Chapter 2 Hang on there

The ropes stopped Brylski's fall for half a second, two meters above the ground, because the jerk caused by the stopping unhooked the harness and the young actor, losing his momentum only a little, kept falling...

Damian Radosz was not the closest to the scene of the incident, but he was the first to notice it, so before the others even started to understand what was happening, he found himself on the line of Brylski's fall…

He caught him in his arms.

The speed of the fall was not high and Radosz was a strong man, yet he painfully felt the weight of the inert body in his arms and fell to his knees under it.

They were immediately surrounded by dozens of frightened people.

Damian looked at the actor's face, unnaturally red even under some heavy makeup. He touched his hot forehead and recognized the symptoms immediately: heatstroke.

Feeling his heart die, Radosz found the artery on the actor's neck with his eyes. Thank God it was throbbing.

"What... what happened?" The director asked, terrified.

"Sunstroke," replied Damian, and rose from his knees without letting the unconscious actor out of his shoulders. “Someone call an ambulance. I need an air-conditioned, chilled place and plenty of ice.”

“Here, this way” director Różycki showed him a caravan, which was not one of the most luxurious models, but certainly looked comfortable. “Damn, how could this have happened? People, don't panic, it's just a heatstroke! Let everyone do their own thing. Kurek, call an ambulance!”

“I am calling now…”

Damian Radosz with Rafał Brylski in his arms quickly went in the indicated direction. Some two brainy girls were leading him through the parting crowd.

Damian was anxious and furious at the same time. Up to twelve percent of stroke cases were fatal.

With such warm nights and such hot days, where a minute of direct sunlight exposure could cause some headaches, people should especially avoid situations where they can overheat easily.

An actor dressed in a dark, multi-layered costume, standing in the heat, exposed to the sun for more than half an hour, was a tasty morsel for this type of incident.

And Różycki dared to ask how it happened?

If he had better prepared the plan, if he had not left the actor alone in the sun, but had provided him with some protection from the heat - an umbrella, a small fan, someone who would have given him something cold to drink - Brylski would not have become a victim of overheating.

But this was not the time to look for reasons or a culprit. Now it was necessary to focus on cooling the heated body of the unconscious man as quickly as possible and preventing further danger.

The door to the caravan opened and Damian felt a refreshing breeze. He quickly laid the actor on the couch and began to unceremoniously undress him from the jacket he was wearing.

"Ice," he ordered. “I need ice!”

"I'll get it right now," said a girl.

"For now, this is it," said the other, and handed him two cans of chilled drink.

“Thanks! Can we somehow wash off his makeup?” Damian asked, putting the cans on both sides of Rafał Brylski's neck.

The same girl quickly took something out of the table and Damian saw her wiping Brylski's face with a cotton swab, leaving it clean and absorbing the cold breezes from the air conditioning.

Damian took off Rafał’s high boots and began to unfasten the safety harness in order to get rid of as much clothing as possible from Brylski. If a button or buckle wouldn't budge, he just tore it open.

Damian wasn't a doctor, and he couldn't fucking remember any of the first aid courses he'd gone through, but he did remember witnessing the rescue of someone with a stroke. So he knew that he had to cool the patient's body as quickly as possible.

Shadow, air conditioning, even nudity were good methods, but Radosz did not go to nudity. The cold drink cans and ice packs that had just been delivered halted the progression of the stroke, and Brylski's body slowly began to cool down.

A few minutes passed when an ambulance arrived at the set on a signal.

Paramedics and a doctor burst into the trailer. The doctor measured the temperature and blood pressure of the unconscious actor, gave him an injection and announced that although his life was no longer in danger, they would take him to the hospital.

"I'm going with you," announced the same girl who was assisting Damian all the time. Radosz looked at her more closely. The blue-eyed blonde with a determined look and hair combed in a bun gave the impression of a person who can’t discuss with.

"Okay," agreed the doctor. “Do you have his ID?”

“Yes, yes, I am already taking it...”

The girl stepped aside and when the paramedics were carrying the unconscious man to the stretcher, Radosz asked:

“Which hospital are you taking him to?”

“To the City Hospital, to the emergency room. The doctor on duty will decide what to do next.”

“Thank you.”

Damian decided to follow them.

“Doctor, what about him?” The worried director asked. Despite his earlier orders, probably everyone on the set was now present at the ambulance and caravan.

“Everything should be fine, but just in case we need to do some tests. The patient has not yet regained consciousness.”

"He might have hit his head," Damian remembered suddenly. “I couldn't see well, but when he fell off the roof he could hit his head against the tiles.”

“We will do an x-ray and tomography” said the doctor, and as soon as the patient was placed in the ambulance, he immediately got into it. The blonde, who was looking for Brylski's ID, flashed right next to him. The paramedic closed the door and sat down next to the driver.

The ambulance sounded the signal and slowly started on its way. It sped up immediately as it moved out into the more open ground and onto the road.

“Mr. Radosz, I do not know how it could have happened. I am so sorry, sir...”

“Later, Mr. Różycki” Damian passed him as he walked towards his car. “Now I'm going to the hospital.”

“Yes, yes of course.”

“And everything is to be secured - camera footage, equipment, every rope. If anything disappears, there will be problems” Radosz warned.

“But it was an accident...”

“It was an accident and we must have evidence of it. And if there is any leak from the set in the media, heads will roll. I will not look for the guilty party. Anyone who had access to the leaked information will lose their job. Is it clear?”

Damian Radosz did not have to and did not want to wait for an answer. He wasn't going to do that either. All he was going to do was go to the hospital as soon as possible and make sure that the actor he hired on the set of his series was safe.

***

Anita Janiszek has completed all the formalities related to providing the patient's data and diseases. Now she was waiting politely in the plastic chair in the waiting room, though her whole interior was boiling with rage.

This accident could not happen. It absolutely had no right...

Yet it did happened.

Anita was something like Rafał's assistant, but in fact she was more and less.

She was his childhood friend and a friend in college (although at a younger age), someone whom Rafał could rely on in even the most difficult moments, but although she helped him in many matters, she was not formally employed. The team did not intend to pay for the maintenance of an assistant from a novice actor (let him be glad that he got a caravan) and Rafał himself was not financially independent enough to do it. So Anita was a volunteer, which did not bother her at all, because it was a great opportunity for her to gain interesting and useful skills. Her main task was to take care of Rafał Brylski, but she often helped make-up artists to keep her time occupied.

So the girl knew the plan and the atmosphere and customs prevailing there, so she clenched her hands into fists.

Anita was so furious that tears appeared in her eyes. Suddenly she realized that someone was standing in front of her. She looked up and saw the man who saved Rafał. The man still had his ID tag around his neck that read "VIP Guest".