Forever.

Chapter 17: He's Dead

Claire's P.O.V. (Continued)

My heart drops to my feet and I can't breathe. The long beep continues and the doctors are frantic.

"No." I whisper to myself as tears well up in my eyes.

A doctor presses two handles to Braden's bare chest.

"Clear!" The doctor yells. Braden's entire body clenches and relaxes. The beep stays long. All of the doctors nod. "Clear!" He yells. Braden's body clenches again.

"No." I whisper. Tears flow down my face as I stand at the window in disbelief.

No.

No.

No.

He can't be gone. He's not gone. This isn't happening. This is all just a big nightmare, and I'm going to wake up soon. My face is soon soaked in tears and I'm sobbing uncontrollably. My knees lose all feeling and I sink down.

"Excuse me, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave this area." I hear a female voice say. I look up and there's a nurse and a security guard standing over me. My heart rate increases more than it already was. I look up at them, but I drop my head and start crying again. I feel hands grip my arms and lift me up. I'm on my feet, and they're pushing me towards the front of the building.

I turn around and see the doctors performing CPR, and there's still a flat line on the monitor.

"No!" I yell as I try to kick so I can go back. "No! Let me go! Braden!" I yell as I cry.

"Claire!" I hear someone yell. I look forward and see Zeke standing in the middle of the room. He comes running to the security guard. "It's okay, I got her." He says. The guard releases my arms and Zeke takes my hand. "Everything's gonna be okay." He says.

"No it won't! Let me go back!" I yell as I yank my hand away.

"Hey hey hey, you just need to let the doctors do their job. He's going to be okay." He says calmly.

"No he won't! He died! He's dead in there! I have to see him!" I yell as tears run down my face.

"Doctors are trained for this." He says calmly.

"I just have to see him! Dead or not!" I yell. My body goes numb and I fall to my knees. My body racks with sobs and Zeke places his hand on my back. I drop my head and take heavy breaths.

I can't believe it.

He's gone.

It hurts me even more that the last time I saw him, he was in pain.

He saved me.

He made me leave him so I could get out.

If I knew that was our last kiss, I never would have stopped. If I knew that was the last conversation we would have had, I never would have shut up. If I knew that was the last time I would have seen him, I never would have left. He holds a special place in my heart, along with many memories.

I remember when we met. Oh god, when we met. Mr. Clear assigned me to sit with him, and we were wearing the same shirt. But that's not what made me fall for him. What made me fall were his looks. He was the most handsome guy there was. And on top of that, he helped me during the fire drill. I know he said that he was thankful for the fire drill, and I am too. He changed my life, and I ended his.

I remember our first date. I was really hesitant at first because I was shy. I also didn't want to hurt him, but I just had a feeling that we had something special.

I remember the first time he kissed me. It was perfect. I could tell he was nervous about it by the way his voice shook a little. But that nervousness just made him ten times cuter to me. Now that I know, I could tell that was his first time kissing someone. It was my first time too, but I hope I wasn't that nervous. He would kiss me softly, then passionately, and then hard. He didn't really know what he was doing, and it was adorable. But after that time, he was gentle all the time, and passionate when he needed to be.