The wind whips my exposed skin as I fall.  The force pushes the tears back into my eyes.  Their salty sting is a memento of the end of my relationship with Maggie.  I crash against the sidewalk, the world spinning around me, light and sirens colliding in my mind, and all fades to black.

I don't know how long I was unconscious, but I open my eyes.  Emergency medical technicians all around me.  I am disoriented, but calm.  Probably the painkillers being pumped into my body.  Their voices seem panicked.  I slowly move my eyes.  Investigating my body, disconnected from my brain by copious amounts of medication, I see only blood and bruises.  

"He's up!"  An EMT.  

"Is this an ambulance?"  My response, a question I already know the answer to.  Must be the medication talking.  Doesn't matter, the EMT doesn't respond.

The ambulance stops.  The doors swing open and the medics pour out, positioning themselves to remove my stretcher.  The carry me in, and I glance upward to see the blurred neon lights that spell out "Emergency Room."  The EMTs and hospital personnel move me through the stale halls of the hospital.  Eventually, I reach a room, where I am hooked up to dozens of different devices.  People swarm around me, but the whole world seems glazed over.  Maggie seems to flash through my mind, but I cannot get a handle on her, the thoughts just out of reach.  My pain, which should be overcoming my body, held back by the mix of fading love and powerful analgesic drugs.  

I feel myself evanesce.  Taking as deep a breath I can, I look over at the heart rate monitor, tilting my head as far as I can.   Jagged electric red lines jump up and down.  I can only watch their bizarre dance as doctors swarm around me, asking questions I cannot here.  Giving treatments I cannot feel.  Just the dance of the monitor.  Up, down, up, down, up, down.  Flatline.