Page 2 of Downpour

“MEDICAL! MEDICAL! GET THE SPINEBOARD!”

“RAY!”

“Stay still,” someone commanded as figures swarmed around me.

No problem there. I wasn’t sure why I couldn’t move, but I just laid there as bodies flooded around me.

My older brother, Christian, had jumped the barrier and was in the ring, kneeling beside me.

That was nice of him.

I didn’t feel anything when he picked up my hand.

Might be here for a while. I could use a nap.

That was the last thing I remembered thinking before it all went black.

Downpour.

ONE WEEK AFTER THE ACCIDENT

That beeping was fucking annoying.Someone needed to shut the damnmachineoff.

Familiar voices echoed in the distance, like my brothers shouting through a dense haze.

Beep…

Jesus Christ—I wanted to pull the plug myself just so I could get some fucking sleep

I struggled to wrench my eyes open, desperate to locate the source of that infuriating noise, but my lids felt glued shut. My body was numb. Like it didn’t exist. My throat hurt like a bitch, though. Why couldn’t the numbness fix that?

It was like being awake and asleep at the same time—teetering on the threshold of heaven and hell. Eternal limbo.

Beep… Beep… Beep…

Fuck me.

THREE WEEKS AFTER THE ACCIDENT

Beep…Beep…

Was this what hell was like? Just one annoying beeping sound for all eternity?

Fuck me sideways. It was grating.

The voices had grown louder. Maybe I was going insane.

Orbs of gray and white floated across my field of vision, bending the darkness.

Goddamnit!

Fire lit up my throat in a blaze. It felt like a knife ripping through my windpipe. I wanted to scream, but couldn’t.

Why couldn’t I scream? Was I still in the ring? My head rocked, but I wasn’t the one controlling it.

Something soft was behind my skull. It didn’t feel like the dirt of the arena.

The burning eased to a simmer and the beeping slowed.

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