As passersby walked by, discussing the incident with regretful tones, I stopped one of them in their tracks and hurriedly asked, “Excuse me, do you know where the boy who fell into the water and his family went?”
“Oh, you mean them?” One of the passersby sighed, his voice tinged with pity. “An ambulance came and took them away. You must be his classmate, right? I must say, he was so brave. Earlier, a child accidentally fell into the water, and without a second thought, he jumped in to save them. Who would’ve thought… And his poor mother! She’s been crying non-stop since. When the ambulance came, she even fainted from grief.”
So that was what happened.
I thanked him and immediately ran toward the hospital.
By the time I arrived, Gu Yu had been taken into the operating room for emergency surgery, and his mother, overwhelmed with grief, had fainted and was admitted to a regular ward for IV treatment.
I anxiously paced outside the operating room, but the surgery dragged on for hours. When I finally came to my senses, it was already twilight. A nervous young mother approached me with a little boy in tow. She looked at me gratefully and said, “You’re the friend of the boy in surgery, aren’t you? I’m Xiao Feng’s mother. If it weren’t for him, my Xiao Feng wouldn’t be alive today. Thank you so much.”
I crouched down to look at the little boy in front of me. He seemed to understand he’d made a mistake, his red, tear-filled eyes gazing at me apologetically.
I reached out and gently patted his head. This was the boy Gu Yu had saved. For him, Gu Yu was now fighting for his life in the operating room behind me. The thought made a wave of resentment surge within me.
Everyone is selfish. Gu Yu may have been fearless, but how could I, standing here, not feel bitterness?
Seeing my silence, the young mother looked embarrassed but kept speaking, “I know you’re heartbroken right now, and we’re truly sorry. If anything happens to him, we’re willing to take full responsibility.”
“Take responsibility?” I scoffed, my voice cold as I looked at her. “If something really happens to him, what responsibility can you take? Do you know he was one of the top students at our school? He just received his dream university admission letter not long ago. He had such a bright future ahead of him—his life was all planned out. And now? Now he’s lying in the operating room, his life hanging by a thread!”
My emotions were out of control. The little boy, startled by my outburst, burst into tears. His mother looked flustered, then bowed her head to console him.
Watching them, I closed my eyes and said, “Just go. If something really happens, you can discuss it with his mother later.”
As soon as I finished speaking, she quickly left with her son in her arms.
I let out a bitter laugh in my heart.
Meanwhile, Gu Yu’s mother’s condition worsened, and she was transferred to the intensive care unit. Watching everything unfold, I felt an intense pain in my chest. Just earlier this afternoon, everything had been fine. How could everything have changed so drastically in such a short time?
The surgery lasted sixteen hours. When the doctor finally emerged, exhausted, I rushed up to him and asked, “Doctor, how is my friend?”
The pain in my throat made me wince, reminding me I hadn’t had a sip of water in almost twenty hours.
Noticing my state, the doctor removed his mask and sighed. “The patient’s condition is not optimistic. He was without oxygen for too long before being brought in, and his breathing had already stopped. We managed to resuscitate him, but it seems his head struck something hard underwater, causing a blood clot to press against his brainstem. It’s too close to the central nervous system to be operated on. Please prepare yourselves—the patient is very likely to remain in a vegetative state.”
A vegetative state.
0 Comments