For half an hour, I lay crumpled against that door, consciousness slipping further away with every passing minute. Damian only opened it because he needed the bathroom.
He looked down at me sprawled on the floor and scoffed.
"Nice act."
He stepped over me and walked into the bathroom.
When he came back out, I hadn't moved. Not an inch.
That was when the color drained from his face. He fumbled for his phone and dialed 911.
The ambulance arrived quickly. He was about to climb in with me when his phone rang.
Eleanor's voice poured through the speaker, breathy and trembling.
"Damian, a dog bit me on my way home. What if I get rabies? I'm so scared."
His whole demeanor shifted in an instant. Panic flooded his face. "Don't be scared. I'm coming right now."
He turned to leave. A paramedic grabbed his arm.
"Your wife is severely anemic. Where are you going?"
He wrenched free without a second glance.
"Someone else needs me. She's your problem now."
He paused at the ambulance door. "Oh, and she might be faking it. If she is, just dump her outside."
Then he vanished into the night.
One of the hospital aides watched him go and let out a long sigh.
"If that were my husband, I'd have divorced him yesterday."