TOO GOOD ━ SUGG. ✓

chapter thirty-one

The ringing.

At the beginning, that's all I heard.

I looked to my left and there it was, the same car that had hit me, coming towards me at full speed. I stood there, absolutely frozen, unable to move. My entire being was telling me to get out of the way but my feet were stuck to the ground.

Just before the car collided with my body, someone pushed me out of the way and I fell a few feet away, scared to death as I watched the car collide with the person's body. I scrambled to my feet, and let out an ear-splitting scream as soon as the person came into view, because there he was--the blue eyed boy that I had grown to love--lying on the cold hard ground.

I fell to my knees, a heaping, sobbing, mess. His eyes were open, staring at me as I held him. The rise and fall of his chest was slow, his pulse barely there. There was a pool of blood beside him, red staining his shirt.

That's when the ringing stopped.

"Someone, please," I pleaded, looking at the shocked bystanders that were watching us. Tears were streaking down my face, and my heads were shaking as I cradled his broken body in my own.

"Joe," I whispered as he turned his head to the side. "I'm going to get you help."

"It's too late for that, love."

"Listen to me, I need you. I can't survive without you."

"I love you," he whispered before his eyes closed and his breathing became laboured.

"No, no, NO!" I cried as his hand fell limp in mine, and his breathing slowed to a stop. "It was supposed to be me, not you."

"I can't live in a world without you in it."

I let out a distressed cry as my eyes flew open and I shot up in my bed. Tears were streaking down my face, my shirt soaked in one area because of them. My hands were still shaking and I looked down at them before looking at the space beside me, expecting him to be here, but all I saw was empty space.

"Fuck," I swore loudly as I felt a sharp pain fill my bandaged leg. I reached towards my bedside table, looking for the pain killers that I had been prescribed but to my surprise they weren't there and my crutches weren't there either. It was dark in the room and when I looked up at the window, I could see that it was dark outside too. I quickly grabbed my phone, looking at the time to see that it was almost quarter to twelve and I had obviously slept for longer than I was supposed to. I mentally groaned, knowing that Zoë and Alfie would be asleep and that if I wanted to ease my pain, I would have to do it by myself. It was dangerous, but the pain that was in my leg was throbbing and I was willing to take the risk.

"You can do this, Alyssa. You survived, you're strong."

I willed myself to throw my leg over the edge of my bed in a way that my feet were dangling. I reached out my other leg and touched the carpet before I pushed myself off of my bed, my bandaged leg in the air. I used my dresser for support, as I stepped out of my room, this time my hand was gripped on the railing. I remembered that Alfie had put the paper bag that contained my medication on the counter and I could only hope that it was still there as I scooted down the stairs. After struggling for a number of minutes, I finally reached the stairs, looking up only to see a shocked blue eyed Joe, staring down at me with the paper bag in his hand.