He waited silently in the ambulance while the nurses and paramedics were signing papers and prepari the things they needed. He sat on the stretcher calmly, looking at the tree opposite him through the open doors of the vehicle. He was motionless to the extent you might think you are looking at a painting. His eyes were tired, with dark circles under them. Tubes were coming in and out of his hands and arms, with a blood stain over his grey pyjamas. His mouth and nose were covered with a mask connected to an oxygen tube so he could breathe.
It is sad that he was breathing artificial oxygen instead of the fresh air around him. It was six o’clock in the morning. No one was around except for a sleepy guard at the gate of the hospital. He could barely open his eyes, and if had moved one millimetre, the cap over his head would have fallen and so would he.
Minutes passed until the man noticed the boy, he left his arm slowly, but it was too painful that he put it down again. He smiled at him and asked him to come closer. The boy stepped up and quickly moved towards the man, hugged him for a second and was about to turn back when the man held him tight and whispered in his ear “Take care of your mom and sister.”
The boy said nothing, and he jumped down the ambulance and headed towards the hospital entrance. But instead of getting inside, he froze, it was clear there was a lot on his mind, you could tell that he was thinking hard about something. He turned back, and ran towards the ambulance, jumped in and went to the man and hugged him too tight.
“I love you.”, the boy said.
The man remained silent with tears in his eyes. He was struggling to speak but words refused to get out of him. The boy turned around quickly without looking at the man, stepped down and went running towards the hospital entrance, and disappeared.
The
man went back to his motionless state, but this time he was not looking at the
tree anymore. Instead, he was looking at the boy who left, with tears falling
down his eyes.
