𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞

1

A gust of wind blows against my face, making my hair being swept up by the cool air, and rummaged around for a second before it lays down again.

My head is quiet. For once, it's quiet. It's almost ironic to think about, that in a moment like this it seems only then to be able to rest. In a moment where everything around me is the polar opposite of quiet, my mind is.

More people circle around the ambulance, and minutes later, I see them carry out a corpse. I wouldn't recognize it to be my brother, hadn't I touched it just a second ago. There's no color in his face, much less on his skin. His lips are almost colored completely blue, like he's shivering from the cold, and his eyes are vastly closed off, like he doesn't want to allow anyone spare a glance at his grey orbs.

Lucas tries to help as best as possible, but it's obvious he's not made for the job when he almost trips over his own feet. If it wasn't for this situation, I would've laughed. And Diego would've laughed with me.

But no sound is audible, and not even a grin appears on his face. He really looks dead. Maybe he already is. Maybe he secretly passed away, but the paramedics are just too afraid to tell us. Maybe this is all just a joke. Someone who's trying to prank us as as payback for I don't know what. I wish it was a joke. If someone would suddenly jump out of the ambulance, while laughing and pointing at us in humor, I would've even laughed along. Not because I find it to be a good joke, but out of relief.

But no one jumps out of the ambulance when it drives away, on its way to save someone else. Maybe there's someone else who's suffering from the same exact thing as my brother is right now.

The people who've crowded around my unconscious brother all follow the stretcher inside the hospital, and in my daze, I decide to follow too.

The lights in the hospital building flicker, but still manage to blind my with tears swollen eyes.

It's only now that I actually notice the presence of my crutches, which have been carrying me this whole time. It has almost become second nature.

Confusion rises up in my head when I see all those paramedic and nurses enter a room with thick glass doors, and I see Lucas trailing behind and dropping down on one of the plastic chairs outside of that room.

Of course they wouldn't let us in. They have to perform surgery. Or maybe they're putting him in a body bag, after having cleaned all the blood and gore off of him. Maybe they're even already cremating him, without us having a chance to say goodbye to him. Would they do that? Would they restrict us from bidding our own family goodbye? I don't know. Maybe they are familiar with our family's history and decide we deserve it.

I drop next to Lucas and stare at that closes off glass door absently.

"Eleandro, Adrian and Javi will be here." Lucas tells me, but I don't know if he wants to reassure me or himself.