#first-aid-kit

"Josh, hurry! She's losing a lot of blood!" Milo yelled at the red-haired Troll who bolted to his car. The one time he didn't park in front of the skatepark was, ironically, the one time he needed to actually be parked there.

Panting, he touched his hand to the motion sensor so the trunk could slowly slide open.

"Come on, come on!" He mumbled to himself while he cleared a path through the random junk that filled up his trunk. "There it is~" He sighed with relief when he spotted the first-aid-kit lying in the right corner of the trunk. Grabbing the tip of the trunk and slamming it closed, he sprinted across the empty parking lot with the kit in hand. His legs burned, yet he didn't give in to the strong desire to pace himself. He only ran harder, faster, stronger.

By the time he had reentered the skate park, his legs kneeled to the floor, causing him to smoothly slide to Milo and the scene of the incident. "I-" His wheezing was so heavy he coughed. "GOT IT!!"

"C'mon, c'mon!" Milo urged.

"I can't get the blood to clot!!" Evelyn screamed shakily. Kkflap. Josh immediately opened the kit, snatched the roll of fabric bandage, and swiftly covered every wound on Jaelyn's body. The abrasions dotted on her arms, the cut slanted across her forehead that gushed out burgundy, the small streaky scrapes peppering her cheeks, even the severe gashes on her knees that were covered by her blood-soaked pants.

"Jaelie?" She continued groaning and moaning out her pain. "Jaelyn, how bad is it?"

The tears in her eyes were already proof enough that the situation was dire. "E-everything hurts. I'm stinging all over." She choked out, her lip quivering like a wave and nose twitching.

"I'm so sorry." Josh apologized with all his heart. "If I could go back in time and prevent what just happened, I would." The guilt hanging over him only thickened when she started to silently weep. "I'm sooooo, so sorry, sis. Shhhh, sh, sh, sh." He cautiously wrapped his arm around her neck and hugged her. She leaned into him to return the thoughtful gesture. "I got you. I'm never letting go again."

Milo and Evelyn nervously glanced at each other, then stared back at the emotional-wrecked duo. "Josh, I think she needs to ride on an ambulance." Milo lightly proposed.

"What? N-no, I can take her-"

"Josh. We already called emergency services." Evelyn lowered her head. "I'm sorry."

His eyes widened. "W-what?! No, you- you couldn't have. You guys know I-" Jaelyn stared at him with fatigue and a cracked smile. "I-" He shook his head in horror, then buried himself in his hands.

"He's come down from shock." Milo whispered to Evelyn, who nodded. They didn't know what to do to make everything feel lighter. They could only be bystanders to the pain that was eating the siblings alive. Just when things didn't look like they could get more intense, sirens shot through the heavy atmosphere.

Before Josh could even process it, his sister's condition was quickly evaluated and treated before she was lifted onto a stretcher and rolled into the ambulance. His heart stopped for a second when he watched the vehicle roll out of the area and turn left to the nearest ER.

He dropped to the blood-stained concrete and started sobbing into his hands. Evelyn and Milo had never seen him so heartbroken before. "I was supposed to protect her!" He screamed, gasping in air. "I'm her big brother, I'm supposed to KEEP HER FREAKING SAFE!" He yelled from the depths of his distraught soul while punching his hands into the pavement. "What kind of a sibling am I?!?" He screeched once more, out of breath.

"Josh-" He stopped Milo from finishing with a raise of his hand.

"I promised her, I promised our parents... and now I've let them down." His breaths quickened.

"Josh, what you're feeling is absolutely normal, but-"

"I can't..." He wheezed sharply. "I can't keep doing thIIIIS" A wheeze attacked him, inducing hard coughs.

"He's having a fit." Milo alerted Evelyn. "Get his inhaler." She yanked his backpack leaning on the side of the skate wall and zipped through each of its pockets, scrambling through their contents as fast as she could. "Evie, hurryyyyyyyy!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!!" Evelyn was about to break down herself, but the storm swirling inside of her dissipated once her hand touched the inhaler. "Here, here, give it to him!"

"Josh, just breathe, bro." Milo said firmly while Josh breathed into it.

"Better?" Milo asked beside him once the hyperventilating had ceased.

"I guess..." Leftover tears stuck to Josh's eyelashes glistened in the disturbing, blazing orange sunset.

"What can we do?" Milo questioned.

"Yeah, we're here for you, Josh. Just name it and we'll help." Evelyn added.

"Early hugtime...?" Josh put a fist to his lips before his body shook and his face scrunched into unshakable sadness.