999(Stephen Pearmine) Deborah had popped to the shops to pick up some milk and bread, knowing that leaving her mum alone for half an hour wasn't ideal, but she didn't have any other choice. In the last few months, her mum had deteriorated and her mobility was much worse. Deborah blamed the lockdown on this as before the pandemic Glenda, her mum, would go out most days. Since the lockdown, Glenda understandably stayed at home scared to catch the virus, resulting sadly in her mental and physical state. It was horrible to witness from her daughter's perspective.
  She opened the door and proceeded into the hallway with the bag of shopping. "Mother, I'm back. Sorry to leave you for so long, but the queue in the supermarket was horrendous. I only popped down for a couple of items. Very annoying indeed."
  Usually Glenda would call from the living room saying it was fine and if Deborah gets time, could she make her a nice cup of tea? There was only silence, which worried Deborah. She put the bag down, then hurried to the entrance to the living room. She pushed the door open and with shock saw her mother on the floor only inches from the chair where she sat. Deborah rushed to her to see if she was okay. Glenda looked up at her. She looked in pain.
  "Are you okay, mum?" she asked worried, noticing a bad cut on her leg. Blood ran from the gaping wound. 
  Straightaway, she ran to the phone and dialed 999.
..................

  Geoff turned to his partner in crime, Jenny. "I'm absolutely knackered."
  Jenny laughed. "It comes with the job, I'm afraid. Have any more calls come through yet?"
  Geoff saw there hadn't been any and answered, "Not at the moment. I know the word unprecedented gets used a lot these days, but the amount of ambulance call outs today is very unusual. Maybe we should take advantage of this and head somewhere to get a bite to eat?"
  Jenny wiped her eyes, only moments before she'd been asleep as the shifts were long. "Sounds good," she said with a smile.

  Within seconds, a voice was heard on the radio saying a car accident had occurred twelve miles from them and any ambulances in the area needed to head there immediately.
  "Sorry, Jenny. Food later, I'm afraid."
  Jenny sighed. "As I said earlier, comes with the job. Let's hope the accident isn't too bad. It'd be nice to go through a day where no one died."
  "Amen to that," he said.
 ..................

  The woman on the other end of the line had told Deborah an ambulance would be with her as soon as possible and, in the meantime, to put pressure on the wound to stop the blood. She found it very unnerving, as she'd never experienced anything like this before.
  Her mother fell in and out of consciousness, which worried Deborah. Not knowing really of what to do, she used a clean tea towel to cover the wound and pressed firmly on it, hoping it would help.
  "Please, mum stay with me. An ambulance will be here shortly," she said, scared.
  Glenda half opened her eyes and peered up at her. "I don't know what's happening. I feel so sleepy."
  Deborah felt helpless. "I love you mum, you know that don't you?"
  Glenda then said, " Of course I know that, sweetheart. I love you too." 
  Yet again, her eyes closed. Deborah shook her slightly and the frail woman opened them. "Oh, it's you," she said with a faint smile.
  Please hurry, Deborah thought. Since ringing 999, it'd now been 90 minutes. Where were they?
..................

  The accident was a lot worse than first thought. Three cars and a van had collided on the bypass, resulting in two deaths and three people badly injured. The fire crew had also been called because another person in his seventies was trapped in his vehicle. Two other ambulances had arrived in the last five minutes.
  Geoff and Jenny had arrived twenty minutes earlier and had seen to a woman in her twenties who was now in their ambulance with head and arm injuries. Jenny had done her best to calm the woman down, as she was very upset.
  Once they'd done everything they could, it was time to leave.
  "Let's go," Geoff said, starting the engine.
  "I knew this day was going to get worse," Jenny answered sadly, as the ambulance headed up the road for the forty minute journey back to the hospital.
...................

  It had now been 3 hours and still there was no ambulance. Where were they?
  Deborah didn't know what else to do apart from keeping pressure on the wound and talking to her mum to keep her awake. "Can you hear me, mum? Please show me a sign that you can?" In the last two minutes she was not responding and this worried Deborah immensely. The tea towel she'd used was now soaked in blood. What else could she do? "Mum, mum, wake up. Please wake up. I don't want to lose you quite yet," she said tearfully. She felt for a pulse and there wasn't one. Her skin was cold and pale. Deborah shook her and realised the worst. "No, mum, no," she cried.
...................

  Geoff and Jenny waited patiently in the corridor of the huge hospital until the woman was safely in A and E, being examined by a doctor. It was time to go. They proceeded back to their vehicle and noticed a queue of ten ambulances waiting outside in the bay area, all with patients inside. 
  Geoff sighed. "It's getting worse. For some of them patients, it could take hours to get seen."
  "It's a broken system, mate. I got into this to help people and that's what keeps me going. Some of the things I see now aren't good at all. Even before bloody Covid hit, the NHS was struggling, since that time it's barely limping along. Keep your chin up, mate. That's all we can do at the moment."
  Geoff looked at her sadly. "Still a bloody joke, though. Come on, let's go, people to save."  
  "Yes, mate."
 .....................

  She stared at the towel inches from her mum's body, covered in dried blood. Her mother's blood. It was too much to take in. Where was the help when she needed it? How come no one had turned up? Deborah sobbed, feeling like she'd let her mother down. "I'm so sorry, mummy. I did my best. You know that, don't you? Please forgive me for leaving you earlier, for going to the shop. Please forgive me."  
  Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Deborah was in a state of shock. Who was that? She kissed her mum's forehead. "I'll be back shortly, mum. There's someone at the door. If you're cold, I could lay a blanket on you while I'm gone."
  As expected, her mummy didn't answer.
  Deborah used her hands to wipe the tears from her eyes. In a haze, she walked to the entrance of the house, not quite believing what was real or not any more. She unlocked it, then opened the door to be confronted by two paramedics. One was a man in his forties and the other was a woman no older than 30.
  The man then said, "I'm so sorry it took a little while to get here. The man on our radio said you called about 4 hours ago. It's been a very hectic day and all the ambulances have been busy. All we were told was, an elderly woman had had a fall. Is that correct?"
  Deborah looked at him, not really knowing how to react. After a few seconds, she answered, "I'm afraid it's too late. Mum passed away over an hour ago."
  Geoff couldn't believe what he'd just heard. "I don't understand. They said an elderly woman had fallen, but her daughter was with her and there shouldn't be any complications." He looked down at the ground, clearly upset. "I really don't know what to say. I'm so sorry about what happened. I'm totally lost for words."
  Jenny placed a hand on his shoulder. "Look, Geoff. We'll go in and have a look. Is that okay with you, miss?"
  "Yes, that's fine, " was all Deborah answered, still feeling numb after everything that had happened. She let them in and they headed to the living room.
  Deborah watched them as they checked her mum, when finally the female paramedic said, "Geoff, she has a faint pulse, but she's lost a lot of blood. We need to get her to the ambulance, pronto."
  Geoff looked up at the woman who stood by the dinner table with a hand over her mouth, shocked by the news her mum was still alive, and said, relieved, "We need to get her to the hospital now. Is that okay with you, miss?"  
  She started to cry. "Yes, that's fine."
 .....................

  Deborah sat by the bedside, holding her mum's hand. She'd been there since they'd arrived five hours earlier in the ambulance. Both the paramedics had wished her mum a full recovery before they'd left.

  At one point Deborah fell asleep, but awoke suddenly to see her mum looking at her with a slight smile. "You're awake. Thank God for that. I thought I'd lost you earlier." She sobbed because the emotions had become too much.

  "There, there, my sweet angel. You've nothing to worry about now. Mum's going to be fine," Glenda said, placing a hand gently on her daughter's shoulder. 

The End.

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