#eliot‚ slamming the steering wheel: GET IN THE CAR | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ill-try-to-write · 4 years

Text

4450

ldkfjslkdgaslkg okay so I know I haven’t kept any of my promises for my writing yet, but look! a thing!

Words: 3836 Warnings: needle mention, character death, there might be a few swears?? also my garbage 3 am coffee-fuelled writings (please let me know if theres anything else)

"4450, 4450, are you clear?" Jojo grabbed the radio that had flickered to life and leaned in as his partner, Eliot, slid into the driver's seat. "Yep, just cleared, both baby and mum are healthy, we're leaving them with Alpha 437." The radio crackled again. "Okay, we've just sent you case 7-0-9, calls from both civilians and police requesting ambulance service for a possible deceased male. His roommate found him unconscious and unresponsive, CPR has been administered, going on six minutes now." "Alright, we're on our way." Eliot pulled out of the driveway as Jojo slung his seatbelt over his shoulder. Eliot glanced across to him. "How're you holdin' up?" Jojo slumped back in his chair and rubbed his hands over his face, stifling a yawn. "Good, good, just tired." "Okay then." Eliot reached up and flicked on the lights and sirens. "I have a feeling this is gonna be a rough ride." Jojo hummed in agreement, resting his head against the cold window and shut his eyes, readying himself for their up coming patient. He took a deep breath in, and- "4450, 4450," he cracked open an eyelid. "Just asking for an ETA on 7-0-9." Jojo reached forward. "This is 4450, ETA, three minutes. Do we have any other units arriving?" the radio fell silent for a few seconds before the voice on the other end answered. "8085, 7364, and specialist paramedics are heading to the scene, but so far I believe you are closest." Eliot clicked his tongue. "Alright lovely, thank you." Jojo cracked his knuckles and shook out his hands, making Eliot cringe behind the steering wheel. "Do you have to do that every time we get a new patient?" "It helps me warm up." "Well, could you warm up without snapping your fingers in half?" Jojo rolled his eyes good-naturedly and rested his head against the glass. "No promises." Back to gazing out the window again, watching the scenery flicker by was oddly calming. Jojo hated to admit it, but whenever they got a new call, he could feel his heart speed up as his imagination would run wild, conjuring the most gruesome and gory extremities of what they'd find. "Always best to prepare for the worst!" he'd chuckle in a nervous singsongy voice, hoping no one would see the anxiety that lay behind those words. But, the steadily flowing landscape was a nice distraction from those thoughts. Currently, they were passing a small playground. Jojo squinted at it. "Huh." He cocked his head as Eliot threw him a sideways glance. "What?" "No, no, it's just… déjà vu, I think…" Eliot gave a slight nod, as Jojo went back to staring. 'Please turn left.' They rounded a corner, following the GPS, as a park flew past the windows, a small grey car swerved onto the side of the road to let them pass. Eliot held a hand up in thanks to the driver, while Jojo stared out at the swiftly moving grass of the park, and scrunched his face up even more. This all seemed so familiar. The playground, the park, that twisted old tree, even some of the people on the street. 'Continue straight for 500 meters.' They passed a road sign. Jojo's stomach dropped, he blinked several times and swallowed thickly. His imagination was going haywire again, it had to be. "Hey- uh, El?" "Yeah?" "What's the- what's the uh, patient's current situation?" "Possibly deceased, CPR going on eleven minutes." Jojo took a deep, shaky breath. "Alrighty." 'Please turn right.' They rounded a final corner, a set of apartment blocks loomed towards them. Very familiar looking apartment blocks. Oh. Oh god! He dug his nails into the sides of his seat, gritting his teeth together. He was spiraling, overthinking, but he had to keep it together. Come on, of all the people in the apartments, what were the odds? Fate wouldn’t be that cruel. It was okay, it was fine! He was fine! Everything was fine! He just had to relax, deep breath in, deep breath out… Deep breath in, deep breath out. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to remain calm. Another breath. He bit his lip and forced his eyes open, just as Eliot pulled into a parking space, right next to Jojo's own car. …shit. He felt the sweat on his palms seep into the car seat. 'You have arrived at your destination.’

The sound of Eliot's door slamming shut thrust Jojo from his shock directly into panic. "Jo?" Eliot called, moving around to the passenger door, equipment slung over his shoulder. "You alright?" Jojo tried to swallow the lump in his throat as he unbuckled his seatbelt. "Yeah, 'm coming." He opened the door and stepped onto the concrete with numb legs. He landed on the pavement, and like lightning, realization hit him. He was in the middle of a job. He had a patient. A patient who was dying, if not already dead. What was he doing?! It felt like he'd been hit with a sack of bricks. He could feel his heart beating again, his legs regained feeling and suddenly the lump in his throat became a lot smaller. Jojo snatched his own equipment from the back of the ambulance and turned on his heel, jogging to catch up with Eliot. Stay focused, alright? No matter what happens or who it is, stay focused, you're here to save a life. He picked up the pace, finally reaching Eliot who'd made his way inside the building. "Where's the patient?" "Outside apartment fifteen," Eliot responded, eyes scanning the small brass numbers on the doors. Jojo took a breath. "Uh, up the first flight of stairs, I think." He moved ahead of Eliot, steering him towards the staircase. With every step he took, Jojo could feel his heart beating louder and louder and his stomach dropping lower and lower. This is just another job. They reached the top of the stairs and already Jojo could hear concerned voices and slightly muffled sobs. The voices grew louder as Jojo and Eliot rounded a corner, Jojo sucked in a breath, sharp as glass, as the scene came into view. Turns out fate really is that cruel. A throng of people stood around a body that lay in the middle of the hall, Elmer and Buttons were leaning up against the wall, wrapped in each other's arms, Elmer's head pressed tightly into Button's shoulder. Spot, Katherine, and Crutchie were huddled together looking at the body in utter fear, while Romeo clutched desperately at Katherine's sleeve. Race sat against the wall, head in his hands, while Albert looked like he was about to throw up. And Jack had taken Les to the side, trying to calm him down while simultaneously blocking his view of the hallway. Finally, Jojo's attention moved to the center of the crowd, where Skittery lay, pale and lifeless looking. Davey was hunched over him, phone pressed tightly to his ear as he administered CPR. Eliot broke into a jog. "Heya! Ambulance!" All heads turned to them, and Romeo burst into tears. Jojo rushed to join Eliot, who was now crouched next to the body while Davey was profusely thanking the person on the other end of the phone, as Jojo took over CPR. Eliot placed his fingers on Skittery's neck. "Can't find a pulse," Jojo swore under his breath, and for the millionth time that day, felt the panic start to set in, cold as ice. But he couldn't give in, not yet. He continued with compressions, counting along in his head. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. Jojo kept his eyes locked firmly on the ugly, stained carpet, a few paces ahead of him, hoping to god that if he wasn't looking, it wasn't happening. That if he ignored the body long enough, it would become the training dummy he'd spent years practicing on, and not his best friend, his boyfriend. He couldn't look. Because he knew if he did, the looming wave of anxiety and fear would come crashing down, causing him to run the risk of… well, he didn't want to think about that. He had to treat like every other patient. He couldn't look. 1, 2, 3, 4. Focus on the counting. 1, 2, 3, 4. He was dimly aware of Eliot going through the standard questions. "What's his name?" "Does he have any previous or existing health issues? Has he had any drugs or alcohol?" He was readying up an adrenaline shot, holding the needle up to the light, checking the measurement. Jojo could feel the worry pooling in his stomach again, as Eliot held Skittery's arm down, administering the first shot. This would work, it had to. It would work, and Skittery would wake up, and everything would be okay. He bit his lip and blinked away the tears he could feel pricking the back of his eyes.

After what felt like an eternity, but was closer to about five minutes, muffled footsteps sounded down the hallway, and Jojo looked up to see four other paramedics half-jogging towards them, chattering away quickly, and staring solemnly ahead. Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! Back-up had arrived. Eliot began to fill the other paramedics in as they moved around the body. "How long has resuscitation gone on?" One of the paramedics, with an accent that Jojo couldn't quite put his finger on, asked. Eliot checked his watch. "Fourteen minutes." The paramedic nodded. "Time to break out the defib." Eliot nodded, pulling out a pair of medical shears, and shifted around to remove Skittery's shirt. Kind of a shame really, that was his favourite, it brought out his eyes. Jojo paused as Eliot snipped the last of the cloth away, and the other paramedics placed the pads on Skittery's chest. "When was the last adrenaline shot?" One of them spoke up. "Two minutes ago." She nodded. "Okay, tell me when a minute's passed and I'll give him another." "Will do." Eliot shot her a thumbs up. Jojo went back to compressions; now that other paramedics were here, he felt somewhat calmer. There was a small shout from behind them, as the specialist paramedic arrived, Jojo let out a sigh of relief, there was someone else to take charge now. He could deny it all he wanted, but he was absolutely drained, and seeing someone who was going to take the reins, seemed to only make him more tired. The specialist paramedic dropped to his knees. "Has he been shocked yet?" "No, we're just about to give him a second adrenaline shot," Eliot replied, looking up at the paramedic from earlier. "Minutes up." The specialist placed a hand against Skittery's neck. "No pulse, give him that second shot, then we'll shock him." Eliot held Skittery's arm down as the needle was inserted into the crease if his elbow and the specialist paramedic moved around to Jojo's side. "You doing okay there?" he asked. "I can take over compressions if you want, you look like you need a rest." Jojo swallowed the lump in his throat that was starting to form again, and nodded wearily. The specialist counted down from three, then swiftly swapped places with him. Jojo stood up, letting out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and shook out his arms, his legs felt like jelly and as he stood up, the hallway spun. He staggered his way over to one of the other paramedics, who was checking over Spot and Katherine, with a hand placed comfortingly on Katherine's shoulder. Jojo shot him a nod as a greeting. "Need help with anything?" The paramedic glanced around, sizing up the room. "There are a few more people to check over, so far no one's got anything major, they're just distressed. Start with the two over there." He nodded towards the wall where Race and Albert sat. Jojo pressed his lips together in a sharp line, biting back his worry, and made his way across the hall. He could hear the defibrillator charging as the other five paramedics surrounded Skittery. As he reached his friends, Jojo could clearly see tears in Race's eyes, while Albert bounced nervously on his heels, he took a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak when- "What's happening?" Albert blurted. "No one's giving me answers, but god, Jo, I need to know." Jojo chewed on his lip, willing his voice not to quiver, as he prepared his most professional answer. He sucked in a deep breath. "At this stage, Skittery is in cardiac arrest. We're not quite sure what's caused it, possibly a seizure or an undiagnosed medical issue, but that's the hospital's job, we're just here to stabilize him." His words hung thickly in the air, and Race nodded slightly, trying to suppress the tears that were beginning to slide down his face. Jojo put a hand on his arm comfortingly. "Right now," he spoke quietly, looking into Race's eyes. "I need to make sure everyone else is safe." Race sniffled and wiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve. Jojo scanned over the both of them, looking for any obvious physical signs of shock. Both looked relatively fine, Race seemed a little more pale than usual, but that was to be expected, while Albert was still bouncing. "Do either of you feel sick, or like you're gonna pass out?" Albert gave a soft 'no', but Race scrunched his face up and made a so-so gesture. Jojo turned to him. "Okay, do you think you could sit down for a sec?" he nodded and slowly slid down the wall, bracing himself on Jojo's arm, while he looked around for another paramedic. Not like that should've been hard, there were six others. Jojo glanced up and made eye contact with the lady with the cool accent, and nodded towards the blood pressure monitor, lying a few paces away. She spoke quickly to the man beside her and slid backward, away from Skittery. She grabbed the monitor and walked quickly towards Jojo. She passed it over and gave him a look of offered help, which Jojo turned down with a small flick of his hand and a smile. Race's grip on his arm started to tighten and Jojo turned to him with furrowed brows. He was breathing heavier now, and beads of sweat had begun to form around his hairline. "You feelin' dizzy?" Jojo quizzed, cocking his head to the side. "Y- yeah, a little." He was starting to pant now and Jojo delicately moved Race's arm to place the cuff on him, starting to coach him through breathing exercises. Jojo could hear that the defibrillator had now fully charged, and his nerves started to act up again. He closed his eyes and focused on breathing with Race. "Clear!" Jojo flinched as the sound of the shock rippled through the crowded hall, and he felt Race stiffen beside him. "It's alright," he coaxed. "He's gonna be just fine." Race gave a shaky nod and rubbed his hands nervously over his jeans. Jojo could hear the faint whining of the defibrillator charging again, and busied himself with checking Race's blood pressure. "Okay, you're gonna feel a slight squeeze.." he turned to watch the monitor as Albert grabbed Race's free hand. Jojo squinted at the screen "one-forty-two over ninety-one." He turned to face the pair. "It's a little high, but I'm sure that when all this," he paused, gesturing wildly around, "is over, you'll be fine." He delicately removed the cuff from Race's arm. "I'm gonna stay and do some more breathing exercises with you for a few more minutes, and just make sure everything goes smoothly." "Thanks." Race mumbled, staring down into his lap. Jojo nodded. "Clear!" Another shock resonated through the hall, and Jojo silently bit his lip, focusing on breathing in sync with Race. "Pulse!" came a cry from across the hall. "We have a pulse!" Jojo let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Race rested his head against the wall, looking up into the burning fluorescent lights, tears of relief falling rapidly down his cheeks. Jojo gave the tiniest smile and shook himself out. "See?" he gave Race a small nudge. "Told ya everything was gonna be okay." He whispered, more to comfort himself than Race, who sniffled and wiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve, shooting back a smile of his own. Jojo looked over to Albert who was wiping away tears of his own. "D'ya mind grabbing him a glass of water?" Jojo quizzed, nodding towards Race. "Yeah," he rubbed his hands across his face. "I'll be right back." One of the other paramedics was removing the electrode pads while Eliot was gathering the equipment together. Jojo made eye contact with him and motioned to the rest of the mess. 'need any help?' he mouthed. Eliot waved his hand dismissively. 'get back to your patient, I'm fine.' Albert had returned with the water, that Race was gripping with unsteady hands. He rose the glass to his lips when- "Oi!” "Hey! Hey!" "Ah, shit!" without warning, commotion rose from across the hall. Jojo's head snapped in the direction of the noise, and Race's cup clattered to the floor as he sat bolt upright. Skittery was flat-lining. Jojo felt all the air leave his lungs. Just when everything seemed to be looking up, of course it just had to crash and burn. Of course. The icy claws of terror clutched at his heart, sending shards of frost through his veins, the scene in front of him swimming in and out of focus. Bile rose in his throat and Jojo fought to keep his dinner down. He could hear the electrocardiogram wailing in the background mixed with the muffled cries of Race who had buried his face in his hands. Jojo couldn't take it a second longer and choked on a sob as his own tears spilled down his cheeks. Through watery eyes, he watched Eliot start on CPR again, as the defibrillator was brought back out. The paramedic who Jojo had been helping out was now supporting Romeo who looked as if he was about to lose consciousness, while shooting glances between Jojo and the group around Skittery. All previous breathing exercises flew out the window as Race began hyperventilating again. Jojo tried to swallow the lump in his throat and turned to him, and shakily croaked a few words to try and calm him down. "Skittery's-s gonna be okay." He hiccupped. Race just shook his head as Albert knelt down beside him. Jojo grabbed his hand as the whining ECG continued flat-lining, and the defibrillator charged once more. Albert rubbed his thumb comfortingly over the back of Race's hand, silent tears rolling down his face. "Clear!" Jojo flinched. The charging resumed. He couldn't tear his eyes away from Skittery's face. "Clear!" He blinked away tears as Skittery seized again. More high-pitched whining. He sobbed while Race buried his face in Jojo's shoulder. "Clear!" He couldn't breathe, the walls felt like they were closing in on him, and Jojo dug his nails into his palm. He whimpered and screwed his eyes shut, trying to block all the horrible thoughts swirling around his head, tormenting him. The sharp, clawing sounds that rung in his ears, making his pulse pound like a drum through his head. Jojo gasped, struggling desperately for air, and oh god the room was spinning, and his vision was going dark, and Skittery was to make it, he had to make it, because that's how it was supposed to go. People would be in danger, Jojo and Eliot would show up and work their magic, and their patient would get up like nothing was wrong.... But now.. it was quiet, the silence tearing Jojo out of his own head. Why was it quiet? It shouldn't be quiet! There was no more charging hums, no more "Clears!", no more vital sign checks, just the choked, twisted sobs of his friends, and the incessant cry of the flat-lining heart monitor. He looked up, scanning the room frantically. Eliot was wrapping up the ECG again, meeting Jojo's eyes, he shook his head softly. Elmer lifted his head, glancing over to Skittery, and yelped as if he'd been punched in the face, before squishing his face back into Buttons' shoulder. "No." Jojo whispered. "No, no, no, no, no!" he shook his head and fell to his knees. Race was scream-sobbing into Albert's chest, who was slowly rocking him side to side, biting his lip, trying to hold back a flurry of tears. But despite the cries of anguish, the only thing Jojo could hear was a sharp buzzing that rung in his ears. No! This wasn't how it was supposed to go! Skittery had to pull through. He-he had to! Cause Jojo didn't know what he'd do without him! How could he keep going about his day-to-day life? How could he come home from a long shift, and walk through his door to silence? To an empty house? An empty bed? He couldn't! So Skittery had to be okay, this was just some wild nightmare he was about to wake up from, wrapped in Skittery's arms, and he was going to be okay. Jojo took a deep, slow breath, and closed his eyes. 3…2…1… open. He was still there. His heart plummeted. Why was he still here? He shut his eyes tight again, 3…2…1… open! Jojo swore under his breath, his heart racing now. He was still kneeling on the stained carpeted floor of the hallway, Skittery's pale body lying deathly still, just ahead of him. He opened his mouth to cry out, but he couldn't make a sound. it felt like he was suffocating, stuck to the small, sticky, square of matted rug, unable to move or breathe. Jojo clawed at the ground desperately trying to pull himself from the nightmare in front of him. Skittery's face was tilted up towards the ceiling, glazed over eyes rolled back in his head. Jojo took a deep breath, gathering all his strength, and hauled himself to his feet. Dragging one foot in front of the other, he staggered his way over to his boyfriend. Grabbing Skittery's hand, Jojo fell to his knees. "No.. c'mon, please!" His shaking hand still fit perfectly in Skittery's cold one. He ran his other hand through Skittery's hair, pressing a kiss to his forehead, hot tears splattering onto his cheeks. "…Please." By now, the ECG had been packed away as well. The deafening silence rang through the hallway, only broken by the quiet shuffling of his colleagues packing up, or the intermittent sobs of his friends. Jojo clutched at Skittery's hand desperately. He was faintly aware of the Specialist Paramedic flicking his wrist over. "…please.." his eyes were blurred with tears, and he brushed his hand through Skittery's hair again. He heard the Specialist suck in a breath, as Jojo pressed one more kiss to Skittery's head. "Time of death, two forty-three am."

--- @orollyitsracetrackhiggins @all-the-lovely-newsies (thanks for helping me pick the ship, and sorry for not giving you your happy ending :p) probably doesn’t live up to the expectation, but :ppp

#death tw #needle mention tw #newsies #jojo de la guerra #skittery #jittery #please tell me if I need to tag anything else #hope yall enjoy my 3am nonsense #sorry for my shitty spelling punctuation and grammar #:pp

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