Tessa looked at Allison, her voice low but determined. “What about her? Look at that poor girl, the state she’s in, and tell me I should stop.”
Mabel sighed, shaking her head. “You’re trying to stop a wildfire with a half-empty water bottle.”
“Does that mean that you want to stop, Mabel?” Tessa’s throat dried at the idea, but she couldn’t force her friend to risk her life. “If you want to quit, I won’t hold it against you.”
“Shut up! Don’t you dare even think that’s what I’m saying. You know very well why I agreed to help you. Don’t you dare doubt my commitment.”
Tessa took her hand in hers. “I never doubted you and never will. I care about you.”
Mabel calmed down and patted her cheek. “I know, honey. I know.”
Tessa finished filling out the form as two paramedics came into the room with a gurney. Mabel made sure the girl was carefully wrapped in blankets, not only to keep her warm in the fall weather, but to make sure nobody recognized her on her way out. With an oxygen mask in place, the plan was foolproof.
In a matter of minutes, they loaded her into the ambulance and were gone.
Tessa stayed a minute in the cool morning air, the first colors of dawn lightened the sky as she watched the taillights of the ambulance disappear around the corner.
The noise from the awakening city started to make its way into her brain, and fatigue and stress crawled all over her, making her shiver.
The new day announced the end of her shift. It took her a few more minutes to get her body to move and her feet to take her back inside, but her thoughts remained with Allison and Mabel.
