run faster than you. I’m calling the technician back in and we’ll get this done.”
Another stiff nod and she pulled her hand back to rest it on her thigh.
I called the technician back in and she moved to Rose’s left side. “All set?”
When Rose didn’t answer, I gave the girl a curt nod.
“Since you were worried about the leaking, we’ll put this paper down under your nose so hopefully it won’t distract you too much. Also, it’s going to be loud in there, so here are your ear plugs. The sounds are completely normal, so don’t let them panic you.”
The technician offered another pair to me as Rose took them without a word and placed them in her ears.
“Ready?” the girl asked, her gaze moving between mine and Rose’s.
Rose cleared her throat. “Yes.”
She secured her head in the contraption, and I helped her lie down on her stomach. Her eyes were already tightly closed.
Before the technician could disappear behind the door, I got her attention.
“Can I touch her?”
“Yes, but try not to move her.”
The door closed, and Rose and I were alone—if you didn’t count everyone else on the other side of the glass, that is.
A few seconds later, the technician’s voice filled the room as she spoke into a mic from the other side. “Okay, we’re about to start, Rose. I’ll be talking and letting you know how many minutes are left. Here we go.”
Just as the machine started up, I put my hand on the only part of her body I could reach without pushing my arm into the tunnel: her ankle. I forced myself to relax so my grip wouldn’t be painful, but I wasn’t sure how successful I was with that. At first I could hear her erratic breathing as she tried to inhale and exhale in an effort to calm herself down, but when the noises started getting louder and louder, I couldn’t hear anything.
As minutes passed and I started to get more anxious by the second, all I could do was gently run my thumb up and down under the edge of her legging. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the way my heart was hammering in my chest. I wasn’t supposed to feel this way. It was just a simple, painless MRI scan, but her panic had affected me as well, and I had trouble just standing still when all I wanted to do was pull her out so she wouldn’t hurt and I wouldn’t see that scared and worried look in her eyes again.
As the machine’s jackhammering sounds picked up and all the banging and thumping and beeping started to get to me, I just circled my fingers around her ice-cold ankle and held on, hoping she was doing okay in there and hoping that I was waiting for her.
“We have just a few minutes left. You’re doing great.”
“It’s almost over, Rose,” I said in a normal voice. I didn’t think she could hear me over the maddening sounds or through her ear plugs, but just in case she could, I kept talking to her, saying the same thing again and again. “It’s almost over. I’m right here. You’re almost done. I’m right here with you.”
“And it’s done,” the girl said cheerfully through the speakers. “I’ll be right in to get you out.”
The loud beating in my skull stopped and I realized the machine had as well. The technician opened the door and walked in. I let go of Rose’s ankle and clenched my hand a few times as I stepped back to let the technician do her job and get Rose out of there so I could get to her.
The moment the table started to slide out of the machine, Rose started moving. Just as her head cleared the opening and I saw her profile, my heart sank. She looked worse than I’d expected, and I’d expected it to be quite bad already. I took a step forward then stopped, clenching my fists at my sides. The second she could, she got up to her hands and knees, her eyes wide open, tears rapidly coursing down her cheeks in rivulets. Her entire body was shaking, her breathing frantic, as if she couldn’t quite remember how to breathe. Other than the shallow and harsh breathing, she wasn’t making a single sound. Sitting back on her heels, she started to push back the contraption on her head until the technician helped her and released her from it.