A New Chance To Live

4

Warnings:
-Severe asthma attack
-Arguing parents

George's POV

I was sitting on my bed while looking in front of me. A tear rolled down my cheek and I was holding my inhaler in my fist as I tried to stay calm. I still tended to panic when I felt an asthma attack coming up since my inhaler didn't work well for me.

I had always had severe asthma, but my parents weren't rich at all. I barely dared to ask them for help anymore since I felt like I was just a burden to them. Countless fights filled the house each day and they were all about me.

Warning severe asthma attack

I felt my chest tighten a lot and I started squeezing my hands as it felt like my throat got squeezed shut. I didn't want to bother my parents, but I knew I needed them.

I managed to stamp my feet on the ground while I started breathing faster, gasping for air. I was having a wheezy breath and grasped onto my sheets as I heard someone run up the stairs, coming into my room.

It was my mother and she laid down next to me on my bed. 'Did you use your inhaler already?'

I nodded and wanted to tell her that it didn't work, but I was too breathless for that. I started coughing which caused me to feel even more short of breath.

I got so scared that I grabbed my mother's hand and started squeezing it really tightly.

'I'm calling the ambulance again,' my mother said as she stood up to run downstairs.

'What is it this time?' I heard my father yell.

'He's having an asthma attack, I'm calling an ambulance.'

'What can they do? We don't have the money to help him, Juliet. We can keep calling ambulances, but our money is going to run out.'

'What do you want me to do?' my mother said back with a shaky voice. She seemed to be crying and then it was quiet for a little. My mother talked to someone on the phone and I focused on myself again.

It felt like I was dying and I could barely breathe anymore. I started wheezing even more and stamped on the ground that I needed help immediately. My mother hung up the phone and ran back upstairs to me.

'It's going to be okay, honey,' she said. 'The ambulance is coming. Try to take another puff.'

I did what she told me to, but got so incredibly scared that I laid the inhaler down while crying and hyperventilating.

'Calm down, sweetie. I'm here with you, the ambulance is coming. Squeeze my hand when you get too scared.'

I grabbed her hand and squeezed it as hard as I could. I didn't want to hurt her, but I needed to have security right now.

My mother sat with me for a few minutes and then my dad came upstairs.

'Juliet, we can't pay for another treatment for him. We don't have money left.'

'What do you want to do then?' my mother yelled back at him. 'Let him die? Don't think so, huh. We need to sell stuff to get money.'

'We barely have anything, we already sold a lot for his treatment.'

'Then we need to move,' my mother said back. 'He's our son, Hendrik. He's way more important than our house.'

I held my hand up to make them stop arguing and my mother nodded. 'I'm sorry, honey. Hendrik, please just leave. Go downstairs to wait for the ambulance. We'll talk about this later.'

He showed clear annoyance and walked away as I started crying really loudly. It felt like I was dying and it didn't only feel like that, if I didn't get treatment, I would die.

'I love you, honey,' my mother said as she ran her hand through my hair. 'Don't be scared, I'm with you.'

I didn't want to die yet, I was too young to die. I started kicking my legs and pushed myself up to get more air, but I didn't have any. It felt like I was choking and I started coughing loudly while squeezing the sheets.

'Calm down, sit up and don't move too much. Take another puff.'

I couldn't stop coughing anymore and my heartbeat was going so fast that I felt like I was having a heart attack. I tried to grab my inhaler, but couldn't because of my shaky hands. My mother held it in front of me and I inhaled it again.

Nothing seemed to work and stop the coughing. I had no air at all and got really dizzy, looking at my mother with hope in my eyes.

'The ambulance is almost here. Your lips are really blue, George. Sit up and look at me. Take another puff.'

I shook my head since it didn't help in the slightest and started coughing again, wheezing each time I tried to breathe in. I got so dizzy that my eyes started rolling away.

'Honey, keep your eyes open. The ambulance is almost here.'

I was coughing so hard that I felt like throwing up. I was almost passing out and heard that my mother started panicking.

'HELP,' she screamed to my dad.

He ran upstairs and stormed into my room.

'WHERE ARE THEY? HE'S DYING,' my mother screamed as she held my hand tightly.

'Take another puff, George,' my dad said as he held my inhaler in front of me. I took it, but it didn't work at all. I felt my eyes roll away again, but then I finally heard the sirens coming closer.

My dad went downstairs and a minute later my room was filled with paramedics. I got an oxygen mask and they gave me a lot of medication through it.

'He's not responding to it at all,' someone yelled a little bit later as I got lifted up onto a stretcher.

Minutes passed and I arrived at the hospital after they tried multiple things. When I went to the emergency room, a doctor walked up to me with a smile.

'It's going to be okay,' he said. 'We are going to put you to sleep to intubate you so you can breathe again, okay? You're going to feel better in a minute.'

I just nodded softly and closed my eyes. I wanted this to be over, but we would never have enough money for the right treatment.

1073 words

Summary:
George has severe asthma and has a very bad asthma attack (medication doesn't work for severe asthma) so his parents call the ambulance after arguing a lot about having no money left.