Eyes Open {Book 1}

Chapter 22

it is going to get a little gory so read with caution.

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"I'll be here waiting on the other side." - Other Side by Parachute

Chapter 22

Harry's POV

Days seemed to go by in slow motion. Soon enough, it had been a week. A week since Andrew put a bullet in her. A week since I sat in this chair and waited, never leaving. I'm still waiting. All I want is to see her beautiful eyes again, her bright smile. I want to see her skin return to its normal golden, tanned color.

I didn't know where Mikey was. He would always tell me, waving his hand in front of my face, until I nodded in approval, but in reality, I wasn't listening. His voice was just kind of a loud buzz, nothing solid registering to my ears. I was focused on one thing. Her heart beat, prepared for it to speed up or slow down, indicating any sign of losing her. I had watched nurses and doctors come into the room, changing her bandages or IV, making me extremely nervous. What if they weren't really nurses and they were with Andrew, ready to ambush and kill us both? But I had to push down the instincts in the pit of my stomach telling me to jump to my feet and hold a syringe to their throat, interrogating them until they cried and gave me answers. I had to trust that they were actually doing their job: doing everything they can to make sure she lives.

I've thought about what would happen if I lost her. My whole world would fall apart. I would never be able to breathe again, knowing that the air she once breathed was what I was breathing. I would feel selfish for taking that air, because to be honest, she deserved to breathe it more than I did. I deserved to be laying in that bed, not her.

If I lost her, there would be no going back. Not after this. I would be broken forever, because my heart will always belong to her. It belonged to her the moment I saw her in the pub.

....

Christy's POV

Trees blurred past me as my bare feet carried me through the forest. Twigs and rocks stabbed my feet, snapping up and whipping my calves. I attempted to blink through my tears. The blood that stained my hands wasn't mine. It was warm and it globbed in between my fingers like glue. His sing-songy voice echoed around me, but I couldn't tell which way it was coming from.

"You can't run forever, Christy." He sang, his voice sounded like it was hovering above me. Amusement laced through it. He liked this. He saw this as a game. A game I was going to win.

I spoke too soon.

I stopped in my tracks. I could feel the bile rising in my throat, unsettled in my stomach. My hands shook, gripping at the edge of my white tank top. The breath had been knocked out me. My lungs were desperate for air but I couldn't find any. It felt like everything was collapsing inside me.

I stared at the horror in front of me. Harry was hanging from the tall oak tree branch above me. His hair was coated in blood, like hair gel. The rope wrapped around his neck. His head hung to the side, like his neck was broken, because it was. Maybe it was the lighting, but I could see his spine sticking out the back of his neck. Blood was everywhere. It covered his shirt, his skin. It pooled on the ground below him. I choked, falling to my knees. Nothing could explain the clenching feeling thumping in my chest.

I could hear the snapping of twigs behind me; the shuffle of feet, but I didn't care. I focused on breathing. I stared at his mangled body, punishing myself. I was to blame for this.

Arms wrapped around me from behind. Squeezing me tightly against his chest. I didn't fight back. Why would I? I had nothing left to fight for. My world, my reason to live, was gone... forever.

I slumped my body forward, letting Andrew hold me up.

"You should of listened to me. This is could of been avoided." He whispered in my ear. His face leaned against my hair.

"Why are you doing this to me?" I screamed through my sobs until my throat burned.

"Because you were mine first." He seethed. "No one else can have you and you will always belong to me."

His words sent shivers down my spine. I felt light headed. The whole world was spinning. It all felt like a dream.

....

Harry's POV

I clutched her hand in mine. I was staring intently at her face. Her tiny, thin eyelids scrunched together in a pained expression. She had been doing that for the past ten minutes. The look was the same look that was plastered onto her face when she was shot. When the bullet ripped her muscles apart. When she gripped my shirt in her tiny hand with the slightest movement of her body. I stood to feet, hovering over her. I placed a kiss on her forehead.

"I love you. Please come back to me."

I pressed the button on the side of her bed, calling a nurse into the room. She speed walked in, her eyes meeting mine, then landing on Christy. Her body relaxed and slowed.

"Is there a problem?" She said.

"I think she's in pain." I blurt out, not taking my eyes off Christy's pained face.

The nurse steps closer, looking at Christy's IV and heart monitor. "She's fine." She said.

"But she looks like she's in pain."

"And it's possible that she is, but with the way her body reacted to the antibiotics, it's too risky to give her anything to numb her pain. It's also possible that she could be having dreams or even-"

I finished her sentence. "Nightmares."

....

Christy's POV

The ground felt uneven underneath my knees. His arms wrapped around me felt wrong. I felt out of place in this in this position. What part of me ever loved him?

My head felt like it was floating, like I wasn't really there. But I was there. This was all real, wasn't it?

Suddenly, his arms no longer felt real. It felt like nothing was wrapped around me, but yet I couldn't move.

"I love you. Please come back to me." Harry's voice whispered with the wind, lightly blowing past me. Shivers ran down my spine. Goose bumps rose on my skin.

I refused to believe that he was gone. I refused.

I pried my eyes open, cautiously looking above me. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Harry no longer hung in the trees. Blood no longer puddled on the ground or clumped around the skin on my hands.

"Wake up." He whispered again.

I could no longer feel the weight of being held down. I was free. I was returning to him.

....

Harry's POV

I never thought that talking to her would help. Maybe it wasn't my talking. Maybe it was coincidence that a second after I begged her to come back to me, to wake up, she woke up.

Her eyes lids flew open. She attempted to take a deep breath of air but the tube down her throat stopped her. She fisted the blanket with her hands as she tried to search for air, like she had forgotten, panic swimming in her eyes.

"Nurse!" I yelled as I pushed the call button multiple times.

I gripped her hand in mine. She squeezed hard with panic. I placed my other hand to her cheek, running small, soothing circles across her cheek with the pad of my thumb, attempting to calm her.

"It's okay. In through your nose." I mimicked my suggestion. She nodded copying my every move. "You're going to be okay." I whispered, more to myself than to her, reassuring me that she was really back. She was really here squeezing my hand until her knuckles turned white.

We were together again.