Nine Lives

Thirty-Four: Jack

It's been three days since the fire and Alice is still hospitalized. I haven't left her side since they loaded her into the ambulance. Her face was blackened and charred, but somehow, she still looked stunningly beautiful and her hair is now cut to her jawline. Her green eyes haven't opened yet, she's still fighting though.

I sit by her hospital bed in one of those chairs; the chairs the hospital has just about everywhere, they're upholstered with a weird dark green and purple pattern, and they smell like baby wipes. I've been up for two days straight now, and my eyes have either been on the heart moniter, or her. Her chest rises and falls, but falters every few seconds.

Suddenly, a woman bursts through the door, a doctor. "Sir, would you mind stepping out?" I hold my ground, in a daze. "Sir?"

"What're you doin'?"

"X-Ray, that's why we need you out. Now," she nods towards the door. I silently walk out of the room and sit in a chair in the waiting room. And actually, right now, oblivion seems like the least of my worries.

✯✯✯✯✯

Last night was probably the worst night of my life. Everything spiraled downhill. I was about to pass out, my eyelids were heavy and I was extremely sleep-deprived. And then I heard it. The steady, eerie, echoing flatline. It rung through the white halls. It came from Alice's room. And it almost seemed like I was the one dying. But it wasn't me, it was her.

Despite being exhausted, I shot straight out of the chair and ran as fast as I could. It felt like time was slowing though, because when I ran, I just couldn't get there fast enough. It felt like a year before I finally got into her room and held her cold hand.

So this is what it's like. Watching someone you love die. Watching the life fade from their eyes and see their chest rise once more before becoming forever still. I do wonder what it's like though, for the other person. For the one finally feeling no pain. The one suffering no loss. I wonder if it's beautiful. It should be for Alice, she should go on. But I don't know. And these thoughts are choking me up.

In a sense you want the person to live a happier life, but in another, all you want is for them to be back in your arms.

"Hello, Jack," a voice says. I turn slowly, Mr. Lyanne stands in the doorway, a crestfallen expression settling over his Amber eyes.

"Hi, Sir. How are you doing?"

"It hurts."

"Me too."

"She was too young. I'll kill that Dahlia."

"Me too."

"You know Jack, I've never liked you very much."

"Nor I you." Mr. Lyanne smiles softly, looking older than usual. His hair is a dark silver but his face looks pale and sad.

"How could this happen?" I ask. It's to no one in particular though. I'm thinking aloud. My thoughts and emotions are too much, they're erupting and flooding me.

Mr. Lyanne looks from Alice's still body, to me, and back. "I don't know. But I do know, that no matter what she told you, that I abandon her, well, that part is true. I do leave often. But that's for another reason that you don't need to know. I did love her, and that's what matters. I would've done anything to protect my little girl. And now, I just want to give her one more hug or somethin'. It hurts a lot."

"I know. It's strange, all I want, all I want in this entire world, is for her eyes to flick open for a minute so I can tell her how much I loved her."

So, Mr. Lyanne and I walked out together, holding back tears, and we sat on those chairs that smelled like antiseptic baby wipes and talked.

✯✯✯✯✯

Two days ago, Alice died. I watched it happen. And now, two days later, I'm sitting in a cheap black chair in a graveyard. And it's horrible. Alice's still body lies in a box, it just doesn't seem right.

Mercury and Artemis sit by me, somehow concealing their Shifter powers. Mr. Lyanne stands far away, watching with a grim expression. Even all the girls and boys from school showed up. All the ones who hated her. Called her a witch. Maybe they feel sorry for her. Maybe.

As I stare at the carved wooden coffin, sitting on the grass, I realize something. My whole wor,d has practically fallen apart. Now that she's gone, every time I think of her, my throat hurts. My heart hurts. I just want to have her back. That's all I want. It hurts too much. I want to sob.

The local church's pastor says a few things, and they lower it. Artemis squeezes my hand and looks up with gentle eyes. Merc offers a smile.

"How you doing?" Artemis asks quietly.

"It sucks. It really, really sucks. She's dead. She's dead . . ." As I say it, it's all too real. You see, it's extremely hard to explain, but when someone dies, it feels like they're still there. It feels like any second, she's just gonna walk over to me. Like it was all a dream. But it wasn't, and I have the burn marks to prove it. I'm not gonna wake up for this nightmare. She's not gonna come back.

So, I sit there, thinking. Maybe that's all love is. A hopeless trap. I held onto Her, but we still fell. She fell. Our entire love story was just that, us fighting for who falls, for who tumbles into nothing. We fought, we tried, but it's true. Love is hopeless. Someday, you'll inevitably both end up falling into oblivion.

END OF BOOK ONE