Abandoned

Chapter 46

Maddox POV

I had to be dreaming. This had to be a nightmare.

I wanted to wake up. I needed to wake up.

Maddie couldn't be in surgery. Maddie couldn't have been shot. Maddie couldn't have been dying.

It was impossible.

I was dreaming.

I shut my eyes tightly.

When I would open them, I would be back in my bed. Maddie would be sleeping peacefully beside me. Milo would be snoring on the other side of the bed. I would smile at Maddie and roll my eyes at Milo.

Everything would be okay.

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes.

Nothing was okay.

I wasn’t at home in my bed.

I was in the fucking waiting room, staring at a white wall, waiting for someone to tell me that my sister was alive.

I took a deep breath and released it slowly.

I needed to calm down before I punched a wall.

"You need to put pressure on it or else you will get a bruise, Milo." I heard Ryan sigh.

I looked to my left and saw Ryan holding a cotton ball on the inner side of Milo’s elbow. Milo was staring at the wall. Tears were falling down his cheeks. He looked completely broken.

I took his hand in mine and squeezed it. Milo didn’t even flinch.

"Are you holding the cotton ball, Max?" Ryan asked me.

I looked at him. He was completely distraught. He was pale, and his eyes were wide. He kept fussing over Milo and me, trying to distract himself from the fact that our Maddie was lying on the table in an OR right now.

"It stopped bleeding, Ryan." I said, looking back at my brother.

He and I donated blood for Maddie. She lost a lot of it.

"Milo." I called him softly.

He didn’t respond. He didn’t react in any way.

"Milo." I tried again, but he didn’t respond.

He didn’t even look at me.

I sighed and pulled him closer to me. I gently turned his head toward me. His eyes were completely empty. I wiped the tears from his cheeks and leaned my forehead on his.

"I am here, Milo." I mumbled quietly. "I am here. Maddie will be here soon. We will hold her in our arms soon. I promise, Milo. We will hold her, and we will never let go of her again. I promise."

"What if we never see her again?" Milo mumbled, making my heart stop.

I raised my head and cupped his cheeks.

"Don’t say that." I said, my voice trembling. "She will be okay. She will survive this. We are not losing her."

I didn’t want to live in a world where she didn’t exist.

Not again.

That world was a terrible place. It was cold and filled with pain and hatred. I didn’t want to go back to that world. I couldn’t go back to that world.

Milo gulped and started sobbing.

I pulled him into a tight hug.

"She will be okay." I mumbled. "I promise."