They Changed My Life, chapter 3

My spine stiffened as the gunshot reverberated loudly through the air. Billie Joe yelped as I squeezed his hand and his eyes were wide with fear and pain.
"What the fuck was that?" he asked.
"A gunshot," I snapped. I had a bad feeling about this. We ran the rest of the way back to the club.

People were scurrying out with mixtures of fear or uncertainty on their faces. The more brazen ones tried to laugh it off, but were quickly hushed.
We found Tré, Jess, and Erin, but no Mike. When asked where he was, they all shrugged.
"I didn't notice he had left until now," Jess murmured to her guiltily shifting feet, and my feeling of dread grew.

Gilman Street was on edge. Everyone had heard the gunshot, but no one knew where it had come from. I made my way to the alley, brushing by a bloody faced girl.
"Are you okay?" I asked, but the girl turned her face away and kept going. Whatever-I have to find Mike.
I pushed open the door, and quickly scanned the alley. My eyes perceiving nothing at first, I took a more patient survey of the place and was rewarded. I ran to the collapsed heap that was Mike, a tear slipping down my face. I quickly brushed it away. I had to be calm if I wanted to help him.
I kneeled next to him, sighing in relief as I found a weak pulse.
"Estelle-where are you?" Tré called from behind me.
"Get an ambulance, quick!" I screamed at him. "It's Mike!"
His face paling, Tré went to do as he was told.
I realized that Mike had been shot in the stomach from where the blood most heavily stained his shirt. That's not good, I though, biting my lip. I tried to apply pressure to the wound with my jacket, but although it was folded thick, the blood soaked through at an alarming rate.
Now people were starting to fill up the alley, and I heard the sirens in the distance.
"Make room for them!" I shouted desperately and Billie, Tré, Jess, and Erin joined me.
"Oh, man-is he going to be alright?" Billie asked tearfully.
I shook my head, fighting back my own emotions. "It doesn't look good."
Luckily, the EMTs arrived then, and swept Mike away on a stretcher. "Who's coming? Only one," an EMT called back.
Everyone looked at me. "You go," Jess said, eyes glistening with tears. "You're the one who found him."
I nodded, barely making into the ambulance before the doors were shut. I was instructed to stay out of the way, and I did as I was told, unable to tear my eyes away from the sweet, lovable guy who had saved my life-my friend-as they tore off his shirt, fighting to keep him alive. Somehow, I stayed in my seat the whole ride as the ambulance swerved through traffic, sirens shrieking wildly.
Once at the hospital, Mike was put directly into the Emergency Room. When everyone else arrived, I felt better. We needed each other's support. Also, they could give the doctors medical information that I didn't know.
As Billie talked to one of the doctors and Jess went to call Mike's step dad, Tré's arms encircled me in a hug.
"You did all you could," he said, lightly squeezing me.
I hugged him back fiercely. "But what if it wasn't enough?"
"You tried your best, and that's what counts," Erin said, joining in.
The doctor came over, breaking up our hug and asked if 'A Ms. MacDermott would please come with him.'
I broke away from the hug and followed the doctor into an empty room.
"You're the one who found him, correct?" I nodded.
"Well, first of all, you did all of the right things. Mr. Pritchard was lucky that you found him," the doctor was saying, but I wanted to just cut to the chase.
"Doctor, will Mike be alright?" I asked.
The doctor bit his lip and put a consoling hand on my shoulder.
"I'm very sorry, dear, but I don't think your friend will last the night."