Wildfire

(31)

Kenneth Deora

Gianna ran up to me when I had seen the entire building. "There's nothin-"

"There's an underground system." She said like it was her last breath. "There are no cameras to access but there's a slight network in one of them.

"Lead the way." I followed her as she stared at her phone and found a weak wooden covering. "Move." I told her as I pried it open and she jumped inside. I follow her through the narrow openings in the wooden walls. My claustrophobia was going to love this.

"FUCK!" Gianna kicked the walls. "What?" My nerves were about to explode.

"I lost network." She said. "Go back. I'll find her." She was about to argue and as if on cue a drop of liquid fell on my face. I winced when she shined the flashlight on my face. "Blood." She beat me to it. "There's something above us."

"So how do we get up there?" She paused before she spat out the worst idea known to man. "Can you break a floorboard?" At that moment I'd break it even if it was metal.

I punched the board on top of me as the wooden crumples up. Another punch and there was a hole. "Wait let me go first. You're taller and if you find her up there there is no way I'm ever getting up there." I nodded helping her climb through the hole.

"Holy fuck." Was all she said before telling me to climb.

This reminded me of the way Mariana made me climb a wall on our first date. I climbed up to see 2 bodies both soaked in blood. The first one didn't matter because the other one was her. It was my wildfire.

I picked her up. My heart shattered into fine powder seeing her soaked in blood, torn apart and cut. "I'm gonna get you home, baby, wake up." My voice cracked embarrassingly but I didn't care.

"I got you, fire, I always got you." My eyes shot towards Gianna when Mariana says nothing. "I found a staircase we can leave. Get her to a doctor." I took my shirt off wrapping it around Mariana before running up the stairs.

Just as I was about to leave she moved. "Ke-" Her pain knocked the air out of my lungs. "Yes, Wildfire?" I tried to not let my tears fall on her. "Burn."

"Gianna, I need a lighter." She looked at me shocked for a minute before tossing it at me. "I'd burn everything on the face of this earth for you, love." I flicked it on and tossed it near the stairs we came from watching the fire erupt.

"RUN!" Gianna's voice made me register what I just did. We ran to the car. "Can you speed?" I said tossing the keys at her. I didn't want Mariana to sit alone right now.

Gianna sped through the roads as we headed to the ER.

"Wake up, baby, say something please." I begged. No response. I placed her on a stretcher as she was sent into emergency.

After around 5 minutes of pacing the hall, a doctor approached us. "Sir we need a blood relative to sign this." They handed me a surgery form. "I can sign it." I said without wasting a second. "Do you have a blood relation?" He asked me.

"No."

"Then I'm sorry. You can't sign-"

"She's my wife." I cut them off. They eyed me suspiciously before nodding. "Very well then. Sign here and here." I signed wherever they needed me to.

"Is she gonna be okay?" I asked. They look at me pitifully before patting my shoulder. "We'll try our best."

I told Gianna to go home and get some rest, and also got her some snacks. She helped more than she realised or maybe she realised and she's just humble. I still had no idea how she figured out I had overdosed. But it didn't matter.

+=={:::::::::::::::::>

I was pulled out of my thoughts by a man standing beside me. "So wife?" I didn't bother asking how and why it mattered. "Yes?" He nodded. "Interesting."

My nerves wrecked havoc as this expressionless man kept asking me questions. "You are?"

"Elijah Harper." I've heard the name but I don't exactly remember where. I was too tired to jog my memory. "And I should know that because?" He kept a blank face.

"Apparently your wife and I are best friends?" He said, making me nod. "So when's the wedding?" I looked away, embarrassed at being caught in a lie. I hoped he didn't tell the hospital.

"I didn't propose yet." I said quietly enough that the staff didn't hear. Not that I had the energy to be loud anyways. The whiskey was catching up so fast. It was the sheer adrenaline keeping me up.

"So propose?" He suggested so nonchalantly. As if it was that easy. She was Mariana for god's sake. She couldn't stay in a room for too long let alone a marriage.

"In a hospital? While she's unconscious?" I tried to change the topic. Which clearly didn't work.

"Yeah, propose right now. Maybe the monitor will give you a yes or no." He said in an unamused tone. "You're more excited than me." I deadpanned back.

"No. I'm just smarter." He shrugged.

"You don't know if she'll say yes or not." I tried to hide the nervousness I had about the topic. "I do." His nonchalance was making me more nervous.

"So she told you if I proposed to her she'd say yes or did she write about it in her unicorn diary?" I half-heartedly deadpanned.

"First. She'd have a hyena diary if anything. And second. I knew you were here without being told." He did have a point. "I know everything, plus half the time she'd talk about you."

That earned him my attention. "Good things?" Why the fuck was I so nervous.

"No, she said how much she wanted to throw you in a volcano." Considering it was Mariana I had to ask. "Is that sarcasm?"

"It is, you dumbfuck. How the fuck does she tolerate you." He ran a hand through his hair in what I guessed was frustration.

"Ouch." The doctors didn't say anything but still I texted a few blood banks just in case.

"Do you want help or no?" He asked directly. It was no brainer. Obviously I was going to ask my girl's apparent best friend to help me propose.

"Fine yes I do but at least let her get out of danger."

"Then stop bitching and yelling at me, otherwise I'm walking out and leaving you here to question your entire existence."

Before I could respond a doctor came up to me. "You can see her now." My feet moved before I even processed her words. I stopped as I caught sight of her.

+=={:::::::::::::::::>

I watched as she laid there, bandaged all over with deep cuts and bruises and how she was still the most beautiful woman in the world. "I'm sorry, wildfire." I whispered as I walked closer to her. Hating myself for the 8 days I made her live through hell.

"Kenneth?" Her eyes fluttered open. The green in her eyes so fucking vibrant. "Yes, Wildfire?" I brushed the hair off her face.

"I love you too."

+=={:::::::::::::::::>