Page 22 of Shattered Melodies

I felt my heart sink, a cold, heavy dread settling in my stomach. “Please,” I begged, my voice cracking. “I need to see him. It’s my fault he’s here, I have to make sure he’s okay.”

The nurse’s expression softened a bit, but she shook her head. “I’m sorry, but those are the rules. Unless you’re immediate family, I can’t let you in.”

I wanted to scream, to rage, to demand that she let me through. But I knew it wouldn’t do any good. So I just nodded, feeling numb and hollow inside.

“Can you at least tell me how he is?” I asked, my voice small and broken. “Is he… is he going to be okay?”

The nurse hesitated, glancing around like she was afraid someone would overhear. “He’s stable,” she said finally, lowering her voice. “But he’s in rough shape. The doctors are doing everything they can, but it’s going to be a long road.”

I felt like I’d been punched in the gut, the air whooshing out of my lungs in a rush. “Oh god,” I whispered, feeling the tears start to fall. “This is all my fault. I should have been there for him, should have protected him.”

The nurse reached out, putting a hand on my arm. “Hey,” she said gently. “This isn’t your fault, okay? You couldn’t have known what was going to happen.”

But I shook my head, pulling away. “You don’t understand,” I said, my voice raw and aching. “I love him. I love him more than anything in this world, and I let him down. I failed him when he needed me the most.”

The nurse looked at me, her eyes sad and knowing. “Sometimes, loving someone means knowing when to let them go,” she said softly. “Knowing when to give them the space to heal, to find their own way back to you.”

I stared at her, feeling the weight of her words sink into my bones. She was right. As much as it killed me, as much as every fiber of my being screamed at me to rush to Liam’s side and never let him go, I knew I had to do what was best for him.

But just as I was about to turn and leave, I caught sight of a familiar face in the waiting room. Well, two familiar faces, actually. Liam’s parents.

They were huddled together in a corner, their faces drawn and pale with worry. But when they saw me, their expressions hardened into something cold and angry.

I swallowed hard, my heart pounding as I approached them. “Mr. and Mrs. Denison,” I said, my voice shaking. “Please, I need to see Liam. I have to tell him how sorry I am, how much I - "

But before I could finish, Liam’s dad was on his feet, his face twisted with rage. “You have some nerve showing up here,” he snarled, jabbing a finger at me. “This is all your fault, you know that? If it wasn’t for you and your perverted little games, my son wouldn’t be lying in a hospital bed right now.”

I flinched like he’d slapped me, the words hitting me like a physical blow. “I never meant for any of this to happen,” I whispered, my eyes stinging with tears. “I love Liam, I would never do anything to hurt him.”

Mrs. Denison let out a harsh, bitter laugh. “Love? You call this love? Sneaking around, lying to us, turning our son into some kind of…of deviant? That’s not love, Caleb. That’s sickness.”

I shook my head, feeling like I was going to be sick. “No, that’s not…it’s not like that. Liam and I, we care about each other. What we have is real, it’s - "

“It’s over,” Mr. Denison cut me off, his voice like ice. “You are never to see or speak to my son again, do you understand me? You’ve done enough damage already.”

I opened my mouth to argue, to beg, to plead my case. But the look in their eyes, the disgust and the hatred and the utter, unshakeable conviction, I knew it was no use.

They would never understand. They would never accept us, accept me. In their eyes, I was nothing more than a corrupting influence, a disease that needed to be cut out of Liam’s life.

And maybe they were right. Maybe all I had done was bring pain and chaos and heartbreak into Liam’s world. Maybe the best thing I could do for him, the most loving thing was to let him go.

I felt something break inside me at the thought, something deep and vital and irreplaceable. But I knew what I had to do.

“Okay,” I said softly, my voice barely above a whisper. “Okay, I’ll go. I’ll stay away. Just tell him that I’m sorry. And that I love him, no matter what.”

Mrs. Denison’s face twisted into a sneer. “We’ll tell him no such thing. As far as Liam is concerned, you don’t exist anymore. You’re dead to him, and to us.”

I felt the words like a knife to the heart, but I just nodded, too numb and broken to argue. I turned to leave, feeling like I was moving through water, like the world had gone grey and lifeless around me.

But as I walked away, I heard Mr. Denison’s voice behind me, low and vicious. “If you ever come near my son again, I’ll make sure you regret it. I’ll ruin you, do you hear me? I’ll destroy everything you love, just like you destroyed my family.”

I didn’t turn around, didn’t acknowledge the threat. I just kept walking, the tears flowing freely down my face now, my heart shattered into a million jagged pieces.

I wandered the halls of the hospital in a daze, not sure where I was going or what I was doing. I passed by room after room, each one filled with patients and their loved ones, the beeping of machines and the murmur of voices a bitter reminder of everything I had lost.

I felt so alone, so lost and hopeless and utterly, utterly devastated. How was I supposed to go on without Liam? How was I supposed to face a future that didn’t have him in it?

“I’ll be here for you, Liam,” I whispered, my voice barely audible over the sound of passing cars. “No matter what.”

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