PART 18

Panic:
Origin: 1595–1605; earlier panique < F < Gk Panikós of Pan; see –ic.
[From French panique, terrified, from Greek Pānikos, of Pan (a source of terror, as in flocks or herds), groundless (used of fear), from Pān, Pan; see Pan.]
A sudden overwhelming fear, with or without cause, that produces hysterical or irrational behavior, and that often spreads quickly through a group of persons or animals.
An instance, outbreak, or period of such fear.
"Mass terror," 1603, as an adj. (with fear, terror, etc.), from Fr. panique (15c.), from Gk. panikon, lit. "pertaining to Pan," in sense of "panic, fright" short for panikon deima, from neut. of Panikos "of Pan," the god of woods and fields who was the source of mysterious sounds that caused contagious, groundless fear in herds and crowds, or in people in lonely spots. As a noun, first recorded 1708. Meaning "widespread apprehension about financial matters" is first recorded 1757. The verb is 1827, from the noun. Panicky is first recorded 1869.

Parabola:
[New Latin, from Greek parabol�", comparison, application, parabola (from the relationship between the line joining the vertices of a conic and the line through its focus and parallel to its directrix), from paraballein, to compare; see parable.]
A plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone and a plane parallel to an element of the cone or by the locus of points equidistant from a fixed line and a fixed point not on the line.

Day 62 after the accident – Cedars Sinai Hospital – h. 2.17 a.m.

Waiting room.
Again.
It’s pretty crowded, tonight.
Shane doesn’t give a damn.
She’s sitting on a chair and is completely motionless.
Elbows resting on her knees, eyes gripped by the white tiled floor.
She seems exhausted.
Plain and simple.
I know she’s going to freak out sooner or later, but right now I’m afraid she is simply shocked.
Carmen is in the operating room for the second time in less than three months.
This shit really seems a huge, cosmological joke. Yeah that’s what it seems.
We are all waiting.
All of us.
Tina glances at me.
I am expressionless.
Her look falls back on the magazine she’s pretending to read.
Alice has those puffy eyes she always preserves for hospitals, since Dana died.
Jenny is on her way, she’ll be here soon.
Tasha just went away. I don’t know, maybe she’s just having a walk because the air is thick, here. And sticky.
That Dante Bizzarri guy has his hands shoved into his pockets. His back is resting against the wall, near the door. His eyes don’t show anything, but the line of his mouth tells me that he’s worried and pissed off as hell.
He looks like a bouncer in his total black outfit.
Beside him, there’s this other huge man. Alice told me he is the private eye Shane hired to find Carmen’s aggressor. Actually, Alice more whispered that into my ear.
We all know what’s going on with Shane, and we all have to pretend not to know.
So fucking absurd.
We’ve been waiting for two hours now.
Carmen has been moved from the Emergency Room to Brain Surgery Unit almost immediately after our arrival.
Doctor Hans Breillard is still in charge and I keep on repeating to myself that he’s gonna fix this.
He is a good surgeon and looks like he’s been expecting this to happen. Sooner or later.
He looked ready.
All we have to do is wait.