He Was Her All

Chapter 14: Against Time and Life

Mariana was suddenly pushed to the side as the bullet drove past her. She stopped herself from landing face down on the floor as something warm splattered across her back.

When she turned around, she screamed in horror as she saw Micah stumble backward, clutching his chest.

There was a dark stain painted on his shirt and across his face. When he removed his hand, blood as dark as wine covered his whole palm.

He hissed as he leaned up against a wall. Mariana quickly rushed to his side.

"Micah!" She leaned and propped him up. Micah fidgeted in pain and clenched his fists while sharply sucking in air.

Mariana unbuttoned his shirt and where the bullet hit, a torrent of blood flowed out as his chest heaved up.

"No Micah... no....no...no," She panicked and tried to steady him with her shaky hands.

Micah coughed out blood profusely, his breaths were sharp and his chest was filled with excruciating pain. Mariana was still bent over him, trying to keep himself awake.

"Someone help!" She screamed amongst the crowd, desperate to get help as quickly as possible.

Leilani and Miguel heard the commotion and ran over to them.

"What happened?!" She exclaimed alarmingly, noticing Micah bleeding on the floor.

"S-Someone from the crowd tried to shoot me but Micah pushed me out of the way and now he's b-b-bleeding," She cried out and cradled Micah's head in her arms.

"Oh no... okay first we need something like a towel to stop the bleeding and then as soon we get onto land, we'll take him to the hospital."

Leilani bent down to Micah's level as Miguel quickly got her a towel. She started to press it hard against his chest. Micah tried to scream but his suffocating airways let out a mere wisp of air that fell on deaf ears.

As Leilani compressed harder, Micah's thoughts wavered over the pain and the cacophony of voices that blurred in his eyes. He heard the rhythm of his life as it began to slowly dim out of existence.

He was at the edge of the abyss, on the brink of life and death, and the thought of never being able to see the sweet sounds of daylight, never being able to embrace his family again and achieve his life long dream, all these resulted in a heavy feeling laid on top of his broken chest, a somber downfall like the tear that escaped his eye. He then came to the realization that his young life amounted to nothing. He was brought into this world as nothing and was going to die just the same.

Before the deathly, suffocating darkness that was about to enclose him, he saw Mariana holding his hand against her cheek while weeping over his dying body.

Seeing her cry over him made him realize another thing...

If he doesn't make it, he would never get to see that she's finally safe from Xavier and that someone will not try and kill her. He will never get to see that smile of freedom painted on her face and the hidden fear that she will be captured again.

He will never get to see that...

With that last thought lingering mockingly in his dying state, with the last bit of struggle to stay awake, he fell into a deep sleep.

****

When the boat hit the shores, they called an ambulance and it soon came.

As they were riding towards the hospital, Mariana looked over at Micah's motionless body. She was glad he was finally in safe hands but she felt an overwhelming sense of guilt wash over her subconscious.

Because of her, Micah was now fighting for his life. She couldn't bear to look at his motionless body with a tube up his nose without a pang of pain straight through her heart.

She didn't mean for all this to happen, she didn't mean for anyone to get hurt, but it seemed like anywhere she went trouble seemed to follow and now an innocent person was going to die on her account. She thought it was best if they never crossed paths if she never escaped and just stayed in Xavier.

She had already lost so many people and she didn't want to lose her Micah too.

She glanced up at Micah one final time before looking down at the ground.

She was very sorry for everything that happened and she definitely wanted to tell him that but it wasn't possible.

When the ambulance reached the hospital, the paramedics quickly wheeled Micah in while Mariana, Leilani, and Miguel sat in the waiting room.

"Do you think he's going to be alright?" Mariana murmured.

"Of course, he's in safe hands now," Leilani replied.

"I just hope they save him before it's too late," She cried out, her feelings of sorrow and guilt pouring out between the cracks of her lamented soul.

"Hey, it's going to be alright, they will take good care of him, and soon enough, he will be out," Leilani soothed in a reassuring voice and gave her hand a squeeze.

A few minutes later, a nurse approached them with some documents in her hand.

"Hello, are you the people that came with Micah Pérez?"

"Yes, we are."

"Okay, so the good news is, we've managed to control the bleeding. We are going to run a few scans to see how much damage the bullet has caused and we may need to do surgery."

"But is he going to be okay?" Mariana inquired.

"We can't say for sure but once we find what needs to be repaired, we will fix it and make sure he survives."

"Okay thank you so much."

"No problem."

Mariana got up with the others as they walked out of the hospital. The night was icy cold and they were very far away from the hotel.

"Are you going to be okay Mariana?" Leilani asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Miguel asked.

"I'll be fine, thanks for all your help."

"Okay, Mariana, see you later," Leilani grabbed hold of Miguel's hand and waved as they started walking into the distance.

Mariana waved back and called a taxi.

When it came, she got in quickly and it drove off into the dead of the night. Mariana sighed and leaned against the window, staring up into the stars as her melancholy breaths fogged up the glass.

She let out a pitiful sigh. She couldn't get the image of Micah's still body laying there with blood oozing out. She just wished she could turn back the events of time and they would still be in their hotel. All safe with no harm in their way.

Her eyelids slowly blinked back misty tears that reflected the haziness of the night. Her hands were burning hot just like her heart as she glared at their crimson state. She missed his warm touch, his glowing caring eyes that went out of their way to make sure she was safe.

He took a bullet for her...

He was willing to risk his life just to save hers...

She felt like she didn't deserve someone as pure as him. He was way too good for her and now his future seems to be in peril all because of her.

When the taxi stopped in front of the hotel, she sluggishly got out and looked tiredly upon the building. She sighed and shook her head before walking in.

When she got into the room, she climbed into Micah's bed and laid her head against the pillow. It was chilled from being unused but Mariana just stared at the blank wall ahead.

It's all her fault the voice in her head berated her. It shrieked with spite as her conscience reviled against her. Her head pained like an agitated burn.

From the wall ahead, she saw the wall bleeding out as blood dripped to the floor. Mariana rubbed her eyes but the sight before her remained. It grew more and more as the sounds of Micah's deathly cry pierced her ears. She couldn't take the torture her mind gave her.

"Make it stop, make it stop!" She cried out in pain as the gunshots echoed like a howl in her mind. She twisted and turned, covering her ears to escape her agony and torment.

She dug underneath the covers and squirmed around in trepidation that even her sweat was trying to escape.

"Please be okay Micah, please..." She murmured sorrowfully into the covers.