Page 208 of Creep

There was no response. Nothing at all to indicate he heard me. Tears fell from my eyes and hit his face. Then more tears fell, and they wouldn’t stop. I blinked and swiped at my eyes, but it was useless.

“Please,” I begged. The desperation for him to be here with me, for him to be okay, clawed at my inside, leaving me feeling hollow.

He couldn’t leave me. He promised me a lifetime, and we were just barely getting started.

I could feel the darkness descending.

What the fuck would I do without him?

50

LIA

One monthand three days had passed, but really, who was counting?

I closed my eyes as the pain consumed me. That wasn’t new. It was just pain and more pain and more pain.

I could hear Theo walk up behind me, but I didn’t turn around to look at him. He set down a tray of food in front of me.

“Eat,” he demanded, his voice harsh. I glanced up at him with hopeless eyes. He let out a small sigh. “Please eat, Lia. You know he would want you to take care of yourself.”

I looked down at the food he brought—a cheeseburger with some fries and a cup of soda.

I really wished I could, but everything tasted like cardboard, and I had no appetite.

He bent down until we were at eye level. “He’s going to be so fucking pissed if he sees you wasting away like this.”

He cupped my cheek. “If you can’t eat for yourself, then you need to eat for the baby growing inside you. Mael’s baby.”

I pressed my hand against my stomach.

I was pregnant.

Mael finally got what he wanted. He got me pregnant. But he hadn’t been there when the doctor told me.

Theo picked up the cheeseburger and wrapped half of it in a napkin, holding it out to me. I grabbed it and took a bite, chewing automatically and swallowing, not really tasting anything.

Theo let out a small sigh of relief. “That’s a good girl.”

I felt a small pang of guilt from making him worry about me like this, but the pain inside was too consuming for me to give this guilt anything more than a fleeting thought.

When I was about halfway done with my meal and couldn’t eat anymore, I left it on the table. Theo eyed the remaining food but didn’t say anything.

I turned to the side of the bed and looked at Mael.

The constant beeping from the machine keeping him alive had been my companion over this last month and three days.

He was in a coma.

They tried their best to help him, but the rest was up to him.

He still hadn’t woken up.

I looked up to meet Theo’s blue eyes—identical blue eyes to Mael’s—and quickly looked away. Sometimes, it was hard to meet his gaze.

But Theo had been with me, holding vigil over his brother.

A knock at the door came, stealing my attention. I let out a small sigh of annoyance.

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