𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐔𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 || 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥

Chapter 43 - Please Don't Go

I paced around the room, not being able to think, not being able to breathe. A groan emitted from my bed and I glanced over at my boyfriend, sick with worry.

Nothing had changed, nothing had gotten better. Chris was slowly fading and we all knew it. Meanwhile, Piper was having complications at the hospital - they'd prepped her for surgery immediately.

But still...the pain in my chest only intensified, the disbelief of the situation I was currently in sending shock waves through my system. I still couldn't believe this was happening. Leo had tried to heal him but to no avail - nothing worked. This was some other type of magic entirely - something even more powerful than Leo's skilled Elder knowledge. Something evil.

Paige had tried to come see Chris at the house but was barred when Daryl and Inspector Sheridan showed up uninvited. They managed to kick both myself and Paige out of there.

"Leo!" Paige called out, tears in her eyes as we panicked.

We needed to get back in there! Jingling suddenly sounded beside before Leo appeared in a swirl of blue-and-white orbs.

"Sorry. I was in the underworld looking for-" Leo started before cutting himself off as he glimpsed our tear-stained faces, "What's wrong?"

Suddenly, the door to my bedroom was pushed open as two SWAT members exited. Inspector Sheridan and Darryl followed shortly after, headed straight towards the three of us. I swallowed down a thick lump of fear that had formed in my throat.

"What's going on? What are you doing here?" Leo demanded angrily.

"Nothing. We didn't have to." Sheridan sniffed haughtily from beside Daryl.

I felt my breath catch in my throat.

"I'm sorry, Leo." Daryl told him softly, his eyes lingering then on Paige and I before they walked off.

Ignoring the two of them calling after me, I rushed into the room. It had only been an hour or two since they'd barred us from seeing him and yet, now Chris looked even worse. His skin was even paler than normal, the sheets drenched in his sweat as he grew weaker and weaker. A sob bubbled up from my lips as I knelt closer to him, Leo beside me as Paige hung back in the doorway.

"Chris Baby, I'm here now. You can...hold on, okay?" I soothed, trying to hold back my tears as I caressed the warm skin of his face before placing a chaste kiss on his forehead, "Hold on...hold on. I'm here,"

But I knew it was over, I knew it was all over. His fight was coming to an end - the darkening blood stain on his t-shirt told me that. But it was impossible to accept as I fought to keep breath in my body, feeling grief and anxiety rise up inside me like a tidal wave.

"You can hold on, okay?" Leo encouraged through his own tears, "Don't you give up, okay?"

Chris nodded slightly to his father, "You either."

I moved my hand to hold onto Chris', his green eyes growing dimmer by the second. It all came out in a sob then, unbidden from my mouth, "Please, don't go..."

He swallowed hard, his breath coming in shallow gasps now, "I'll always find you, Mattie. Always..."

Ever so slowly, his breathing slowed down until finally...no sound could be heard. Those beautiful green eyes I had fell in love with finally closed...for the last time.

"No, no, no. Please...no. No, please. No!" I cried out in a bitter sob, my chest heaving as the tears came in waves.

Paige began to cry in the doorway as Leo sobbed from beside me as Chris' body slowly dissolved into thin air, leaving the bed completely empty. As if he had never even been here in our lives at all. My heart shattered in my chest in that moment, knowing he was gone.

Chris was gone.

And this time...he was never coming back.