Deliverance [h.s.]

seventy-three | to build a home

And I built a home

For you, For me

To Build A Home || The Cinematic Orchestra

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This is apart of a quadruple update, be sure to read chapter 72 before starting this one. Enjoy babies <3

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Life is fragile, delicate.

In an instant, the world as you know it can change. One simple action could alter everything; forever. A bad phone call, an accident, a car crash, a gunshot and it's all over.

My ears are ringing, burning with a searing pain from the sound of a single close shot. I'm on the floor but I'm not sure how I got here. I was up, we were walking arm in arm and now I'm face down against the scorching dirt. My neck is kinked to the right but as I work to pull it over, to search for my family; i can't move.

Screams and shouts are barely audible in my still buzzing ears but the lack of returned gunfire settles a nerve in me.

Maybe it was an accident.

Maybe I fell.

Maybe I'm dead or dying and this is what entering hell is like but I know I'm not.

I know I'm alive because I can feel the familiar warmth of blood coating my exposed skin.

I know I'm alive because I've been shot before and this doesn't hurt like it had then.

I know I'm alive because there's blood on me and it's not mine.

Alarm bells, sirens, scream inside of me and I fight against the weight of my body to pick my head up. Harry and Jax are in front of me guns drawn, shouting a mix of words I can't begin to make out. I drag my face against the rough dirt, turning to my left to see a spot where Elias should be, but he's not.

He's up, stumbling with his palms pressed to his ears. His eyes are searching frantically and his mouth is moving but nothing is coming out as I follow his gaze to the floor beside me.

Mac is face down just a mere feet from me, his eyes wide open on me but he's not moving.

"Mac," My voice is a hoarse broken whisper, a plea, a prayer as I drag my skin against the rocks to him.

Blood is pooling around us now, still warm with life. It feels like hours before my palms grasp his motionless shoulders to jolt him out of the trance he's stuck in, to snap him back to reality.

"Mac," I begged once more as I pulled him to me, his broken and open skull displayed before me, "No- no, no, no. No-no. No. Please, no."

I'm trying to scream for help but nothing comes out of my mouth as I work to put his head back together, pressing firmly against the brains and blood flowing from the hole in the back of his skull.

I'm cradling his lifeless body in my lap, my hands crimson red as I press my body's weight against him because I can fix this.

I have to fix him.

He's going to be okay.

I'm going to make sure he's okay.

On instinct, I'm rocking him softly as his life continues to spill onto me, "Shh, it's going to be okay, Mac. I've got you. You're going to be okay." His eyes are open, staring blankly with his face frozen in time, "Please-please be okay."