My Family Saved Their Adopted Daughter First, Then I Died Before Their Eyes Chapter 01

My Family Saved Their Adopted Daughter First, Then I Died Before Their Eyes Chapter 01

The amusement park was packed over Labor Day weekend.

The Ferris wheel’s main axle suddenly snapped, and the gondola I was in was crushed out of shape by the twisted steel frame.

My father, Richard Bennett, was the park’s emergency rescue supervisor.

He arrived with an aerial rescue truck, but instead of turning the hydraulic rescue arm toward me, he aimed it at the nearly undamaged gondola next to mine.

My adopted younger sister, Lily Bennett, was inside.

“Lily has a severe trauma response. She can’t stay up there any longer. Get her down first!”

A bent steel beam had pierced my abdomen.

I pressed both hands against the wound and shouted at him, “Dad, my gondola isn’t going to hold!”

His voice came through the loudspeaker, louder than before.

“The review board is already investigating my emergency response team. I can’t let them think I’m putting my own family first. They could pull our funding over this! Can’t you cooperate just this once?”

The moment Lily was lowered safely to the ground, my gondola gave way with a deafening crash and slammed into the steel framework below.

My mother, Laura Bennett, was the dispatch supervisor at the county EMS center.

When the ambulance she had sent arrived, the paramedics only took Lily, who claimed she felt dizzy.

Mom told me to take one of the park’s shuttle buses to the hospital.

It was another hour before I finally reached the ER entrance.

My older brother, Ethan Bennett, was the director of emergency medicine at that private hospital.

He saw that my clothes were soaked through with blood, but he still told me to check in at the public waiting area before leaving with Lily for an ECG.

Two weeks earlier, I had been diagnosed at that same hospital with a severe clotting disorder.

The hematologist had warned me again and again that even a minor injury could cause uncontrollable bleeding.

I tried to tell Ethan I needed an immediate blood transfusion, but blood clogged my throat, leaving me able to make only broken, breathless sounds.

Later, I lay on the floor of the ER lobby and bled out, out of sight of all three of my blood relatives.

…

The harsh overhead lights burned above the public waiting area.

I curled up on a plastic chair, pressing my coat against the wound in my abdomen, but warm blood still seeped between my fingers and spread across the tile beneath me.

Some people backed away in alarm.

Others raised their phones and whispered among themselves.

At the end of the hallway, Ethan strode toward me in his white coat, with two nurses pushing a mobile hospital bed behind him.

Lily lay on the bed.

There wasn’t a single stain on her dress, but her lips were pressed into a pale, tight line, as though she were trying hard to prove how shaken she was.

Ethan stopped in front of me and glanced at my coat and the blood on the floor.

“Claire, what exactly are you trying to pull? The Ferris wheel malfunctioned, so now you have to turn the ER lobby into your own private stage? You poured red paint all over yourself and lay down here just to scare people. Is this supposed to be funny?”

I looked up at him, shivering so badly from the blood loss that I couldn’t stop my lips from trembling.

It wasn’t paint.

It was blood from the steel beam that had gone through my abdomen.

I tried to speak, but bloody foam spilled from the corner of my mouth instead.

Emma, the nurse on duty, hurried over to check on me.

The moment she saw the pool beneath my feet continuing to spread, her calm expression vanished.

“Dr. Bennett, she needs to be taken into a trauma bay immediately.”

“Emma, stop.” Ethan pointed at Lily. “She had a severe panic response during the Ferris wheel accident. Her heart rate is unstable, and she’s at risk of going into shock. Put her in a private observation room first, order a full-body scan, and keep her on continuous cardiac monitoring.”

Emma stared at me. “But this patient is actively bleeding.”

“I’m the ER medical director here, and I’m also her brother. I know her condition.” Ethan’s tone left no room for argument. “She has a few scrapes, and now she’s trying to use our relationship to skip triage. That doesn’t happen in my ER.”

Lily lifted her head and tugged at his sleeve.

“Ethan, don’t be mad at her. Maybe she thinks I stole the ambulance Laura sent. Why don’t you check her first? I’m dizzy, but I can handle it.”

Ethan took her hand. “Don’t try to tough it out. You went through too much when you were little. An accident like this could trigger a serious reaction.”

Then he looked at me again.

“What Claire needs to do right now is follow procedure and check in properly, not use family connections to get special treatment.”

He motioned for the nurses to wheel Lily away and never looked back.

I reached for the copy of my diagnosis report in my pocket.

If someone would just look at it, they would understand why the bleeding wouldn’t stop.

But my fingers had already gone stiff.

I couldn’t even pull out a single sheet of paper.

Just then, the ER doors swung open and my mother, Laura, rushed inside.

I stretched a blood-covered hand toward her and barely managed to whisper, “Mom…”

Her gaze swept right past me as she hurried straight to the nurses’ station.

“Where’s Lily? Where is Lily Bennett? She was brought in ten minutes ago!”