The nurse looked over to a waiting area. There was a guy sitting by himself. He had his head in his hand and was tugging at his hair.
“Then who’s that?”
I looked over again. This time, the guy looked up. Our eyes met, and a look of recognition seemed to come across his face. That made him the only one who understood anything around here. I turned back to the nurse. “I have no idea who the hell that is.”
The guy stood and walked over. He looked hesitant. “I’m Amelia’s flight instructor, Aaron.” He turned to the nurse. “This is Amelia’s fiancé.”
The nurse frowned and shook her head. “Can I see some ID from both of you, please?”
I again pulled my license from my pocket, while the guy standing next to me shook his head. “I don’t have anything on me. I leave my wallet and phone in a locker when I do lessons.”
The nurse ignored him. She typed into her computer, and then her eyes moved back and forth from the screen to my ID. “I’m sorry, Mr. Crawford. There seems to have been some confusion.”
“Whatever. I don’t care. Can you just tell me how Amelia is?”
She nodded. “Of course.” She started to speak but then stopped and looked over at Amelia’s instructor. “Can you excuse us, please?”
“Oh… Yeah, of course.”
Aaron walked back to the waiting area. The nurse lowered her voice. “How much do you know so far?”
I shook my head. “Not a damn thing.”
She nodded. “Okay. Well, Ms. Evans was brought in following a small-plane crash. She suffered serious injuries to the head and spine. The head injury she sustained is sometimes called a hinge fracture, but it’s basically a fracture of the skull. We were told by the crew that brought her in that the top of the aircraft collapsed on impact, so that’s possibly what caused the injury.”
I raked a hand through my hair. “Jesus Christ. Is she going to be okay?”
The nurse’s face was solemn. “The impact has caused swelling in her brain, and the doctors are working on relieving some of that. The next few hours are going to be crucial. She also suffered a few broken vertebrae, which the doctors will treat if they’re able to stop the swelling.”
“If…they’re able to stop the swelling? What happens if they can’t?”
The nurse shook her head. “It’s imperative that they do, Mr. Crawford.”
I felt like I was in a dream after that. The nurse kept talking, but her words sort of floated through the air around me, unable to sink in. When she was done, her eyes darted over my face.
“Are you okay?”
I shook my head. “How long will she be in surgery?”
“It’s hard to say. But she has an amazing team of doctors working on her. She only went in about fifteen minutes ago. I’ll go back in a little while and see if they can give me any update, okay?”
I nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”
She motioned to the waiting room. “Why don’t you take a seat? Ms. Evans had some jewelry and personal items on her when she came in. We removed them in case of swelling. I’ll go in the patient safe and get them for you, and you can sign for them. I also have some paperwork you can fill out for her.”
“Okay.”
Even though she’d told me to take a seat, I stood at the desk after she disappeared, trying to make sense of everything. After a while, I remembered Amelia’s flight instructor was here. Maybe he could tell me something more. So I walked over. But just as I started to ask him, the nurse came with a Ziploc bag and some papers clipped to a clipboard. Looking down, she lifted the top page.