LOST IN HIS ARMS

ELORA's POV The fluorescent lights of the hospital never looked so bright, and yet, somehow, I didn’t care. My hands moved automatically, checking vitals, adjusting IV lines, responding to the rhythmic beep of monitors—but my mind was somewhere else. Somewhere far away. Home. To Nathan. To the life I thought I was building with him. I caught my reflection in the glass of the medicine cabinet and smiled, lifting my hand to look at the diamond on my finger. Our engagement ring. My little piece of forever. I twirled it absentmindedly, letting the flash of light catch the edges, a fragile promise I was desperate to hold. “You’re glowing, Elora,” Tami said, leaning lazily against the counter. Her eyes were sharp, playful, reading right through me. “Did someone slip you a love potion, or are you just hopelessly smitten?” I laughed, a hollow sound. “Maybe both. It’s Nathan. I feel like the luckiest woman alive.” She smirked. “Good for you. But don’t forget, no man can compete in this place. You’re practically married to the hospital at this point.” I rolled my eyes, but inside I was trembling with excitement. Only a few more hours until I’d be home. I could almost feel him—his hands brushing mine, his lips pressing on my hair, the warmth of his embrace. Tonight, I’d tell him about the new lamp I found, the corner of the apartment I’d redecorated, the life we were supposed to have together. I could literally tell him anything. He was my soulmate. From the minute I met Nathan, I knew he was the one, and I felt the universe kept giving me these confirmations with how fast he was to ask me out, move into his apartment and then ask me to marry him. Thinking of it made me giddy, and I felt like a teenager in love. By six o’clock, my shift was over. I practically floated through the hospital halls, waving to colleagues, promising to call if they needed anything, my bag swinging carelessly against my hip. My pulse thumped in my ears, each beat a drum of anticipation. The drive home was like eternity, the traffic was crazy, and I felt like just instantly having magical powers and making all those cars disappear. I couldn't do anything but sit tight and think of my love. I only saw Nathan—his smile, the crinkle in the corner of his eyes, the warmth in his voice. I imagined running into his arms and being held like I mattered. I pulled into our driveway, chest tight with anticipation. Home. Safety. Love. My future. I opened the door and announced,” Baby, I'm home." No reply. He could be in the kitchen trying to whip something up for me, I thought, plus he's always got ear pods on with loud music. He wasn't in the kitchen. That's odd. There wasn't any noise or water rushing from the bathroom, so I didn't even check there. Then I opened our bedroom door and….. And. I felt sick all of a sudden. I saw my Nathan, my….. My fiancé deep inside my best friend Sienna. Nathan. My Nathan. And Sienna. My best friend. Laughing. Kissing. Wrapping their arms around each other as though I didn’t exist. Time stopped. My stomach twisted. My throat constricted. My knees wobbled. My heart shattered into a thousand pieces. “s**t, s**t, s**t”, said Nathan, getting up quickly to stand in front of me naked. “Baby please, that was a mistake, it was, I promise, look at me baby, please, it wasn't meant to happen, my love." I couldn't look at the bastard, he wasn't wearing a thing. I just kept my eyes fixed on Sienna. She didn't even budge, she just sat there like she really wanted me to see this. I wasn't even thinking or listening, everything and everywhere had become a blur. Nathan was talking but I wasn't even hearing anything. I didn't know how long I stood, not feeling nor sensing. “No," I whispered, my voice barely audible. Rage, shame, heartbreak—it hit me like a wave. My body trembled. Tears blurred my vision. I wanted to disappear. I wanted the ground to open beneath me. I wanted to undo the world. I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t live in this life anymore. I ran. Out the door. Into my car. Into the night. The steering wheel dug into my palms as I pushed the accelerator harder than I should have. Lights blurred past. Streets melted into highways. Philadelphia disappeared behind me. I didn’t intend to drive out of Philadelphia. I should have just driven back to the hospital. But when I reached the highway, I didn’t turn around. I kept driving. And driving. Streetlights blurred into long streaks. My breath came shallow. My hands shook on the steering wheel. I wasn't thinking,I wasn't,I just kept driving and driving into the night. I crossed into New Jersey before I realized I had passed the city limit. My mind replayed the scene over and over—Sienna’s laugh, Nathan’s eyes, the sheets. The bed. Our bed. I drove through the night, tears streaking my face, hands shaking, my heart pounding so loud it nearly drowned out the engine. Adrenaline fueled me, numbing the exhaustion, the grief, the despair. Hours passed. I stopped only briefly for gas, inhaled cold coffee at a roadside diner, and a few minutes’ nap on a motel bed with the key barely in my hand. Nothing could stop me. I couldn’t stop myself. Every mile pushed me further from betrayal, from heartbreak, from the life that had been stolen from me. The road changed as the sun rose. Endless plains stretched on either side, the sky a bruised mixture of purple and orange. I drove through small towns that seemed frozen in time, their streets empty, the silence only emphasizing the chaos inside me. My body ached. My eyes burned. My chest ached. But still, I drove. By the second day, fatigue clawed at me. My arms ached from gripping the wheel, my vision blurred from sleeplessness, my mind foggy. But the highway called me onward. There was nothing left for me in Philadelphia anyway. I was left by my mother in front of a gas station in Philly when I was a month old and survived being bounced from one foster home to the other. Nothing was left but betrayal. Nothing but broken promises. I watched the landscapes change—the flat farmland giving way to rolling hills, then rugged mountains, pine forests stretching endlessly into the horizon. Utah wasn’t close, not yet. But I didn’t care. I just needed to keep moving. Keep running. Keep escaping. I took short breaks, stepping out of the car, breathing the crisp air, staring at the stars when the night was darkest, letting my tears fall freely. No one was there to judge me, no one to stop me. Just me and the open road. By the third day, the mountains of Utah rose like silent sentinels. The air was different here—crisp, sharp, clean. My car wound along narrow roads, the forest pressing in, the scent of pine heavy in the air. I felt small. And for the first time in days, I felt… lighter. But exhaustion had caught up. My eyes stung, my body shook, my head throbbed. I pulled over, resting my forehead against the wheel, trying to catch my breath. The silence was thick, almost suffocating, but it was also… peaceful. I didn’t know what awaited me in Utah or why I would stop here.I didn’t know who I would meet or what would happen.I just wanted to get away, it felt like I was driving further, I was relieving myself of every pain. I needed to keep going, until I felt lighter, until I could breathe again, until that image was wiped out of my memory. I started driving again, a wrong turn somewhere along the mountainside road, the headlights cutting through the dark, pine-scented night. My mind was empty. My body was exhausted. And then— A pair of headlights appeared out of nowhere. I stepped into the road, blinded by tears and fatigue. And then everything went black.