18 Days ➳ Riley McDonough/ Before You Exit Fanfic

10.

March 11th // 3rd day

R I L E Y

I couldn't quite grasp onto the fact that it was already the third day of this whole ordeal.

It seemed like time was simply slipping through my fingers, like water, and, no matter how hard I tried to keep it in my hand, it always ended up going down the drain.

Once again, I had nothing planned for the day and that made me feel stressed out as usual. But Jade didn't mind, because she doesn't like it when people get all fussy just for her.

"Knock knock," I heard Connor say from outside my door instead of actually knocking.

"Come in," I replied and he pushed open the door just a crack. Enough for one of his blue eyes to scan the interior of my room before he pushed it open all the way. "What do you want?"

"Where's Jade?"

"In the bathroom, taking a shower," I said, just as the sound of water raining down on tiles filled our ears.

"Oh." He scuffed his feet on the carpeted floor of my bedroom with his hands behind his back. He looked like a kid who'd just been yelled at by his mom for doing something bad. A really big kid.

"Is that all you wanted to say?"

"No... I just – I – nevermind, it doesn't matter anyway," he replied shaking his head before bringing his hand up to his fringe to see if anything was out of place.

For some reason, I could sense what he wanted to say to me. Maybe you could call it brother senses, but I really just knew by the look on his face.

"She isn't going to die, okay?" I said calmly and surely, as if I actually knew what the future held for her. For us. "And... even if she does... I won't do anything stupid."

Connor raised an eyebrow at me, not looking very convinced because I usually did pretty stupid things and he's witnessed every single one of them.

"I promise."

"Alright, fine," he replied, taking a single step out of my room, leaving one foot on the carpet and the other foot was on the hardwood floor of the hallway. The door was open just enough for me to see Toby laying on his bed in his room, pretending to be on his phone, when I knew he was probably eavesdropping on our conversation.

Connor left my bedroom without another word as the door swung to close but didn't quite make it, so I groaned and picked myself up off my bed, before pushing the door shut until I heard a click.

"Hey Ri," I heard Jade say and I turned around to see her with wet hair and wearing my robe which was too big on her. She was retrieving some clothes from my closet, leaving a trail of water droplets on the carpet wherever she walked. "What's the plan for today?"

I walked up to her and traced her jawline with my fingertips before placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. "That's up to you."

~

Jade and I ended up going to the nearby park located in my neighborhood.

It was a nice patch of nature in a sea of houses with a playground and a couple of trees and bushes. Just a generally nice place where people go to get some fresh air or think about stuff.

The park was pretty quiet today as it was a Thursday morning and most of the kids that play there were either at school or still asleep in their beds.

I breathed in the warm Orlando air as Jade tugged on my arm and pointed at the empty playground area. Kid-free, which was pretty strange.

She gave me a childish smile before she began running towards the jungle gym-thingy. Of course, I chased after her.

She climbed up the ladder and raced across the tiny rope bridge in a desperate attempt to keep as far away from me as possible before taking a seat at the top of the slide and gliding down the smooth plastic. She'd gotten stuck halfway as the entire thing was too small for her, but that only seemed to add to her fun.

I watched her try to wiggle her way out, but all her attempts seemed to fail, so I just walked over to the slide and pulled her out, having to use some strength to do so, because she really was pretty stuck.

"Maybe we should just stick to the swings," I suggested, but she rejected my suggestion and began running off to the merry-go-round, leaving me to trail behind her.

"Spin me, Riley!" she squealed as she hopped onto the circular base and bounced in excitement. It's been a while since I've seen her this happy. And I didn't want to ruin her fun, so I did as I was told.

I made sure to get a good grip on the bars before I gathered up all my strength to make the merry-go-round, well, go around. I repeated my actions over and over as her laughter filled my ears.

Then suddenly, the laughter stopped.

"Riley!" I heard her yell in distress. "Please stop."

So I did. And she came stumbling out of the contraption, her knees making a loud thud as she fell and landed on the dirt.

She looked impossibly pale as I watched her try to keep her breakfast in her stomach, but failed miserably.

Vomit covered her hands and were clinging onto the tips of her hair. And at that moment, I thought she'd simply gotten dizzy from all the spinning, but it was much worse than that.

"Ri– ley," she choked out and that's when I found out what was actually happening. "I can't– breathe."

In one swift movement, I picked her up off the ground, ignoring the fact that she'd just thrown up, because I'm scared of barf. Then I ran all the way home, without stopping for a single breath.

As soon as I got back to my house, Jade's lips were blue, and her chest didn't seem to be rising as it normally would for a human being.

"Connor!" I yelled, kicking the door open and surprising the blonde on the couch.

"What in the world happened?" he asked, looking confused and a bit shaken when he saw a limp-looking Jade in my arms.

"Just take her for a bit, we have to get her to the hospital now!"

I gently transferred Jade into Connor's arms and noticed him gag when a whiff of the vomit hit his senses, but he didn't complain. He knew it wasn't the time.

I drove to the hospital as fast as I could, going about 3 kilometers above the speed limit, overtaking some cars, and zooming through intersections, all while Connor sat in the passenger's seat and made sure that Jade's worryingly slow pulse didn't leave her. I'm surprised we weren't stopped by the police, since I'm pretty sure I'd broken at least six road laws, but we didn't have the time for that.

Jade was rushed to the emergency room as soon as soon as we arrived and Connor and I were forced to wait for any further updates on her. We'd probably even end up staying the night, sleeping on those cold metal hospital benches in shifts. Something to get used to, since Jade wasn't going to get better. She'd only get worse.

Both of us, a breathless mess, standing in the middle of a hallway, just exchanged looks of worry and I didn't know who's heart was beating faster, but mine was racing at an impossible speed that I was half-expecting an artery to burst or something. Something to allow me to join Jade.

"What just happened?!" Connor breathed out, not being able to wrap his head around the last few minutes that had just unraveled before his eyes.

"Too much."

~

a/n: hey. it's 10 pm and I've got school tomorrow but inspiration just hit me and I couldn't stop writing haha.

hope you enjoy this and happy valentines day.

if u dont have a valentine, I'll happily be urs hehe