Three, four, five, six, seven, she said in a hoarse whisper as she looked into her roommates lifeless eyes.

She looks dead, her mind concluded as her pumping rhythm began to slow. She looks dead, the young woman whispered, finally letting her voice lend credibility to the thought that had been constant in her mind from the moment she opened the door to find her roommate lying face down, blood pooling beneath her, but then blood everywhere else as well.

She leaned back on her heels, and using the backside of her blood-soaked hands brushed her blonde bangs out of her eyes, painting a red streak across her forehead.

She looks dead, she said again with a bit more conviction. Her voice broke an eerie silence that had enveloped her from the moment she had dropped to her knees next to her stricken roommateher friend.

Suddenly, a sense of panic seized her as she felt the full impact of the words she had spoken. No, she let out in an anguished cry. No! She took a deep breath and interlocked her fingers once again.

She looked at her hands, already pruning and wrinkled from being immersed in the wet, sticky liquid. She paused, held her hands up in front of her face, turning them slowly so that she could see both the front and back.

As the comfort and protection of shock began to provide a soft pillow for her overwhelmed mind and spirit, she studied her hands.

The coverage was complete. Blood had found its was into every nook and cranny, every nail bed, every line and every wrinkle. She pondered how the coloring was uneven, and how the cuff of her off-white shirt was now drawing blood up her sleeve like an absorbent paper towel.

For Tina Kennard, time had stopped. She was not in yesterday, today or tomorrow. She was only here, in this moment, with droplets of blood she loved falling from her hands forming a spreading stain on her light slacks.

Blood I loved, she repeated almost in a whisper to herself. She shook her head as if trying to clear some unseen fog. Its not the blood I love, she corrected It was Marcey I loved. As she realized she was referring to her life-long friend in the past tense, tears mixed with the blood that had found its way to Tinas face.

Only a moment had passed since Tina had lifted her hands from Marceys chest. A distant siren prompted her to mutter Its about time, as she summoned all of her remaining strength to resume CPR.

She counted out loud keeping the rhythm of a living, beating human heart as she yelled to no one Breathe! She tilted Marceys head clearing her airway and breathed what she hoped was a chance at life into her friends empty lungs.

Tina resumed her counting, her voice somehow providing the strength to continue. Breathe, she sobbed as she once again cleared her friends airway. A small cry escaped Tina as she once again placed her mouth on her friends lips which had grown colder with each touch.

Oh God, Marceybreathe, Tina wailed as she pulled her mouth away and rested her forehead on Marceys cheek. Please honey, please breathe, she said quietly.

With an ever-increasing sense of dread, Tina kept breathing for Marceys empty lungs and beating for her stilled heart until she finally heard loud footsteps coming down the hallway.

For a moment, Tina panicked and she quickly glanced around the room for a weapon, any weapon, in case the steps were not bringing more help but more hurt.

The sudden fear left her as she hear a loud voice call out Seattle Fire Department. Did someone call 9-1-1?

In here. In here, Tina shouter probably louder than she needed to. In here, she yelled one more time as the barely-closed condominium door opened slowly.

The medical team was the first to enter, and even with all the carnage they had witnessed as paramedics, they were frozen in their tracks at the sight before them.

Jesus Christ, muttered Jules Thompson, a 10-year paramedic with the Seattle Fired Department and a veteran of Desert Storm. Whatin the hell happened here? she was barely able to ask before her throat tightened and she was unable to speak.

It was only a momentary pause, but that one moment spoke volumes to the life and death struggle that had taken place in this room.

Before Thompson was a young, blond woman in obvious pain and anguish kneeling over what appeared to be another woman who was drenched in blood. The blood had pooled under the body near obvious wounds, cuts most likely, but the blood was also splattered on the floor, the walls, and even the ceilinga sure sign of a violent struggle.

With the amount of blood near the body, Thompson was surprised to see more down the hallway and on the walls and ceiling of the next room.

Her mind and eyes were brought back to the scene directly in front of her as she realized the young blond was still desperately performing CPR. Thompson winced as she noted that every chest compression resulted in blood gushing from no less than half a dozen wounds.

She crossed to the young woman who was still counting. Her heart was heavy as the blond leaned back on her heels, clutched her knees and while looking to the heavens sobbed BREATHEOh God, please Marcey breathe. Her voice trailed off to almost a whisper as she buried her face in her drenched hands and began to quietly cry.

Thomspon gave a steadying gaze to the rest of her team. Their experience told them that this was not a medical call. It was not a rescue. It was a homicide and their role now was to preserve evidence and the safety of the witness before them.

Careful not to startle Tina, Thompson lightly touched the young womans arm. Why dont you let us take over from here? She asked quietly with as much comfort in her voice as she could possibly muster.

Tina tensed at the light touch and pulled her face from her hands. She looked up and met the eyes of every person in the room, searching for answers, searching for comfort, searching for any sign that this was a nightmare they had come to wake her from.

Finding no answers she returned her eyes to Marcey. Was there a time they hadnt been friends? She shook her head slightly as she answered her own question.

No, she said quietly at first as she shook her head. No? Thompson asked waiting to understand Tinas meaning.

No, Tina said more emphatically. I am not leaving her. I cant leave her. Shes the only family I have. Tina desperately searched the paramedics face and knew that she didnt understand. How could she. How could she possible know that the only person who cared whether Tina Kennard lived or died had just died in Tinas arms.

It was too much. They all watched helplessly as the truth reached Tinas heart and mind and soul. The anguished cry that came next was so raw, and true and full of pain that every person in the room felt like they were intruding just by hearing it.

I cant breathe, Tina said quietly as she gathered Marceys lifeless form in her arms and slowly rested her cheek on her friends cold and lifeless form.