Chapter 467 Time of Death
Courtney was stopped by a nurse when she arrived at the neurosurgical operating room. The red light that showed an operation going on was still turned on then.
“Dr. Hunter, do you want to go in and observe the surgery?” the nurse asked, making Courtney stop in her tracks for a moment.
“Who is inside? How long has the operation been going on?”
“It has been 30 minutes.” The nurse pointed at the clock on the wall. “The patient might be someone rather influential. I heard that Vice President Zayn personally came to operate on the patient after receiving a call. I wonder if it is because the hospital doors are closed that the patient’s family is not here yet.”
Courtney’s heart was thundering in her chest then. “I will go in and have a look,” she told the nurse.
“Oh my, Dr. Hunter. Have you forgotten that you need to scrub your hands and change into a surgical gown? Vice President Zayn is going to have your head if you go in like this!” the nurse reminded Courtney, her gaze somewhat baffled as she looked at her.
Hearing that, Courtney quickly collected herself and rushed to the changing room to get herself ready. As she was still feeling slightly restless, she called the intern in the surgical room by the wrong name when she went in.
There were a handful of doctors surrounding the operating table. Not being able to squeeze her way in and not daring enough to even attempt that, she only stood aside as she watched the doctors at work. She was beginning to sweat from the warm and humid surgery gown she was in.
“Why are you here?” a voice came from beside her. Through the mask and surgical gown that person was wearing, Courtney could barely recognize Quella Earth’s clear voice. She was an intern from the Department of Cardiac Surgery.
Having her attention fully on what was happening at the operating table, Courtney only absent-mindedly said, “I’m just taking a look.”
“What a coincidence. Me too.” Standing side to side with Courtney, she nonchalantly continued, “It has been crazy in the emergency room. At least I can blatantly take a rest on the excuse that I am here to observe the operation. But what luck. Things aren’t going so well for this patient. I am afraid we will have to deliver our apology to his family after the surgery.”
Courtney’s face instantly paled at that. “What do you mean?”
Quella was one of the best students Linda was proud to have. She would never say something like this as a joke.
“Yup. He seemed fine when he was brought in here, but we found that he had intracranial hypertension. The chief of neurology has been in a meeting about this for hours. The success rate isn’t high, but the chief is still holding onto the last ray of hope. The patient will be dead for sure if we don’t operate on him. We gave his family a call and started with the operation after they gave us the green light.”
“How low is the success rate?” Courtney faltered.
“Less than 10 percent. We even have the death notice ready to be sent out in case the operation fails.”
Courtney’s limbs suddenly turned cold.
In that instant, the electrocardiographic heart monitor started beeping quickly. Her head shot up, but her sight was still blocked by the doctors swarming around the patient. All she could hear then was the noise that filled the room.
“Oxygen mask!”
“The patient’s heart rate is too low!”
“Prepare the cardiac pacemaker.”
“…”
Beep—
The spikes showing the heart rate on the pacemaker gradually flattened into a straight line that seemed to extend to infinity.
Other than the sound from the machine, the rest of the noises in the room went dead silent.
“Time of death…”
“Sign the notice and give it to the deceased’s family.”
“…”
The silence was suddenly broken by a surprised yelp from Quella. “Dr. Hunter! What is wrong?!” She was holding Courtney who had passed out.
Courtney had a long dream after that.
It was spring in her dreams, where rape flowers could be seen yellowing the field. The sunlight and warmth only further beautified the view.
Tina was holding her hand as she pulled her along.
“Mommy, Josie, hurry up! Jordan is waiting for us!”
“Where are we going?” Courtney asked, in which the child grumbled, “Mommy! Did you forget that we are having a picnic with Jordan today?”
She only recalled that promise after hearing her daughter’s words.
“Let’s go! Jordan is waiting for us by himself. I am sure he is worried about us!”
They soon met Jordan standing alone in the flower field. He was already a teenager then. Courtney couldn’t help but notice the aloof expression on his face as he waited for them.
She subconsciously took a peek behind him and asked, “Why are you here by yourself? Where is Daddy?”
The children suddenly gave her an odd look after they heard her question.
Tugging on her hand, Tina asked, “Mommy, what are you talking about? We don’t have a father!”
Josephine had an equally confused expression as well.
“This isn’t right…” Courtney’s face had fallen then as thoughts began to flood her head. “Why wouldn’t you have a father?”
Jordan, who had been quiet this whole time, lifted his head to look at her. His face looked exactly like Alexander’s. Even the coldness in his gaze reminded her of the children’s father.
“We used to have one, but we don’t now. You won’t be with Daddy anyway. What difference does it make whether or not we have a father? We are still your children no matter what.”
She could feel her chest tighten after hearing his words. Taking two steps backward, she muttered, “No. You are not Jordan. Jordan would never say something like this.”
“Mommy, what are you talking about?” the children exclaimed to her.
“You are not my children, and none of this is real…”
As she continued to step backward, she suddenly remembered that Jordan was only an 11-year-old boy who didn’t look like how he appeared to be now. The scene in front of her seemed to swirl and twist as the view disappeared into the background, leaving only a blank, white canvas.
“Ah!” she finally woke up with a scream.
“Dr. Hunter, are you alright? Did you have a bad dream?”
Hearing the caring voice, she turned to look at the person, only to see that it was Linda sitting by her side. She also noticed that they were in the interns’ lounge.
“I am fine.” Courtney’s hand went to her forehead. She still hadn’t grasped reality after abruptly waking up from her dream. “Why am I here?”
Linda passed her a glass of sugar water and scolded, “Don’t you remember? You suddenly fainted when you were in the neurosurgery operating room. You almost scared Quella to death! Did you not eat breakfast? Why didn’t you watch out when you knew you have low blood sugar?”
Courtney came to a halt, and her face began to turn pale. The only color left on her face was the redness in her eyes. Her body was gradually turning stiff. Even though the tip of her nose felt like it was burning, her tears wouldn’t come out no matter what.
“I don’t even know what to say about you. I can’t believe you passed out from observing an operation. People might even think that you have haloemia!”
She then turned her head to look at Courtney, only to see that she had gotten out of bed. “Hey!” she called out, worried. “What are you doing? Look at how pale you are. Why don’t you rest for a little longer?”
“I am alright, Chief Hass.” Despite being stopped by Linda, she made her way to the hospital’s mortuary.
Due to the fact that unrelated people were not allowed inside the hospital, those who had passed away from failed operations were temporarily placed in the mortuary before their family and friends could come and see them one last time.
Linda quickly followed after Courtney. “Where are you going, Courtney?”
Her eyebrows crinkled when she noticed the direction Courtney was heading to, and when they reached the mortuary, she hastened her pace and blocked the entrance to the room.
“Courtney, why are you going into the mortuary?”
It was only then that she realized how red Courtney’s eyes had gotten. She looked like she was holding her emotions back.
Her voice, too, came out hoarse. “Don’t stop me. I am going inside to look for someone.”
Linda was caught by surprise when she saw a side of Courtney she hadn’t seen before. “What is wrong? Talk to me. Who are you trying to look for?”
“Patients who died during operations were all sent here, weren’t they?”
“Since their friends and families aren’t allowed in for now, yes, that should be the case,” Linda replied with a frown after Courtney didn’t answer her question. “What is it? There aren’t any failed operations today. Who are you looking for?”
Courtney then said rather incoherently, “There is! I saw it with my own eyes before I passed out. The craniotomy was a failure. His operation failed. I didn’t even get to see him for the last time.”
