Flashing lights, the screeching of sirens, moans of pure agony. These are the last thoughts, the last memories of a life well lived. Nothing happy, nothing sad. Just moments in a life that may not last much longer.

You never know if they will make it, if everything you can every do is enough. Sometimes it is and the thanks and joy of the families make the job worth it, sometimes nothing can be done and one by one the screens shut down, one by one the machines beep and beep and nothing can be done. You remember these ones on the hard nights, the nights you wish you had never chosen a job like this.

And sometimes, extraordinary measures must be taken. For life is precious and fleeting.

Blood. The sweet, salty tang sits in the air. The chair Ren sat on was hard, with no cushion and made of blue wool. Funny the things you remember in your darkest hours. His fingers flipped through the holes ripped in his pants, touching skin covered in gravel scrapes, bruises and slices from glass and metal. But none of that mattered, what mattered was the memories, probably all he had left now. The doctors, nurses, other people around him were all a blur, faces flashing indiscriminately.

He wasn’t quite sure how it started, perhaps before the dented stop sign, perhaps after. When that car didn’t stop, when he threw himself over Cho Hee to protect her from all that was coming, when he watched his sister bleed out in the back of the ambulance. 

Ren was shocked, but couldn’t feel it. The loss of his sister hadn’t quite kicked in yet. He knew she was dead, yet his brain could not accept the loss.

“Ren? Excuse me, are you Choi Ren?” The doctor in-front of him was black-haired, with a clipboard in her hand and pain written in her eyes.

“Yes, I am Ren. Is there any update, on Cho Hee, umma, appa?” The blankness in his eyes was unavoidable.

“I feel awful, needing to ask this, but did your parents ever..” The doctor looked away.

“No, I never spoke with my parents about,” He paused. “Events like this occurring, I am unsure of their wishes as to what is to be done.”

“Ok, well I do have some news, Kim Cho Hee- your girlfriend I presume,” The doctor looked up to confirm herself. Ren nodded. “Is out of surgery and in the Intensive Care Unit, she is unconscious at the moment but you can see her if you like.”

“Yes, I would like to see her. Is there any update on my parents? About their condition or how the surgery is going?” He stood, winched then forgot the pain. It was nothing compared to what Cho Hee or his parents were in at the moment, he was sure.

“No, your parents are in critical condition and their surgeries will continue for a while longer. Cho Hee is this way,” She gestured towards a nearby stairwell. “She is in room 13, tell the nurses Doctor Song sent you and they’ll let you in.”

Ren headed immediately towards the stairwell after thanking the doctor. He counted the rooms, each occupant looking sick, sad or a combination of both. He reached room 13, knocked lightly on the door and waited. It did not take long, a blonde haired, friendly looking nurse opened the door and politely informed him that she was sorry, but he couldn’t enter. Ren then informed her of Doctor Song’s request and she allowed him entrance.

Cho Hee was lying in the bed, her normally cheerful face blank, bouncy body dwarfed by the machines on either side of her. Ren took the chair on the right side of her head. The nurse smiled sadly, “I’ll be outside at the nurses station if you need me.”

“Cho Hee, can you hear me? I know you’re unconscious and all, but don’t leave me. I love you, you know that. I wasn’t happy about a big dinner, knowing how I am around my family but you convinced me. You always can. I need you now, most of all. The decsions I might have to make are going to be the hardest of my life and I need to know you will be standing by my side at the end of it all.” Drops hit the pillow, Ren wiped his face with the hand not holding Cho Hee’s. “I need you, I…” He couldn’t find the words to say to express himself so he just sat, holding her hand, listening to the beep of the machines. It felt like hours, but was only ten minutes later when a quiet knock, similar to Ren’s awakened him from his memories.

“Ren, I am sorry to disturb you but I have news concerning your parents,” It was the quiet voice of Doctor Song. Ren placed Cho Hee’s hand down and rose to meet the doctor.

“Yes,” He didn’t know what he was hoping for, good news or bad news.

“You are going to need to make some decisions. Please come with me, I promise you will be back when Cho Hee wakes up.” The doctor beckoned him out of the room.

“Do you know what extraordinary measures are, Ren?” The sadness in her eyes was unavoidable. “ They are actions taken to keep someone alive when there is nothing else we can do. I believe you need to see your parents and make some very tough decisions.”

It was all he could to keep from falling down the stairs, nothing had seemed like this could happen when he woke up this morning, nothing that predicted the fateful night ahead.

Doctor Song led him to his fathers room, explained that his mothers was next door, and said she would be outside filling paperwork if needed.

It only took one look to realize how dire things were. Ren’s father, the man who had played catch with him when he was small, taught him how to throw a punch, how to drive, took him out on his eighteenth birthday was lying still and lost in a bed. There was nothing Ren could see that reminded him of the father he once knew. Frantic beeping sounded, Ren was pushed back by medics and the count of ‘one, two three, clear’ and the zap of electricity arcing through his fathers body was heard, again and again in the matter of several minutes. Maybe half an hour maybe more of being pushed back, arcing power and the call of ‘clear’. That was it, Ren could take no more. “Stop,” he spoke quietly, almost to himself. Then louder, “STOP.” Several medics turned, “Don’t bother, he’s gone. Please stop putting us both through this pain.”

The head medic looked at Doctor Song and Doctor Song looked at him. Ren looked at his father once more, then nodded. “Turn them off.”

The medics left the room, defibrillating trolley behind them, the sound of it’s wheels shaking the already fragile foundations of Ren’s collapsing reality.

He held his fathers hand as machine by machine, screens switched off, sounds muted and silence, or as close as you could get in a hospital, reigned once again.

“Thankyou, my father, for guiding me, for helping me through dark days, for showing me right from wrong, for helping me find Cho Hee. I thankyou and let you go.” The man’s heart had stopped, his body had shut down and it was done.

“I am so sorry you had to make that decision, yet I now have to ask you again. Please follow me.” Doctor Song stood in the doorway, flanked by a nurse.

Emotions were none existent; at this point Ren was running on nothing but adrenalin. He wouldn’t be rational for much longer so the doctor needed him now. It may have been cruel but decisions must be made and they must be made quickly.

Blank faced, Ren followed the doctor into his mother’s room. She too was pale, lifeless and the machines around her looked overwhelming. She looked so fragile, lying in bed with bruises and cuts on her face, arm broken and plastered.

“She isn’t as bad, but you need to sleep. We need to know now if you wish for extraordinary measures to be taken.” Doctor Song was shocked at her own voice, emotionless, blank, sounding like a machine herself.

“No.” Ren’s face was a mask of agony as he said these words.

“If it comes down to it, don’t bother. It’s not worth it.”

“Understood. Do you wish to sleep in Cho Hee’s room? Unfortunately you can’t sleep here but a space would be made for you up there.” The doctor squeezed Ren’s shoulder reassuringly as he walked out. “I realize nothing I say can make it better, but in this case.” She paused. “I believe you have made the right choice.”

Ren took the stairs one at a time, exhaustion beginning to claim him. By the time he reached Cho Hee’s room the nurses had set a small blanket and pillow in a chair next to her bed. Before he let himself sleep, Ren walked to the window and looked out upon the city that was still turning, even though his world had stopped. He pulled out the ring box that had survived in his pocket through the terrible events encountered that day. “Happy 24^th Cho Hee. I hope once you’ve recovered I can try this again.” He opened the box to reveal a diamond and sapphire engagement ring. He looked at her sleeping form, then up at the stars his father now rested in.

“Kim Cho Hee, will you do me the honour of marrying me?”

And this is the result of watching a very depressing episode of Grey's Anatomy at 11:30 after a really sad day.

I hope you enjoyed it, well perhaps not enjoyed but thought this was a good, emotional story that had well thought out elements or stuff. Thankyou for reading.

Lioness Out.

If you would like to know what happens afterwards, I can put up another chapter for explanations and so on. Please comment if you wish so. Or just comment anyway.