ER stories | this happened to me

Life and Death

…bearing witness in the ER

the ER come alive as the sunsets (author photo)

I walk into the Emergency Room following the ambulance from the accident scene, leaving others behind to sort graph and measure through broken glass, metal pieces, and two cars embedded in their collision’s violent embrace, up the ramp to the entrance under roiling black clouds, low overhead. The dampness of a humid Florida night drips under my Kevlar vest. Heat rises up my throat, colors my face and beads of sweat drip down my temple. My hands adjust the heavy weight around my waist, shaking as the adrenaline rush dissipates.

There is a frantic whoosh of automatic doors opening and closing as paramedics unload patients, and bodies, rolling them through to the cacophony of nurses' and doctors’ questions, and directives. Cold air of the necessarily frigid space blasts into the night cutting the heat surrounding all who enter—ignoring the pleading screams of apology from a teen girl sitting upright upon a gurney against a wall, a passenger in the car blowing stoplights for fun. Two teen boys, one of them the driver of the car, sit wide-eyed and silent on their own. Barely a passing glance is given to them as the gurneys of their victims pass by.

Empty streets and idle hours beckoned their chaos. Past closed and quiet strip malls, flags hanging…