A Love Not Forgotten

Chapter 1: The Beginning

{CHAPTER MUSIC SELECTION: Au Revoir by OneRepublic}

Gunshots. All you hear are gunshots. Endless numbers of them. And screams...so many screams.

The ambulance jerks to a halt, and you burst out from the back to help the next victim in. He's in bad shape, with a gunshot to the neck. There's blood everywhere. It doesn't look good...he looks like someone that won't make it. But no, you won't let yourself think that. You'll help him.

The scene around you is one of horror. An apartment building had collapsed - the reason still unknown - and 95% of the people there had been killed. On top of that, there'd been an ambush by an unknown group of attackers, and they'd shot many of the remaining people alive. Bodies were everywhere. Smoke was still in the air, making your eyes water up and filling up your lungs. And the smell...the smell was horrible. You couldn't focus on it. It was almost too much.

You turn your attention back down to the man being put on the stretcher. His clothes are badly burnt, and he's covered in blood. A bullet wound is fresh with blood on his neck. He's barely conscious - you know if he lets himself slip into the darkness that he'll never come back. He's loosing far too much blood to wake up again.

"Sir! Sir! Can you hear me?" you cry out. "Don't shut your eyes. Don't go to sleep. Listen to my voice. Can you tell me your name?"

His eyes flutter open and waver, as though he's trying to focus on you. He winces in pain as he tries to speak.

"Matthew..." he chokes out. "Mmmmmmy name is Matthew..." his voice trails off weakly as he struggles to breath evenly.

"Okay, Matthew, you're going to be okay. You got shot, but we're going to get you to the hospital. I want you to talk to me, okay? Keep your eyes open, and don't let yourself fall asleep," you say clearly, lifting him into the back of the ambulance. Your colleague hops in with you and begins to attend to the wound on his neck.

"It hurts so bad..." Matthew whispers, meeting your gaze.

You look at him sadly. "I know it does. We're going to get you on morphine right now. It'll help the pain some. Now look...tell me something about you, Matthew. Anything you want. Or tell me something happy."

He looks up at you, his eyes barely staying open. You rest your hand on his, and just as you do, a spark of electricity flies through your body. It's more than just one of those shocks from heat, or rubbing on something and getting too much static. This is something far more than that.

You pull your hand back, trying to convince yourself it was just a skin shock, and nothing more. In that moment, you get your first good look at Matthew. Even though there's blood and burns all over him, you see through that. He's very handsome. Very, very handsome.

Something in you burns for him. You want to protect him. You want those beautiful hazel eyes to stay open, to look into yours. And then you want so much more than that, too. You want to see him get better, see him smile, see him healthy. And so in that moment, you promise to make that happen.

"Matthew?" you ask loudly, making sure he stays awake.

"I didn't - I didn't wear mismatching socks today - I - I couldn't... That's why this happened, I - " he says weakly, unable to finish his sentence. His eyes begin to roll back in his head.

"Matthew! Matthew!" you begin to yell. No. No. Open those beautiful eyes again, you think to yourself. You grab his hand and turn to your colleague. "We're losing him!"

The machines all begin to beep loudly, and panic rushes through your veins. You start to scramble around, doing all you can to stop the beeping and stabilize Matthew. He can't die. Not here. Not now. Not yet.