Chapter forty-seven
"Stand By Me (Acoustic Live)" - NEEDTOBREATHE
Mia
Am I dying?
No.
If I were dying, there wouldn’t be so much pain.
It feels like I’m swimming through cement. Everything is heavy, even my thoughts.
I can’t open my eyes yet—those are heavy, too. But I can feel the world pressing in. Something beeps steadily nearby.Something else hums, low and constant. Can’t move. Can’t speak.
My chest aches with every breath, like there’s a boulder sitting on top of it. Like there are knives between my ribs.
My mouth is dry.
There’s something in my throat—plastic, invasive, and forcing me to breathe in rhythm. I want it out, but I don’t know how to ask when talking is impossible.
And then—warmth.
Another hand.
Fingers threaded through mine. Rough with calluses. Tracing slow, familiar circles against my palm.
I don’t have to open my eyes to know who it is.
I would know that touch anywhere.
Grayson.
He’s here.
The hurt fades, just for a moment, and I fight against the fog a little harder.
I want to see his face. To let him know that I’m here. I came. I almost made it. I hadtried.
But I still have no control. My eyelids feel glued shut. The weight on my chest won’t lift. I’m trapped in some wicked state between sleep and survival.
Then I hear him.
The voice I’ve been wishing I could hear in every quiet, lonely moment since he left.
There it is.
“I’m here, sweetheart,” he whispers. “It’s Gray, baby. You made it. I’m right here.”
Tears push behind my eyes. I’m not sure if they’re falling. But I feel them.
Can you hear me, Gray? I’m right here, too.
He keeps talking, soft and broken.
“I’ve got you,” he says. “Just like I said, I’ve always got you.”
I want to tell him it’s going to be okay.
