Unexpected // sm

Chapter 68

    I wanted to go talk to Aaliyah. But I didn't have to. This morning, she came in and stood facing out the window. It wasn't quite light yet, but I could see the expression on her face. I half expected her to ask me to leave so she could be alone with Shawn. But I sat there, waiting for her to break the silence. My hands rang themselves together in my lap, anxiety over taking me. Finally she turned to look at me.

    "I'm sorry. It's not true what I said, it's not your fault when he dies." She said, running a hand through her hair quickly. "I'm so scared, Mykenna. I'm just so scared for him." She started to break down, her voice taking a high pitch. I stood up and brought her into me. She didn't resist, wrapping her arms around my waist. She was about three inches shorter than me, and we fit perfectly in an embrace. I don't remember ever hugging her before.

    But I pulled her closer, knowing that she need to be comforted more than I did at the moment. Her big brother, I couldn't even imagine the thoughts in her head. She was so young, too young to lose a brother. I knew they had drifted apart this summer, but he told me she was so excited that he was going back up to Toronto to see them. They were going to repair their relationship, but he never made it there.

    "I never even told him I loved him. I hadn't since the beginning of summer. I was so angry at him for the person he was turning into, I didn't know that the real him was still there. I didn't know he was still there, my brother." Aaliyah was shaking. I could feel her breaking just as I had. I didn't know how to make it okay. There was no reasonable way to comfort her. I couldn't lie to her. It was easy to say it would be okay, but we both knew I didn't mean it. But I didn't know how to tell her to not worry. Shawn had 24 hours to wake up, or she would never get to tell him she loved him.

    I hated to say that. I hated to act like he was already dead. I still felt like this was all a sick joke. How can someone so eccentric, so lively, be laying there dying? It wasn't fair that this was happening. I was utterly pissed at the world. Stuff like this doesn't happen to people like Shawn. He's far too amazing and out right astounding to have to endure this. I wanted with everything in me to be able to save him. I just had to hope he wouldn't succumb to this tragedy.

    Aaliyah looked up at me saying, "We have to talk to my parents. I tried to but they won't listen. I told them to wait. I know he's going to wake up, but he needs time. Shawn wouldn't leave us unless he had no choice. He has to be fighting somehow. What can we do?" Her eyes were too hopeful for the situation. But she was right. I knew that he wouldn't leave us, sure as hell wouldn't leave her unless he had no other option. He wouldn't have been here this long if he wasn't trying to get back to me.

    It sounded so weird saying he was fighting. He wasn't even moving. In the back of my mind, I knew he was trying to wake up. I just wish I could help him in any way possible at this point. I knew how I could, and Aaliyah would help. I grabbed her hand gently before going to find Shawn's parents.