Decipher | Watty's 2017

LXXV. Thanatophobia

Thanatophobia

/than-uh-tuh-foh-bee-uh/

noun

and abnormal fear of those close to one dying

We all seemed to know that splitting up was the best option from the beginning. Calum said he would take a look through the halls they were walking through in the mornings; meanwhile, I was looking through the rooms for her while Michael and Ashton took various aspects of the colony to search for the petite. I shook my head, cursing myself for not watching her closer, but my faults didn't matter at the moment. The only thing that mattered was that Melissa was missing and with my father on the loose, we had no idea what he may have done to the petite girl.

Despite going through the rooms and halls assigned to me twice, I had no idea where Melissa was, which lead my heart to collapse in my chest as I took in the idea that she was majorly hurt. However, a signal from Calum made my heart relax within my chest as I ran towards the bunker where the call had been sent from. My feet quickly descended the large flights of stairs to meet the serious look of Calum's face when I reached the bottom.

My eyes immediately found the blood pooling around my girlfriend as her skull appeared to be cracked in one single area. Tears welled in my eyes as I looked away, gripping my mouth to hold back my sobs as I stared at her paling skin, wondering how often I would have to see her like this before she would listen to me about her safety.

"Luke," I heard Calum say faintly in the background. Curses left his mouth before he voice rose to a shout toward me. "Luke, I need you to get over here!" he yelled urgently, snapping me out of my traumatized state as I ran over to his side, holding Melissa's head as he had been previously. "Okay so I'm going to put some gauze over the wound and then stabilize her," he explained, keeping him eyes on his shaking hands as he worked diligently to keep the blood from pouring out at rapid speeds from Melissa's brain.

I nodded my head faintly as I watched the crimson color soak through the bandages quickly, causing my stomach to drop as I thought of the possibilities. She could die. She could leave me behind with the last thing I said to her was our devastation being her fault. Internally, I hit myself for being an idiot and not holding her close like I could have.

I shook my head, not wanting this to be real as I accepted the fact she was hurt. My body was in shock from the amount of blood I was kneeling in on the floor. Nothing seemed to make sense as I took in the scene around me. Why had she been down here alone? And more importantly, who had been waiting for her?

Instincts told me that I knew who it was exactly; however, I knew that I couldn't trust those as they had also told me to let go of the woman in my arms. Never in my life had I not listened to my instincts, they had gotten me through so much, but when it came to Melissa, I began questioning them, more so then as she laid bloodied and bruised in my arms than ever before.

"On three I'm going to need you to lower her head onto this piece of foam," Calum said, snapping me out of my daze once again. I nodded solemnly as I watched his blood covered hands maneuver the foam piece beside her head, checking to make sure his technique was correct. "It's not ideal," he mumbled under his breath, glancing again at her war torn body before connecting his eyes with mine.

Something about the way they shined within the dim lights outside of the bunker told me that he was undergoing the same emotional turmoil I was. Calum was finding it hard to compose himself in this situation as he stared down at the blonde girl's matted hair while her breathing grew shallower.

"Ready?" he asked suddenly, waiting for my answer before nodding as I lifted her head slightly off of the ground. His hands moved quickly to situate the foam block before reassuring me that I could lay her down onto the soft pillow.