Wishes In The Dark - A Peterick Fanfiction

Seven

My eyes snap open.

I blink.

I blink again.

I blink once more, to make sure what I'm seeing is correct.

Kevin has no heart rate.

He has no heart rate...

MY BROTHER HAS NO HEART RATE.

That means...he's dead...

Panic rising inside me like boiling water, I shake my brother's body.

"Kevin," I say desperately. "Kevin!"

I shake him more furiously, wishing that I could force life into him. But the screens tell me all I need to know.

My brother has no heart rate. My brother is dead.

My desperate tears are like waterfalls now, and I can't stop them from flooding from my eyes.

I look around to the door. Pete is still there, watching me, but now he has a shocked frown on his face.

"Pete," I cry helplessly.

He gasps, calls for some help, and rushes in to comfort me in my river of tears.

Some nurses rush in and crowd round Kevin's bed. I can't see what they're doing.

"Let me see him," I order, trying to push the nurses out the way. "LET ME SEE MY BROTHER!"

"Shhhhh, Patrick," utters Pete, holding me back. "It's okay."

But suddenly I feel faint. With Pete holding me in place, I sink to my knees and start hyperventilating.

"Patrick?" questions Pete.

I can't reply.

He calls for one of the nurses to tell her that I'm fainting. Everything's a blur. My vision, my hearing, my feelings...everything.

The last thing I hear before the world turns black is the muffled voice of one of the nurses:

"Time of death – 20:42pm."

-----

I'm opening my eyes.

Pete is above me. I look around. I'm lying on the floor of Kevin's hospital room with my head on Pete's lap.

"He's awake," Pete says to someone I can't see from the floor.

A doctor comes over to us and helps sit me up.

"Hello Mr Stump," says the doctor. "I'm Doctor Harper. I just want to say..."

"Where's my brother?" I ask. "Where's Kevin?"

Doctor Harper points to the hospital bed behind us. "He's on that bed. Are you aware of what's happened?"

I think back to before I passed out.

"I remember glimpses...Kevin was dying, and nurses gathered round to try and revive him...someone said something about 20:42..."

Pete and Doctor Harper exchange a sombre glance, then look back to me.

"Mr Stump," says Doctor Harper. "I'm afraid 20:42pm was your brother's time of death."

I blink. Again and again and again. I don't really know what to do.

"I'm sorry," says Doctor Harper as I start to cry. "We did everything we could."

I keep blinking. Something has to happen; this can't be real. I can't be here right now, surely? And Kevin...Kevin can't be dead. What's going on? Is this a nightmare?

But if it's just a dream, why am I crying so much?

"I don't understand," I frown. "Kevin can't be dead...there must be something wrong."

I try to shake out of Pete's grasp, but he holds onto me tighter.

"Patrick," says Pete softly. "There's nothing wrong. Your brother passed away."

And that's the spark - I break down into a flood of tears. I feel my life collapse on top of me. I feel Pete holding me and trying to shush me, but with no success.

My brother is dead?!

"I'll leave you two alone," says Doctor Harper, leaving the room.

My constant sobbing is deafening, but it's also unstoppable.

"You know, when my uncle died," says Pete in a surprisingly positive tone. "I was full of disbelief, like you are now. I was like, this can't be happening. Something must be wrong...but in the end, you learn to accept, and you learn to move on. Your life moves on no matter who's in it or not in it."

I shake my head. "You don't understand," I sob. "My life can't move on without him. I'm living in his apartment. He's paying the bills. He's taking me to school. He's looking after me. Without him...I have nowhere to go. My sister's on a two-month vacation with her boyfriend, and if I tell her what's happened it'll ruin their time together. And I'm stuck here..."

There's a sob-filled pause, before Pete says: "You can live with me."

I look up at him and sniff.

"Live with you?" I ask.

"I've got an apartment with my brother. You can live with us until your sister comes home, I'm sure Andrew will be fine with it. In fact, I don't even care what he thinks. You need this, and it's kinda my fault that this happened, isn't it?"

On instinct, I shake my head. "No, it was that guy who played cat and mouse with my brother."

"But he was in my group." Pete sighs. "I'm so sorry, Patrick. I never should've let you out of my sights, and I never should've confronted your brother. I know I'll never be able to make it up to you, but if you live with me, I'll try."

Pete and I share eye contact for a while. What a strange guy...I've only talked to him about twice today, and he's already agreeing to take me in. He seemed serious and moody but he's caring and considerate. He's the most popular guy in the school, but he's not too cool to be nice to me.

"Thank you," I say, managing a tiny smile.

Now there's nothing left to do but cry. I sobinto Pete's shoulders and feel every scrap of happiness I have left in me burn.