A Line To Be Crossed

The object on the ground that captured my attention was a persons hand, mostly covered in dirt and a dark substance that eerily looked like dried up blood. There was a pile of cardboard boxes stacked on the body as if someone has tried to conceal it. I rushed to throw the boxes to the side. Flying over my shoulder, one by one, until a ghastly sight appeared in front of me.

”Is he alive? ” Cato asked in a panicked voice.

I gently shook the man on the ground, but he gave me no response. I dropped to my knees as my fingers instantly found his neck, frantically trying to detect a pulse. A relieved sigh escaped my lips once I felt the beat under my fingers. It was just around 50 beats per minute, lower than what would be considered normal, but nothing too unusual if he wouldn be unconscious. Lowering my head down to his face, I tried to hear his breathing. Holding my own breath, I listened in silence to the quiet puffs of air escaping his nose. Along with hearing no superficial wheezing or grunting, I caught a whiff of alcohol coming from his mouth.

”He is alive, but I don know if he is just sleeping or actually passed out. ” I told Cato while getting a more thorough look at him.

I was convinced at this point that the dried substance on his hands was blood. His knuckles were quite obviously bruised, with several cuts on them. I moved his hair that was fallen on his face and saw he had several cuts and bruises around his eyes, nose, and lips. The man was lying on the ground at an odd angle. His entire body was twisted, with legs that seemed to be either dislocated or at the very least, painfully twisted. One of his hands was placed under him, and his head was thrown back as if someone had been pulling his hair from behind. I carefully lifted his stained and torn shirt to inspect for any dangerous injuries. It was too dark to properly see as the lights of the lamp post didn reach the area behind the bins that well. I quickly took out my phone and turned on the flashlight. I saw several large bruises that were very evidently new, as they were still vivid red. My fingers carefully inspected his ribs, trying to feel if there were any broken bones around his lungs or stomach. While the injuries seemed to be extremely painful, I didn feel any broken bones on the initial inspection. My hands moved to his spine and felt for any trauma, careful not to shift him around too much. I was relieved that nothing seemed to be bleeding or swollen.

”It seems like he is drunk and received quite a bad beating. But I don think he is just sleeping. ” I told Cato, who at this point was crouching down beside me. ”I think I should call an ambulance. ”

Cato stayed there in silence, looking at the man in front of us. I dialled the emergency number and quickly an operator answered the call.

”Is the patient alive and breathing? ”

”Yes ”

”What address are you calling from? ”

” I am in a park in the centre, next to the citys college, I – I am not sure what the park is called. ”

”Is the patient conscious? ”

”No, he is not. ”

”What is the reason for your call? ”

”I found this man in a park behind a dumpster, at first, I thought he was sleeping but I think he is unconscious. His pulse is 50 BPM, breathing seems normal, but he has quite a few injuries on his body. ”

”Is he bleeding from anywhere? ”

”He has dried up blood on him, although I don know if it is his. I can see some dried up blood around his nose and hands, a few bruises, cuts and scratches on his face, hands and torso. ”

”Are any of these injuries causing him to actively bleed? ”

”No, all the blood that is on him seems to have dried up. ”

”Apart from the superficial injuries and dried up blood, do you see any other life threatening injuries? ”

”No, I do not. ”

”Can you see if the person is under the influence of any substances? ”

I sighed and rubbed my temples with my fingers, completely knowing where this was going.

”I can smell some alcohol coming off him. ”

”Okay, so because he is breathing and his pulse seems to be just below the standard range, it is possible that he is intoxicated on alcohol and is just sleeping ”

”And what about his injuries? There are many of them. He has a lot of bruises all over his body. ”

”None of the injuries you described seem to be severe, it is most likely he got into a fight while under the influence of alcohol and fell asleep. ”

”So are you able to send someone out here to check him? ”

”Since it is a non-life threatening situation and his life is not in immediate danger I will class him as a category 4, which is a non-urgent call. I cannot tell you an exact time when an ambulance will become available, but for non-urgent calls, it might take anywhere between four and six hours. Would you like me to dispatch an ambulance? ”

I squeezed my eyes shut as an audible sigh escaped my lips.

”I think I will take him to a hospital myself. ”

”That is fine, just be aware that we cannot estimate whether he will be looked at quicker in the hospital. ”

”Yes, I know that. Thank you. ”

I clenched the phone in my hand while the other one ran through my hair. My eyes closed for a second while I thought of what to do.

”Do you think you can wait here with him until I go and pick up my car? ” I asked Cato while opening the navigation on my phone. ”Its only around five minutes away from here so I should be quick. ”

”Yeah, thats okay, just be quick. You wouldn want an old man to be here alone if he suddenly woke up. He looks quite large and buff, I wouldn want him to get the wrong idea. ” Cato chuckled nervously.

”I will be over in less than ten minutes, I promise. ” I told him as I was already pacing towards the exit of the park.

I ran through the streets while glancing at my phone for directions as I thought how in the world did I always find myself in these troublesome situations? As if I didn have enough of my own problems, someone just had to keep appearing in my way. I could have left him there, but I was worried he actually might be in a dangerous state. His body looked like he got a pretty bad beating and the way that he was covered with a pile of trash on top of him, it definitely looked to me that this wasn just a drunken accident. I was worried that whoever had thrown him in there could come back and do more harm. And also, I wasn that sick in the head just to ignore an injured man and leave him lying there.

As soon as I reached my car I jumped into it and drove to the entrance of the park. With the hazard lights on in the car, I quickly made my way towards where I left them. Soon enough I saw Cato standing a few steps away from the still lying man.

”Told you it was going to be less than ten ” I said in a breathless voice.

”Yeah, yeah. So how do you want to do it? ” Cato asked while looking at the man.

”I know I am strong, but there is no way I will be able to carry his slumped body on my own. Try to grab his legs at the knees and Ill hold him by his arms. ”

Cato just nodded silently and went around to lift his legs up. I stood above him while clasping my arms around his armpits as we managed to hoist him off the ground.

”He sure is a big one. ” I huffed as we were slowly making our way towards to car.

I opened up the car doors with one hand while trying to manage the mans weight on the other. I crawled into the backseat of my car backwards, pulling the man by his hands while Cato was pushing him in by his legs. After a minute of struggle, we managed to get him inside.

”You will be taking him to the hospital? ” Cato asked while swatting his hands together as if to get rid of some dust.

”Yeah, I will take him to the nearest emergency department and see what they say. He really doesn look that well. ” I said walking around the car.

”Well, I will leave you to it then, be careful and hopefully I will meet you sometime shortly. ” Cato said while offering me a slight grin.

”Thanks for your help. And yes, I will see you around soon. ” I waved him goodbye as I sat down in the drivers seat.

I found the nearest hospital on the maps and started to drive following the directions. After a short ride, I parked my car close to the entrance of the emergency department and stormed to reception where a lady in her forties sat.

”I – I found a man in a park unconscious, he seems to be beaten up pretty badly, I called the ambulance and they said it was not life threatening and it could take between four and six hours to dispatch an ambulance, so I didn know what to do, I didn – ”

”Sir, please calm down. ” the lady at the desk said with a slight smile. ”Now tell me where that person is now? ”

”He is in my car; I brought him here. ” I said while taking a long breath.

”Okay, I will get someone to assist him out of the car and in the meantime, please drive up to the yellow bay outside of the double doors and wait there. ” she said while picking up the phone, ready to call someone over.

”Okay, thank you. ” I said while looking back at her as my legs already started to move towards the exit.

I hurried over to my car and jumped back into the drivers seat. After a few turns, I found the yellow bay and parked there. Stepping outside, I saw that no one was there yet, so I opened the back doors to see if the man was still in the same state as before. And indeed, he was, still lying unconscious, only his breathing seemed deeper with some grunts mixed in like he was starting to feel some pain. As I was waiting for someone to come, I bent down to get a closer look at him. He looked in his late twenties, but quite possibly the way he looked at the moment might have added a few years to his face. His dishevelled dark locks were falling on his eyes while still holding a very slight curl to them. The hospital lights gently illuminated his face as I reached out to move a few strands of hair out of his eyes. The dark eyelashes cast a shadow towards his lightly crooked nose which looked somewhat swollen. His lips were slightly parted with a few cuts on one side of them and his sharp jaw seemed tightly clenched. He was quite an attractive man. I pondered how he ended up behind that dumpster.

”Could you please make some space Sir? ”

I jerked my head to look at two men pushing a gurney towards my car. I stood back up and took a few steps back allowing them to come closer. They dragged the man out of the car and strapped him onto the gurney in a few rapid movements.

”We will take him in and find him a bed. You can park your car somewhere in the parking lot and once you come back here, a nurse will show you where the bed is. ”

”Thank you. ”

As I drove around the parking lot trying to find a free space, I laughed to myself silently. It was unbelievable how my day could go from zero to a hundred in a few seconds. Finding an unconscious man behind a dumpster was definitely not in my plans today.

After making a few rounds I finally found a spot to park the car and shortly after, I made my way back into the hospital. A nurse found me fairly quickly and brought me to one of the chairs in the waiting room.

”Take a seat here, a doctor will examine him soon and you will be able to go in and see him. ” the nurse said as she gave me a pat on the shoulder and turned around to leave.

I sat down and stretched out my legs as tiredness suddenly downed on me. To think of it, it was already nearly midnight. I couldn help but let my eyes close for a moment as I let myself doze off for a second. At some point, I must have fallen asleep because I woke up to the nurse saying I can go and visit the man.

”We examined him and while he does have many injuries, none of them poses any risk to his life. His lungs are clear, no bones are broken or fractured, and only his leg seems a bit sprained. He might have a slight concussion, however, its most likely not the reason why he is unconscious. We didn find any apparent drugs in his system, but his blood alcohol level is moderately high. He is just in a very deep sleep. We couldn give him any medicine for pain because of his alcohol level, so I would suggest you buy him some ibuprofen for when he wakes up. ” the doctor said.

”Thats a relief. By the state of how he looked, you could think he would be broken all over the place. ” I chuckled slightly. ”So, what do I do next? ”

”Well, you can now take him home. He seems to be regaining his consciousness from time to time, so I am hoping it won be too much trouble to get him back into the car. ” the doctor smiled.

I felt as my own smile started to drop little by little. Take him home? Home where? I didn know where he lived…

”Can he stay here until he sobers up? I don really know where he lives. ” I said smiling sheepishly.

”Unfortunately, no. Since he doesn have any life threatening injuries, we need to free up the bed for other emergencies coming in. You can try to wait with him in your car until he wakes up? ” the doctor suggested.

”Uhm – yeah, – I suppose I could. ”

The doctor left me next to the stranger lying on the bed.

”Now what am I supposed to do with you? ” I asked him, almost expecting him to suddenly wake up and answer.

I let out an audible sigh. I came closer and shook him gently, hoping he would wake up. But there was nothing. I shook him once more. And again, nothing. I shook him a few more times but the only thing I got was a few disgruntled mumbles. If I shook him even more, I would have likely started to move the whole bed around and gave him a concussion myself. I tried to move his head around a few times, poking him in the face, arms, and ears, and still, no real consciousness appeared in this man; only a few hand swats to try and stop me.

”Are you ready to take him to the car? ” the nurse asked while poking her head through the curtains.

”I guess so… ” I said while rubbing my face. ”Could I get someone to help me walk him there? I don think I can lift him myself. ”

”I can get you a wheelchair and have someone help to get him in and out. ”

”That would be great, thank you. ”

In a few minutes, another person came in with a said wheelchair. We somehow managed to lift him into the wheelchair and then into my car without the bastard even opening a single eye. All drenched and reeking of sweat, I sat in the drivers seat. I couldn throw him out where I found him. I couldn leave him somewhere on the streets. I couldn leave him here in the hospital. Where the hell do I leave him? I could take him to my clinic, but then the night staff would be stressed out with a random drunk man spending the night there. I turned around to face the backseat and reached over to check the mans pockets to see if I could find any information about him. I only found a wallet with his gym admission card and his ID. I looked at the back of it and it only had his name on it, no address. I spent a good few minutes raking my brains, trying to come up with something, anything at this point, but in the end, nothing came up.

”I guess you are coming home with me then, Manu. ” I sighed as I turned on the ignition.