“Hello, kid, what are you doing up?”
Litvir inched downstairs, towards where Gath was standing in the kitchen.
“I… I heard you get up. It is very late. You do not normally get out of bed at all.”
Gath grunted. They seemed to be in a little bit of pain. There was a glass of water on the bar in the kitchen, as well as a pack of paracetamol.
“Do you track how we sleep?” Gath asked.
“No. But I heard you get up and you are anxious…” Litvir frowned. “Sorry. I said the inside things again. But you do not seem right. You seem bad.”
Leaning on the kitchen island, Gath grunted some more, then turned their attention to the pain relieving pills, reading the small leaflet they had removed from the box. They wanted to know how many tablets they could take in one sitting.
“Dada, is something wrong?”
Gath looked back at Litvir. “No. I am just in some pain.”
“What sort of pain?” Litvir was more concerned than curious. “Do you need more painkillers?”
“Litvir, I am fine, you need to go back to bed.”
That sentence annoyed Litvir somewhat. “You are not fine. I can tell. You are in pain and the pain killers are not helping.”
“I said I am fine, Litvir. Go back to bed.”
“But… I want to stay here with you. Make you feel better. Same way you make me feel better!”
Gath grunted some more. They were definitely in pain. And they seemed unusually tired and grumpy as well. But Gath was also breathing funny. Short, sharp breaths.
“I will feel better when the painkillers kick in.”
Litvir tilted their head to one side. “Where is the pain?”
“Partially in my chest, partially in my arm. I have stomach ache too but it is probably unrelated, we have been eating poorly lately…” Gath paused, then grunted yet again. They weren’t breathing right.
Litvir backed off, just a little bit, to give Gath some space, but they still remained close. After a few moments, Litvir pulled out their communicator and looked a few things up, constantly glancing at Gath as they did so. That erratic breathing wasn’t going away, and Gath was now leaning awkwardly, struggling to keep themselves upright.
Getting even more concerned, Litvir searched harder, looking for something in particular. Once they had found what they were looking for, Litvir headed back upstairs, keeping an eye on Gath the entire time. They briefly dipped into their bedroom, threw on some casual armour they could be seen outside in then grabbed a blanket and their key.
But as Litvir headed back downstairs, they noticed that Gath was struggling to stand upright.
“Why are you dressed, Litvir?” Gath asked in a rather exhausted tone. “It is late.”
“Because you need help.”
“I do not need help. I just need the painkillers too work.”
“They are the symptom. We need to find the reason. Now.”
All of a sudden, Litvir threw the blanket over Gath’s head and wrapped them up tightly, before dragging Gath to the door, taking them outside. Litvir quickly locked the front door, then wrapped their arms around Gath. Gath was clearly too confused to fight back.
“Stay in the blanket, please!” Litvir muttered, recalling a map they had memorized.
“What are you… ugh…” Gath’s breathing became even more erratic, as was their heartbeat.
Before Gath could comment any further, Litvir lifted Gath up with ease, then raced down the streets as fast as they could, not stopping until they got to the nearest hospital. Once they got there, Litvir pulled the blanket off Gath then carried Gath straight into the Accidents and Emergencies department. Thankfully, A nurse quickly made their way over.
“What is the problem?” the nurse asked as they inspected Gath. The pain in Gath’s chest was so intense that they could barely make out where they were, and waves of agony ran down their stomach and left arm.
“Dada is having a heart attack!” Litvir nearly shouted. “Please help, I do not know medical things!”
The nurse called over several other staff members, one of whom was a doctor. One of the nurses pushed over a bed. Litvir effortlessly laid Gath on it, but the doctor and nurses immediately dragged Gath into a nearby room. Litvir tried to follow them, but another nurse held them back.
“I need to be-”
The nurse put both hands on Litvir’s shoulders. “Do not panic, but also do not get in the way. Now, tell me, what happened?”
“Gath got up and went downstairs and they had pains in their body and I heard them grunting then went down to see if Gath was alright and they had a lot of pain and were struggling to breathe and I got scared and concerned and Gath thought it was nothing and they took some painkillers but I noticed Gath was not breathing well and they sort of passed out a little so I wrapped them in a blanket and brought them here because I do not know medical stuff and I am scared because heart problems are bad and I do not want dada to die and-”
“Little one, you are panicking. Take some deep breaths.”
Litvir shuddered, then did as they were told. “Will dada be alright?”
“They are being looked after right now. We will let you know. Do you have a mum to call so they can come here?”
Those words made Litvir panic again. “I need to tell mama! Relkir will be scared! I have to go and get them! I have to tell them!”
“Alright, little one, go and get your mama and bring them here, so you are all together. Do you understand?”
Litvir took more deep breaths, then nodded. They had never felt this scared before and the nurse could tell that Litvir was upset.
“Go on. Your dada will be fine. But they will do better if you are all together.”
“Alright…”
Litvir took more deep breaths, suddenly thought of something, then rushed off outside, before disappearing in a flash of light.