “Gimme all your shit and don’t fuck with me, I can and will kill you!” continued the man.

  Jacob could now see a large male towering over him. A black ski mask and a long trench coat complemented the shotgun the man was holding. He smelled of must and mildew with the pounding rain giving no aid to his stench. Jacob was awestruck. In a million years, he wouldn’t have thought it would have come to this. This, was the way he would meet his end? And so, wearing his thoughts outside him, Jacob vocalized the rest of what he was thinking.

  “You have to be fucking kidding me? Look here, take my wallet and this…this is everything in my pockets.” Jacob said as he went from his knees to just sitting with his hands behind his head and belongings in front of him. The assailant paused looking both ways for witnesses momentarily before he frantically began grabbing the items from the wet pavement. Just then his eyes caught a glimpse of another treasure.

  “And the watch!” he continued. Jacob looked over at the watch upon his wrist. He looked at the man for a short moment without speaking or moving. What if this nothing of a lost human soul could harvest the same power of the watch and obtain the gift of “sight,” just as he did?

  “I’m sorry I can’t,” Jacob answered.

  “What?!...Did you just say you can’t? Ok, how about this…Give me the fucking watch or I’ll blow your brains all over this alley!” Jacob said nothing and just shook his head at the masked man instead. Patience gone the man then began yanking the watch trying to tear it from Jacob’s wrist. As he continued to struggle Jacob saw an opportunity…this was his chance! With that Jacob grabbed the shotgun with his other hand causing his attacker to slip falling toward him off balance and…

  Click—Boom! The man fell to the ground, weapon sliding from his grip. He then quickly got up reviewing his surroundings and grabbed the shotgun running down the alley with the barrel still smoking. Jacob gasped for air as he tugged at his shirt where the tiny rounded pellets lay deeply imbedded in his chest. He mustered all the strength he could to cry for help, but the end result was just coughing and the metallic taste of blood as it continuously rushed up his throat. The pain was nothing like he’d ever experienced as he now began to shiver and perspire.

  He could see everything now…It was clear. His father…his friends…Theresa, everyone he’d cared about. The sound of the rain and noisy pollution of the busy streets all started to fade as Jacob began to lose consciousness. The burning in his chest was now replaced by a cold and numbing sensation. So this is death, Jacob thought to himself. With the rain washing away his quickly depleting life source Jacob could now only hear the deafening sound of his heart beating…it struggling, like a tattered drum…fading…fading….

  As Jacob lay in the alleyway, his watch still hung loosely about his wrist. After accidentally shooting Jacob, the man fled in a panic leaving the thing he’d seem to want most. How pointless this had turned out to be. However; nearby the sound of normality is broken as through the cars, traffic and battering rain, the splashing of footsteps can be heard approaching Jacob’s position.

  “Yeah, no like today! Have them call it off. I’ll never make it in this rain…wait a sec hold on,” said the young man as he repositioned his umbrella. “Oh my god…listen I’ll call you back!” he said as he ran toward Jacob’s body repeatedly pressing his phones end call button. “Holy shit…It’s you!” he further exclaimed now recognizing Jacob. Flinging the umbrella aside, he listened to his phone awaiting an answer as he dialed 911. “Hello, I have a man hurt and bleeding all over the place in an alley next to Keldare Ave. Please hurry! No…he’s not conscience but I think he’s still breathing…there’s blood everywhere…hurry!” Tossing the phone aside the young man sat on the ground next to Jacob. “Help’s on the way man, hang in there…hang in there.”

  And he was right. In mere minutes, sirens could be heard slashing through the air drowning out all that opposed. Soon the man could see the Ambulance slowly back down the alleyway as he waved his hands signaling the rescuers. The back doors flew open and a young female paramedic stepped out dragging a wheeled gurney behind her. She wasted no time as she surveyed the scene and began her inquires.

  “Do you know what happened to this man?” she questioned.

  “No, I was walking down the street and found him lying here like this,” he replied.

  The paramedic then looked over at Jacob and froze momentarily exclaiming, “It’s him!”

  “You know him too?” asked the young man.

  “Never mind that now, my partner is readying everything. We’ll need to get him stabilized in the ambulance so I need you to help me transfer him to the stretcher.” Nodding, the young man grabbed Jacob by his arms as Rebecca snapped on a neck brace and transported Jacob to the gurney, wheeling him inside the ambulance. “Thanks for your assistance. We will be taking him to Hazel Crest if you want to come down and give a formal statement,” she said closing the doors from the inside.

  “Rebecca you ready?” the second paramedic inquired looking back at her.

  “Yeah let’s get out of here he’s losing a lot of blood. Call it in and floor it, don’t worry I’ll be careful through the ride.” Rebecca’s voice was stern and direct. She was good at what she did and it showed. “How did this happen to you?” she continued while looking at Jacob and starting his IV “If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t even be here. I’ll try my best not to let you down,” she said solemnly. “C’mon Paul we have to get there faster or we’re going to lose him!”

  “I’m trying but I can’t see a thing! Get outta the damn way you morons don’t you hear the friggin sirens?” Paul yelled. His vision was almost nonexistent. It was like going through a car wash, even the windshield wipers proved helpless and ineffective.

  Just then without warning, two cars veer in opposing directions trying to make way for the ambulance and hit each other. Glass and rubble litter the streets and the ambulance is trapped.

  “Paul, what the hell was that?” asked Rebecca trying to look outside.

  “An accident, and I can’t get around it either,” replied Paul. At a complete stop and with time running out the paramedic exited the ambulance and taxied an oncoming patrol car. Sliding to a stop the officer exited his vehicle and approached the young medic.

  “You guys stuck?” he started.

  “Yeah, we need someone to separate those two cars, we have a gunshot victim inside the ambulance.

  “Officer Borelli to dispatch come in,” started Borelli (speaking into his mic).

  “This is dispatch, go ahead with your traffic.”

  “I need at least two blue and whites down here for assistance. I’m gonna provide an escort for an ambulance over here on main, you copy.”

  “10-4 Borelli, backup is 76 to your 20,” Borelli nodded as he attached his radio mike back to the shoulder strap. “Ok that freed me up I’m gonna get some civvies to help move these cars outta da way. You hop back in the ambulance and follow my lead,” he instructed. Nodding, Paul climbed back in the driver’s seat of the ambulance and looked back at Rebecca.

  “Becky, how’s he doing?”

  “Not good, we have to get out of here.”

  “Understood, we got some superhero cop outside that’s going to provide us with an escort through this mess.” Just as soon as Paul could complete his sentence, the officer had made it back to his position.

  “Alright follow my lead. Don’t worry about the rain just try and keep up with my lights. I’ve got backup and another ambulance coming to help with the people involved in the accident but they look good so far, so let’s roll,” said Borelli. Paul nodded as he strapped his seatbelt. Wow that
was quick, he thought to himself.

  Borelli jumped back into his squad car, and with lights and sirens of his own adding to the chaotic scene, he pulled through the middle of a narrow passage made through the wreckage. The rain still proving a most formidable adversary pounded to the two emergency vehicles as they weaved through traffic toward their destination.

  Literally minutes later, the trauma unit of Hazelcrest Hospital became populated as two doors burst open and Jacob is wheeled through the halls by Rebecca and Paul. They take each curve and turn of the hospitals floors with precision, navigating effortlessly through the labyrinth like halls until reaching their final destination.

  “Positions everyone!” yells a doctor in green scrubs, as he readies equipment for surgery.

  “Ok Dr. Mather we have a Caucasian male mid to late thirties with what appears to be a gunshot wound to the chest. I’ve managed to keep him stable but his pulse is weak at best and he has lost a lot of blood.” Rebecca’s training had paid off. She did her best in unfavorable conditions and managed to get Jacob safely transported for further help.

  “Check his belongings, etc. See if you can find any next of kin to contact, we need a blood type match asap,” the doctor replied. “The nurses and I will take it from here.”

  Rebecca, (finally nervous) nodded and took to the wind. As the doors closed swiftly behind her, she turned back momentarily and looked at the man as they began operating. There he was. The selfless gentleman that had given her a second chance…now lying nearly lifeless. “Focus Rebecca.” she said nervously as she now fumbled through Jacobs pockets grabbing his cell phone.

  Darkness envelops a small room with the only presence of light emitting from a heart monitor attached its host. The green iridescent pulse dances to the song of an elongated but welcoming set of beeps, indicating normal heart activity of its patient. Jacob could hear the melodic tones as they are accompanied by voices and footsteps entering the room. As he awakes from his slumber, he tries to focus on the shadowy figures that surround him. One quickly moves from his field of vision and opens the blinds of a lone window that occupies the small room.

  “Oh my god…I think he’s coming to.” said a familiar but saddened voice. As Jacob continued to focus, he could now see a teary-eyed Sheryl lean over toward him gently rubbing his face.

  “What…where am I?” asked Jacob, with a stale and unsteady voice. With his sight returned, other senses began their boot sequence as well, the next being pain. “Ouch” he continued, as he set up in the bed and grabbed his chest.

  “You have to take it easy Mr. Parnell.” Rebecca ordered softy as she returned from the window. “You had quite an experience.”

  “Wait…you’re a nurse?” he mumbled.

  “Well a paramedic actually but I came to see how you were faring. Your surgery went well and the transfusion was a success.”

  “Transfusion?” quarried Jacob.

  “Yes” Rebecca continued, “You lost an extreme amount of blood from your injuries and luckily we were able to find a donor. As a matter of fact, I think they are bringing him in now.”

  “What the hell is with you? Geez lady you’ve got an ass that won’t quit but nothing upstairs. I said twelve times…No Mayo!” Jacobs’s eyes widened as a nurse wheeled Stanley into the same room in a wheelchair and positioned him next to Jacob’s bed.

  “Jakey! Wow…man, I leave you alone for a few hours and you damn near get yourself killed. Hey, I told ya one way or another, I’d get a bit of party animal in ya! Well two plus pints to be exact.” Stanley took a bite out of his sandwich then crossed his legs and repositioned his hospital gown.

  “Wait…you mean…”

  “Yeah baby, were both type AB-Neg, who whudda thought?” interrupted Stanley in mid chew. “So how does it feel to have the old Stan Man’s blood coursing through your veins?” he continued.

  “Yes, I went through your cell phone’s call log to see if I could contact any relatives or next of kin. You had made multiple calls to Mr. Burgress recently, so I figured him important and was I ever right.” Rebecca implied quite pleased with herself. Jacob looked at Stanley giving a brief smile before quickly becoming succumbed with emotion.

  “Stanley…I…I…just wanted…”

  “Jake, don’t. It’s fine man. I understand. Hey, I said some messed up stuff the last night. Besides you were a little tipsy, so I over looked a few things. You know otherwise after that crack to the jaw, I would’ve kicked your ass. But hey all in the past right?” he said smiling at Jacob and holding his sandwich in a “toasting” fashion.

  “Yeah Stan…all in the past…thanks.”

  “You can do me one favor though,” continued Stanley, now seeming concerned.

  “Anything buddy you name it.”

  “Well I kind of need my job back,” he said scratching his head.

  “I don’t think that will be an issue Stanley. Don’t worry about it.”

  “Thanks boss, cause if not I was going to have to move in with you by month’s end. When I told the old ball-and-chain what happened she flipped her wig.”

  Both Sheryl and Rebecca stared at Stanley partially appalled at the references he’d made to his wife…and the nurse that brought him in. Feeling all attention on him, Stanley decided a retreat would be beneficial.

  “Uh…yeah…so I’ll leave you alone with your hot paramedic and the Crimson Goddess over there…Sheryl right? Man, Jake described you to a tee!” With that Stanley grabbed the dividing curtain sliding it forward and wheeled himself into the hall. “Did he just call me ‘Crimson Goddess’?” inquired Sheryl pointing at the curtain.

  “Well…Uh…”

  “Hmm, maybe you could learn a thing or two from your friend,” she finished now smiling.

  “What? You gotta be kidding right?” Jacob replied.

  “So ‘Mr. Parnell’, it would seem that you’ve been playing hero lately. Rebecca told me about how you intervened and save her from a bad situation.” Sheryl smiled as she spoke and gave a quick wink as she finished her statement.

  “Situation, is an understatement,” started Rebecca. “Had it not been for Mr. Parnell here I wouldn’t have been alive to help play part in saving his life.”

  Just then Jacob sprang up. A shocking revelation had aired. “Wait a minute. Rebecca can you tell me what exactly happened to me?”

  “We were hoping maybe you could tell us. So far the police speculate an attempted robbery. Whatever happened it resulted in your receiving a shotgun wound to the chest.” Jacob was bewildered, he tried to remember the events that led him here but could conjure nothing.

  “Anything else happen out of the ordinary regarding my rescue?” he asked. Seeing Jacob distraught Sheryl sat next to him on the bed and held his hand.

  “You want a list?” continued Rebecca.

  “We had to have a police escort to bring you here safely after an accident blocked the path of our ambulance. The weather was atrocious.”

  “Did you see the officer? Can you describe him?” Jacob asked anxiously.

  “Kind of short, stumpy and spoke with a heavy accent.”

  “Borelli?” Jacob blurted. “Oh…my god…I was…” Jacob then went silent. It was becoming all so evident and clear.

  “One more thing before I leave” began Rebecca, “The guy that made the 911 call found you in an alley not too far from your residence. He seemed to have mentioned he knew you in some way. Anyhow he left you this…me being so relieved in the findings of your recovery I had almost forgot.” Rebecca then took a small box from her fanny pouch and handed it to Jacob. “I’m going to leave you two alone now, my break is almost over and I must get back. Good luck on the rest of your recovery Mr. Parnell.” With that Rebecca furnished Jacob with a quick and “professional” smile then exited the room.

  Now alone with Sheryl Jacob peered at the box. Distracted only momen
tarily by Stanley ranting in the hall, he slowly pulled the lone white ribbon and removed the top. Inside was a piece of folded paper that when Jacob picked up revealed the box’s other contents…a small white pair of headphones. Jacob’s heart sank as he slowly unfolded the lone parchment and read aloud. “I guess this makes us even. Glad I could return the favor, get well soon…” signed Phillip. Jacob’s eyes quickly became teary as he spoke each word he read. Soon a salty and welcoming river flowed down his masculine cheeks.

  “Baby what’s wrong? Are you ok…what is it?” asked Sheryl as she quickly wrapped her arms around Jacob holding him tightly. But Jacob couldn’t speak. His emotion was piqued only by his discovery.

  It was plain as day, Phillip…Rebecca…Borelli…and finally Stanley. Every person he’d risked his already diminishing time to save…had played a critical role in saving his own life. Jacob then remembered the inscription on the back of the watch. “Balance” he said quietly. With that he slowly laid back down in the bed and held Sheryl close to his chest.

  The sun displayed a serene and peaceful luminescence this morning. Everything just seemed perfect. From the time Jacob opened his eyes until now as he got into his car, the day seemed to take a turn for the better as time dwindled away.

  “So you sure you’re ok with this?” asked Sheryl smiling from the passenger’s seat.

  “I couldn’t be surer,” Jacob replied as he leaned over kissing her softly.

  “Uh oh, whoa tiger,” said Sheryl rubbing her perfectly rounded belly. “That got him a kickin.” Jacob smiled warmly as he too now placed his hand on her stomach hoping to feel his unborn son’s activity.