Breathe

Chapter 16

Lucie

 "See, this is why I told you to be careful," I said into my cell phone, cradling it against my ear. I was outside the door to Vinny's hospital room, the wall chilly underneath my back. Cian and I were switching off with taking care of Vinny, and since it was my shift, he'd left to go home with his mom for a while. His dad had yet to show up, and you could tell it was bothering him. "Nick's going after anyone, anyone and everyone, in the hopes of getting Cian on his side," I finished.

Jiya, on the other line, sounded exasperated. She was still out of town, across the country in Florida, visiting relatives. I'd figured I should call her to update her, though I was glad she was far away from the center of the chaos. "What does he want with Cian, anyway? And who would have the heart to go after his little brother..."

"Nick does, apparently," I hissed. I rubbed my eyes, glancing back through the window to check on Vinny. He was nestled peacefully underneath the sheets, eyes shut and breathing easy. With the lack of light in the room, his hair was white-silver, starlight against his pillow. "I'm just glad he's alright. I mean, imagine what it would have done to Cian to lose his brother a second time."

"Yeah," Jiya said mournfully, then paused. "Hey. You be careful, okay? I want to see you when I get back, so take care of yourself."

I smiled, though she couldn't see it. "You got it. I should go back inside, Jiya. Talk to you later?"

"Sure," she said, and ended the phone call. With a sigh, I gripped the coffee I'd fetched from the cafeteria and shuffled quietly back into Vinny's room. Seating myself near his bedside, I took a tentative sip of my drink, the heat pressing out through the Styrofoam, warming my palms. I normally hated drinking coffee at night, but I had to stay awake, in case Vinny needed me. And as soon as Cian came back, I could steal a bit of a power nap.

The room was eerie without the light of day: everything shrouded in midnight blue, the curtains undulating with the night breezes off the bay, the steady beeping of the monitor and the noise of Vinny's leisurely breaths the only exception to the silence. Vinny had been asleep for several hours now; he'd fallen into slumber shortly after Mrs. Horne had come to see him. He was even more youthful when his eyes were closed, his lips unknowingly parted, eyebrows lightly furrowed, tawny eyelashes like strokes of a paintbrush against a canvas.

I took another sip of my coffee, and let my own eyes close, only for a moment. Letting the solitude wound itself around me, I tried to sort out my thoughts. Cian's words in my ears earlier, the feel of Vinny's motionless form in my arms, the salt of dried tears left over on my cheeks. It had been a long and exhausting day, and even so, I knew it wasn't over yet. Who knew how long it would be until I got proper rest, but I didn't care. Not if it was for Vinny's sake.

I was woken from my already brief reverie by, to my surprise, the monitor. It was not steady, however, but speeding ahead, and my eyes snapped open as the high-pitched beeps squealed in my ears. Vinny's heartrate, displayed in fluctuating hills of fluorescent green, was unhealthily high. "Vinny!" I shouted, dropping the coffee off at the side table and rushing closer to him. He was still in the bed, but was thrashing about, tossing the sheets around him. His eyes were glued shut, but there was obvious terror written all over his face, sweat sheening on his forehead.

And all at once, I knew where I'd seen this before.

When he opened his mouth to gasp for air, I pressed my hands to his shoulders and shook him, as hard as my arms would allow. The gasping stopped, and he stilled, his eyes taking a moment to open. He was only dazed for a moment before the horror seeped back into his expression; with a moan, he hid his face behind his hands. "It..." he cut off, his shoulders quivering. I eased myself down on his bedside, trying to calm my own breaths. "It happened again," he managed. "God. I don't know if I ever want to sleep again."