"Stand Clear!"

                What's going on? Who is yelling?

                "Clear! Check?"

                I'm so tired... Why won't they leave me alone? Can't I just sleep?

                "Check! All Go! Now... Shock!"

                 The young boy on the ground was surrounded by a horde of paramedics, policemen, and confused students dressed in t-shirts and sweats. His eyes were shut; his skin was the color of pale alabaster. Suddenly, his body rose towards the ceiling as 320 joules of electricity flowed through the AED pads and into his chest.

                "It's not working! Crank it up to 400 joules!"

                Again, another shock was administered into his body. As his torso lifted into the air, his arms and legs laid skewed across the ground, tangling in other people's legs. As the boy slumped across the ground, his body resembled a doll thrown carelessly onto the floor.

                We've got a beat! Pulse, 50. Record that! Quick, get him to ICU, stat!" the voice bellowed into his ear. 

   ~*~

                "Back again so soon?"

                Blinking sleepily against the morning light streaming in through the window, Donghae rubbed at his eyes. Turning his head sideways, he noticed a gummy smile not more than three inches away from his face.

                "What the...! Eunhyuk, stop that! You know I have heart problems! Stop scaring me like that!" Donghae shrieked. It was early in the morning and he wasn't quite ready for the jokes and games the other boy often played.

                "Sorry! I just felt bored and wanted someone to talk to," Eunhyuk pouted, his finger tracing random patterns on Donghae's hospital covers.

                "It's okay. Anyways, what time is it? Oh, and what exactly happened this time?" Donghae muttered, feeling guilty.

                "It's about 10 am. You've been out for over two days this time. The doctors said you had another cardiac arrest, stemming from your bradycardia. You know, you were supposed to tell the gym teacher that you had a heart condition and that you couldn't run long distances." Eunhyuk scolded.

                "It's not my fault! I only ran, like, 400 meters! I used to be able to sprint nearly 1000 meters-"

                "And that was before you had your first cardiac arrest! You're sick now; you shouldn't even be running!" Eunhyuk fussed. He couldn't understand why Donghae had such an addiction to running track.

                "You don't understand. Running is my life. I couldn't just give that up. I still have a chance at getting that college scholarship if I could just drop seven seconds off of my top time." Donghae said in a frustrated and angry tone.

                "That's right, I don't understand. I don't know why you would want to kill yourself over something so trivial when your life is obviously at risk." Eunhyuk yelled, striding back over to his bed adjacent to Donghae's bed. He sat down on the corner and shoved a pillow over his face.

                Silence filled the room.

                Minutes passed by like hours.

                "Okay, you win this round." Donghae groaned, turning over on his side to look at Eunhyuk. "Hey, Hyukkie! Can you hear me? I'm sorry. I should have been more careful. I didn't think before, I just wanted to be able to run like I used to be able to. I'll quit track tomorrow. Maybe I can take up another less intensive sport? How about-"

                "Ping Pong," Eunhyuk sniffled.

                "Ping Pong, it is!" Donghae laughed. Eunhyuk had the knack of coming up with the most random ideas to cheer up Donghae, and Donghae appreciated him for that.