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Chapter 18
Ryan
Wake up, please. I can't do this without you. Your hands are so cold, baby. I feel too warm next to you...take all the heat you want. Fuck, you can have anything; just please come back to me.
They are worried about me, you know? I don't know how to do this. Seeing you, like...that...broke me. I don't think I will ever be the same.
This is the only way I can talk to Eve right now. I feel like everything inside of me has shut down; nothing is online except for the pits of hell, burning my heart, mind, and soul. Amiri's murmuring is background noise to my own communication with Eve in my mind. I have to hope she can hear me because this is all I have. It feels like my own body is in a coma right along with her, unable to reach the surface.
If you go, take me with you. Nolan will be better off without me at this rate...I don't think I can survive this life without you in it.
"Eve? Are you there?"
My head shoots up at the sudden change in Miri's tone; he now sounds hopeful and weary. It's instant. The distant sounds of the beeping now plow into me like a fucking gut punch.
Too fast.
Her heartbeat continues to pick up speed, and before I know it, my hands are gripping her cheeks, and my horrified yell for her rips apart my scratchy throat. The thundering in my ears drowns out my own voice; all I can focus on is getting Evie to stay with me.
Arms wrap around my middle and drag me away from her prone body, causing my anxiety to skyrocket at the separation. I call out to her, I plead with her, I fucking yell at her to wake up. I don't know what I say, but the desperation clawing at my insides makes itself known.
Until...until the rapid beats descend into a treacherously long ring.
Gone.
My Evie...our little warrior...defeated.
Nolan
"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!"
I shrink back at Ryan's roar of fury as he wrestles through the waiting room doors. The malice wafting off of him in waves has Korren and I shooting to our feet alongside the parents.
Behind my boyfriend being shoved through the doors is Amiri, who looks...well, he looks dead. We have traded one comatose brother for another, and the previous one is currently fighting the security staff, trying to get back through the way they came.
A sudden lightheadedness has me stumbling into Kor on our walk over to the scene. Bile rushes up, and I'm helpless to stop it; I puke all over the white tiles of the ICU waiting room.
"Shit," Korren curses, holding my weight as my own body revolts at whatever news we are about to receive. He hauls me up to his chest and moves me away from the mess I made. "Nol, come on, man. Look at me."
Dragging my burning eyes up to his face, I gulp at the love and care shining in his eyes...will that be broken soon, too?
"Somethings wrong, Kor..." I trail off, having no energy to explain the dread settling into my weakening body. Whatever connection I have to my best friend is rotting in my stomach...something is seriously fucking wrong.
"GET OFF OF ME! I NEED TO SEE HER; SHE WILL BE OKAY IF SHE HAS US!"
The pounding in my head spikes at Ryan's screaming protest. Korren gives me one last look before he runs over to the man in question and wraps his around him from the front.
"No, stop! I have to get back there!"
My eyes are on fire as I watch them struggle against each other. The security guard backs off at Korren's nod. His words are too hard to hear from my position a few feet away, and I can't make my feet move to get closer to them or Amiri, who is now slouched against the wall, head in his hands.
"Please," Ryan whimpers, sagging against our brother. "She can't be gone..."
And just like that, the world ends.
I stumble forward and land in a heap in front of Amiri, unconsciously seeking his reassurance that Ry is wrong.
His head slowly lifts, and his vacant eyes lock on my desperate ones. "Flatline," is all he can croak out before a burst of agony splits his lips. His spittle sprinkles against my forehead, but it goes unnoticed...he confirms what Ryan is currently repeating over and over again into Korren's shoulder on the floor behind me.
