Darkly and Eternally Yours

Chapter 16

"Give us that wallet or your pretty lil' girl is dead." The masked man threatened, pinning my father's hands behind him.

"Take it, take everything, but let her go." My Dad choked out, straining to get his voice out from the firm grip of the man's large hand wrapped around his neck.

The piercing sound of a machine gun went off echoing through the night, followed by my strangled scream, echoing through the night.

I jolted awake, wincing as I craned my neck to side. It was sore from leaning on Dianna's bed for so long. I cursed under my breath; I shouldn't have slept like that. Checking up on Dianna's pulse, I slumped on the uncomfortable chair again, exhaling loudly. I always dreamt of that night when I was stressed.

Faint light filtered through the plastic white curtains, the sun was just rising up. I went downstairs to the cafeteria and settled myself with a paper cup of bad coffee on a far bench. It's been a week. A week since I've been stuck here in the hospital. A week since my best friend has been stuck in this god forsaken place, looking as pale as a ghost. A week since the doctor told me that her condition was bad and day by day, it will be getting worse. She told me to not hold out hope. And I didn't. At least I told myself I didn't.

It was an agonizing torture. Waiting, hoping, reminding yourself to not hope, waiting for the machine to stop beeping, the uncertainty, the fear, the wait for death, it was all strangulating me. Death. It was harder to wait for death, when you knew death so well, yet you didn't.

Adrian disappeared. He didn't pick up my calls or anything. And I was in no state to search for him. I was sick and tired. If I had to spend one more week in between these dull, peeling white walls, I'd skin myself. This place was driving me crazy. But of course, I wouldn't leave Dianna. If I had to, I'd spend a whole year in this hospital for her.

I was on my way back to Dianna's room, when I saw a familiar looking blonde guy, in a heated argument with the nurse on the desk. I paused to speculate him properly. I swear I had seen him before. He noticed, and his eyes widened in... recognition?

He started walking towards me, "Hey I've seen you before, aren't you Dianna's friend?" He asked, his voice boomingly loud.

"Umm... yes?" I replied, confused.

"Is she okay? They wouldn't let me in." He said, fidgeting nervously. The man was huge. His biceps alone was enough to intimidate the daylights out of you. Why does he look so familiar?

He noted my look of confusion, and shook his head in almost disbelief. "Don't you remember me? We saw each other in the bar, remember? Dianna and I went home together?" He said, prompting me to remember.

I recalled the night, and sighed in remembrance, "Ohhh yeah... I remember you. You're Jason right?" I asked.

"Yup, that's me alright. How is Dianna?" He asked.

"She's..." I hesitated, not quite knowing how to say, "She's in a pretty bad condition actually. According to the doctor, there's 85% chance that she won't... make it." I said, avoiding eye contact with his bright blue eyes.

He stayed silent for a while, when I looked up to see his face, it looked like he just witnessed a murder. "Can I-" His voice broke, "Can I see her?" He asked softly.

"Umm... yeah sure." I said, gesturing to follow me.

When we went in, he sat beside Dianna, not touching her but just staring at her. For a while, that's all he did. Occasionally he would gingerly touch her face, or brush a strand of hair, or just hold her hand. He looked grief-stricken. He obviously cared for her a lot. Watching them made feel like an outsider. It was so intimate. Even though all he was doing was staring at her.

I tried distracting him, asking about his life, where he studied. He was architecture, but his true passion was wrestling. Looking at his body, it wasn't even surprising.

He seemed easy-going, friendly but with Dianna, a cloud of tension stayed cemented on his face. We still talked, it felt good to talk to someone after being isolated for so long. Maybe if we had met under different circumstances, we could be good friends.

He stayed for hours, the whole day actually, until around midnight I convinced him to get some rest and come back next morning. He left hesitantly, and I was back in my own company, stuck in the boring plain room, with simultaneously beeping machines to sing me to sleep.

Just when I was on the brink of slipping into a dreamless haze of sleep, the hospital phone rang.

"Hello?" I grumbled.

"Hey Kiara, I'm calling from the reception downstairs, I left my phone in the room, could you give it to me?" Jason asked.

"Sure." I replied, locating his phone and heading downstairs.

He was standing in front of the desk when I got there, "Thank you so much." He thanked and apologized for making me bring it to him.

We said our goodbyes, and I head over to Dianna's room again. When I opened the door, I stopped breathing. He is here. He's here to take her.

He was wearing the black cloak, but his hood was down. He looked at me, with a ghost-like look in his eyes.

"What are you doing?" I asked, my breath getting shallower and shallower. He's gonna take her away.

He shook his head, "I'm not taking her. She will be fine." He said, walking around her bed, towards me.

I took a step back, "Where were you?" I asked cautiously.

"Away." He replied. When he saw my unshakable stare, he sighed and explained, "I had been called up. Remember I told you there will be consequences? That's what is happening. But I promise you, Dianna's going to be fine." He assured.

I was about to reply, when I caught movement from the corner of my eye, Dianna. She was awake. She mumbled incoherently, before opening her eyes halfway. "Why the hell does my mouth taste like cotton balls? Ew." She complained, her voice breaking in places. I rushed to her side, "My god Dianna. Do you feel okay?" I asked.

She squinted at me, the harsh lights hitting her eyes like laser beams. "Wow, you look like hell K." She smiled, tauntingly. I smiled back and pressed the button to call the doctor. "Ugh. I hate hospitals." She grumbled.

"I know." I replied, still smiling. She's okay. She didn't leave me. "We'll get you out of here. I promise." I placed a kiss on her forehead, as the doctor burst in.

They sent me and Adrian out to do a thorough check up on Dianna. We sat outside on the bench. The bench that I was sitting alone and crying on for the last few days.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't there for you." Adrian's smooth voice cut in the silence.

"This wasn't about me. And you had things to do. Responsibilities..." I drifted off, staring at the white tiles.

"Still, I should have been there." He insisted.

I sighed, raising my gaze to look at him. His forever messy hair fell onto his eyes, his eyes sad, his arms folded across his chest. He had changed his clothes at some point, I don't think anyone noticed. He was in a grey hoodie and jeans now. It felt like it had been an eternity since I've seen him. I wanted to crawl into his lap and engulf my senses into him. I wanted to crawl into him and stay in there forever. But of course, I couldn't.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"What do you mean? What did I do?" He asked back, trying his best to look genuinely dumbfounded.

"How did you save her?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him, making sure he knew I was not gonna take a bunch of crap for an answer.

"She didn't need saving. I told you she wasn't gonna die. I just made sure she recovered well. You both need each other." He said, fumbling with a loose thread in his hoodie.

"Thank you." I said, genuinely.

"Don't thank me just yet." He said, his grey eyes becoming steel.