The Beautiful Monster

Alyssa's instincts kicked in, and she immediately rose from the table. She looked around for who needed help, feeling her adrenaline start racing through her.

This was what she was trained to do for so many years. She didn't shy away from a crisis. She ran toward it.

"My son! He's choking!"

Alyssa followed the woman's voice to the other side of the coffee shop. She saw a small crowd around a young boy on the ground.

He was grabbing at his throat and heaving on the ground, trying to breathe.

"Move!" Alyssa said to the crowd, having to push her way through so that she could hover above the boy.

It had been a while since she had dealt with a choking patient, but the information was in her head somewhere to access.

Elias came up to Alyssa's side.

"I can save him. I have powers," he told her in a hushed voice as he went to move toward the boy.

Alyssa pushed him out of the way, not wanting him to interfere with his supernatural abilities. She was a doctor.

She could handle this, and she didn't need him barging into every part of her life.

"So do I," she said before kneeling next to the boy. "What was he eating?"

"A sandwich," the frightened mother cried.

Alyssa tried to peer into the boy's mouth and down his throat, attempting to see where the blockage was.

She couldn't see it. She grabbed the boy and turned him over, pressing his back against her chest.

She positioned her hands and started to perform abdominal thrusts, hoping to dislodge what was stuck in the boy's throat.

The boy grimaced with each motion. His face was starting to turn a different shade, losing its pinkish vibrancy.

Alyssa felt frustration creep up on her when she realized that the abdominal thrusts weren't working.

She had to try something else because he wasn't breathing. If he stopped breathing for too long, there would be brain damage, and she had to prevent that from happening at all costs.

"Move back," she told everyone as she gently laid the boy down on his back on the floor. She started CPR, hoping that the pressure would free the boy's airway.

She started a rhythm, pushing against his chest over and over again and then periodically giving him breaths.

The mother started sobbing.

Alyssa refused to give up. She knew that the ambulance wouldn't get here in time. It was down to her.

She gave him a few more compressions before the boy started to cough, spitting out the piece of sandwich that had been lodged in his throat.

She gently turned the boy onto his side, patting his back to help him spit up anything else remaining in his throat.

"Oh my God!" The mother cried out as she placed her hands on her son, crying tears of joy now when she realized that her son was okay. She turned to Alyssa. "Thank you so much. You saved my son."

Applause broke out through the entire coffee shop as people congratulated Alyssa for her heroic efforts.

Alyssa gave the mother a tired smile, feeling her arms ache from all the movement. Relief washed over her as she stood up, giving the mother some space to check on her son.

She was glad that she saved the boy. Sometimes, the outcomes weren't always the best.

She turned and nearly ran into Elias, making her feel a flash of annoyance. He only brought trouble and distractions into her life.

She had fared fine on her own, and she didn't need him anymore. She thought that she did when she was younger, but she had fared fine. She could do this without him.

"Our story was meant to end in the past. We don't need each other anymore," she told him before brushing past him and walking out of the coffee shop, leaving him there to stare after her.

She knew those were harsh words, but they were true. They had achieved great things without each other. Why mess that up?

She got in her car and headed to her apartment, wanting to relax and wind down after saving that boy. Saving lives was exhausting, but it was the most rewarding thing ever.

It was the main reason why she became a doctor. Kids needed heroes, and she wanted to be that for them.

She could stand on her own now and be of help for someone else instead of relying on anyone. That was one of the best feelings.

She wasn't sure if she would hear from Elias again after what she said to him, but maybe that was for the best.

They had a great, intense romance back in the day, but some people were only meant to be in other people's lives for a limited amount of time.

Maybe their story had ended, and she didn't think that they needed to force it to start back up again.

Alyssa pushed open the door to her apartment and walked inside, yawning as the exhaustion hit her.

She could use a nap right now, and the day wasn't even over yet. A lot had already happened today, but she was glad that she was in that coffee shop at that time. Maybe things did happen for a reason.

She sat down on the couch and went to turn on the television when she froze. She didn't remember putting the television remote on the coffee table.

She remembered throwing it on the couch this morning before she left to go meet with Elias.

It was such a small detail, but it stuck out to her. She got up and ventured around the house, noticing that her jewelry box had been shifted over and her nightstand drawer was cracked slightly.

Things were out of place, and she knew that she didn't move those things in that way.

Someone had been in here, but who? The problem with that question was that there were multiple answers that came to her mind.

She could think of a few people who could've snuck in here to take a look around. Maybe it was even someone that she didn't know yet.. The possibilities were endless, and the anxiety was unmatched.