Page 3 of Aftersome
Not so soon.
I peered over at the doctor who was currently comforting Greg the best he could and instantly, I took offense to that.
Hayes wasn’t dead.
There’s no way my best friend was fucking gone.
And here was this doctor, who knew nothing about us, knew nothing about Hayes, telling us that he didn’t make it. The fucking audacity.
The nerve.
I wanted to tear apart this whole hospital until I found him alive and well.
But as if I could sense trouble, the sound of Doe brought me back to reality. Chaotic screams. Painful cries.
My whole body went into panic mode.
I jolted up onto my feet and without a second thought, ran over to her. Standing beside a few nurses who appeared sympathetic for the poor girl who was falling apart right in front of them, she began to raise her voice.
“He’s not dead!” she screamed, causing me to flinch. “He’s not… He’s not gone. He can’t be…”
There it was again, but this time, every nurse, every doctor in the vanity, was staring at us. Watching us. Pitying us.
No…
I shook my head, hoping that this was all just a dream. That I would wake up any second, but when nothing changed, it all came crashing down.
Every last humanly part of me had shattered.
Heart, soul, fucking everything that I had left, was now obliterated into nothing.
Just like that.
In the blink of an eye.
And that’s when the shock of reality hit me. Like a freight train. That from this moment on, nothing would ever be the same anymore. And I immediately sought out the one person who I knew I needed.
“Doe…” I called out from behind her.
At first, she went eerily still. Her crying softened but then seconds later she spun around so fast that she crashed directly into my awaiting arms.
“Mal… Please tell me it's not true. Tell me he’s okay. Tell me he’s not gone,” she begged, her eyes telling me she knew the true answer but didn’t want to believe it just like I didn’t.
My anger flared.
“He’s gone, Wren.”
And from that moment on, I knew nothing would ever be the same.
Not anymore.
1
WREN
Ten years later
“Wren, do you mind helping me water this plant?” my sweet, elderly neighbor, Alice, asked as she caught me walking up the pathway to my home. A small smile had lifted on my face, something I’ve been doing a lot more of lately, especially since the day she moved in next door. A little quirky, but with a heart of gold, she quickly became someone I adored spending time with.
