Two Hearts In One Home

Shock and denial

This one is for you thetwohollanders ❤

One second he was there, vibrating with life, and then he just stopped to exist. 28 seconds. That was how long it took for his lover to die. 28 seconds for that car to crash into his boyfriend's car, making him crash.

It felt like forever when we spun around but Louis counted the seconds with his eyes closed. In 28 seconds his life as he knew it was over.

They were thrown around. It felt like everything went in slow motion. He could hear everything. Glass breaking, a loud bang, Ethan screaming. The car stopped and everything went silent.

Louis peered one eye open. He couldn't see Ethan in the corner of his eye and turned his head, straining his neck. Ethan wasn't there. He looked straight ahead. The window wasn't there anymore. Ethan was laying on the hood. He never wore a seatbelt. Something they had argued about many times until Louis gave up.
"Ethan!"

He panicked. Tried to remove his seatbelt but it was stuck. He couldn't get out of the car. He shouldn't move anyway. He had no idea how injured he was but his focus was on his fiance.
"Ethan! Answer me!" He shouted.

Ethan didn't reply. He didn't move. Louis fumbled with the seatbelt again and managed to get it off. He managed to crawl out of the car. Cut his hand on some broken glass. His legs couldn't hold him up and he fell to the ground and crawled to the front of the car.

He looked up. Ethan's face was bloody and Louis gasped. He managed to stand up and checked Ethan's pulse. It was there, faintly.
"Stay alive. I'll get help!"

He began to search his pockets for his phone but he couldn't find it. Suddenly he heard voices and looked up. A man and a woman came running.
"We've called an ambulance!"

Louis let out a breath of relief. His head was fuzzy so he had to sit down.
"He's alive. I don't want to move him. Please check his breathing, his pulse."

It took the ambulance ten minutes to get there. It felt like a lifetime. Louis was in shock. He felt numb. They were rushed to the hospital. They took care of his cut and bruises. Ethan was rolled into another room. All he wanted was to be in there with him. As soon as he was patched up he wanted to get up.
"Take it easy. You were very lucky."

He didn't feel lucky. Not when Ethan was in another room fighting for his life. They wouldn't let him inside the room. He sat down outside, waiting. An hour later a doctor approached him.
"Mr. Tomlinson?"

"Yes, how's Ethan?" Louis asked and stood up.

"Mr. Lawrence had severe injuries at arrival. We did everything we could but Mr. Lawrence had severe head trauma and show no brain activity. Right now he's hooked to a life support system breathing for him but I'm sorry to have to inform you that Mr. Lawrence is braindead." The doctor said.

Louis stared at the doctor trying to take it all in. It felt like he was trapped in a bubble. The doctor's words sounded muffled. His eyes teared up.
"Are you telling me that he's dead?"

"Yes. I'm sorry for your loss. Do you know if Mr. Lawrence is an organ donor?" The doctor asked but Louis was stuck on the dead part. He fell to his knees and let out deep sobs. This couldn't be happening.

The doctor put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. Louis looked up at him with a tear-drenched face.
"Can I see him?"

"Of course. Come with me." The doctor said.

Louis managed to get up and followed the doctor into a room. His heart almost stopped at the sight of his fiance. He walked over to the bed and hesitantly took his hand.
"There's no chance he'll wake up?"

"No." The doctor confirmed.

"I... He's an organ donor. He would want that. Can I have some time alone with him?" Louis asked with a trembling voice.

"Of course. Is there any family we can contact?" The doctor asked.

"Uhm, yeah." Louis muttered. The doctor handed him a pen and a notebook and he wrote down the number to Ethan's parents.

He almost let out an inappropriate giggle. He and Ethan had been together for three years, lived together for two, and engaged for one year. Ethan's parents still referred to him as Ethan's friend or roommate. They had never accepted that their son was gay.

They had been on their way to Ethan's childhood home to celebrate his mother's birthday when the accident happened. They even fought about it earlier in the day. Louis didn't want to go but Ethan had told him that he had to, that his parents would come around eventually but that wouldn't happen if he stayed away. He couldn't care less about what Ethan's parents thought about him now because he and Ethan didn't have a future together anymore.

The doctor left to make the call. Louis took a seat. He stared at his fiance for a while. He looked like he was sleeping. The machine was breathing for him. It felt like he was stuck in a nightmare. Some twisted joke, where Ethan would wake up and scream "Got you!"

He started crying again. He buried his nose in the crook of Ethan's neck and cried his heart out.
"Damn it, Ethan! I told you repeatedly that you needed to wear a seatbelt. You're so stupid!"

After a while, he started pleading instead.
"Please wake up, don't leave me! I love you!"

He got an hour alone with Ethan before his family arrived. Louis stepped back. He had his moment to say goodbye. Even if he was paralyzed with grief Ethan's family deserved the same because Ethan loved them.

Ethan's mum immediately protested against Ethan donating his organs.
"We're Catholics! He needs all his parts to get into heaven!" She screeched.

The doctor tried to calm her.
"Ethan is in the organ donation register. He wanted this."

"I'm his mother. I should get to decide that!" Mrs. Lawrence said upset.

Louis felt like it was time to step in.
"Laura, we have to honor Ethan's wish. He wanted to donate his organs and he's not a catholic."

Laura stared at him like he had lost his mind.
"We raised him a catholic. You don't know what you are talking about."

"I'm not trying to be disrespectful but Ethan is...was my fiance. He left the church since they couldn't accept him. This is Ethan's choice." Louis said firmly.

"That's preposterous!" Laura gasped.

Louis didn't have the strength to do this but he had to for Ethan. They spent half an hour arguing until Ethan's family finally caved. Louis said his last goodbyes before Ethan was rolled into an OR to harvest his organs. Louis sat down. He was exhausted. And sad. So sad.