Page 110 of Savior

“You too, Rich.”

I run toward the porch, where Luca sits on the cushioned bench with a book in his hands. It looks like his trusty bible, with worn leather and discolored pages.

“Good run?” he asks, and I nod, taking the steps in twos as I land in front of him.

“Rich!” a man shouts, and I turn around. Luca’s face pales, and he drops his bible and runs down the steps barefoot.

Rich collapses on the ground before the treeline across from the cabin.

My heart roars in my chest, clouding my hearing as I approach him at a run.

The other man is ripping his gear off and starting chest compressions. “Goddamnit, I told you I’d go with her, you stubborn fucking mule!”

“What’s wrong with him?” Luca asks as I drop beside Rich’s head.

“He has a heart condition. He has had it since birth. I told him one of us would run with her, but he didn’t want to listen.He loves to push the edge since the doctors say he won’t live as long as anyone else.”

He stops compressions and checks Rich’s pulse.

“We need help,” I plead, tears falling down my face like a running river.

“We’re too far from help,” the man says, sitting back on his haunches as I take up his place and begin the same compressions I saw him doing.

“Help him!” I cry. “What are you doing? Why did you stop? Help him!”

The man looks at Luca with a sad face, as if I’m the problem. It was as if I was the crazy one when he stopped trying to bring Rich back.

“Little dove, he’s gone,” Luca says, hand on my arm.

“Why would he go with me if he knew this could happen?” I ask.

“He always did shit like that. If he went out doing something he wanted, so be it. Rich wasn’t scared of shit, or at least, he wanted to give off that he wasn’t.”

“What do we do?” I whimper, eyes flooding with more tears as I look at Luca.

Luca leans over Rich, making the cross sign on his forehead with his thumb. “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen. May almighty God bless us with his peace and strength, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

“Amen,” the other man says, and I echo the sentiment for Rich’s sake.

“We’ll deal with his body,” the man says.

“What is your name?” I ask him.

He looks between me and Luca before saying, “John.”

“John. Where will you bury him? Here?”

He looks down at his fallen comrade, and his brows crawl together. “I think so. He thought this was going to be his grand adventure. What a more enchanting location could there be for him to find peace and rest?”

“I’d like to be present when he’s laid to rest.” Guilt fills my stomach at the thought I’d made him run with me. I caused his death.

As if Luca knows why I’m reeling, he lays his hand on my arm.

“We’ll do it near sunset, then,” John replies.

Luca helps me up, and we head for the cabin. I can’t look back at the man being hefted off the ground by his fellow family members. Even if they’re not blood relatives, the Riccis are all family once made.

And I’d just stolen a member from them. Unwittingly, but still.

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