✔️| Stand By Me: Imagines and Preferences ('86)

#29 - Ace Merril (pt. 3)

(Y/N) (Y/L/N), come to room 433 immediately. There is an emergency. Miss (Y/N) (Y/L/N), to room 433. Thank you.

The worse seemed to form into your mind as soon as the loudspeaker clicked in its finale.

You dash out of the cafeteria, shoes clacking on the polished floors. Trying to remember the route that brought to the cafeteria from Ace's room, you can't seem to focus with the cluttering thoughts in your head.

What the hell happened?

Why didn't I stay?

Is he...?

You make it to Ace's room and catch your breath, hesitant to open the door.

Is he gone?

A lump in your throat makes it hard for you to swallow, so you take a deep breath, and open the door slowly.

Doctor Bennett and his nurses rush all over the room you step in, and Ace lies still on his bed. Body almost as white as the sheets enveloping him, a beeping sound emitting from the heart monitor.

Dear God, this can't be true.

A cold feeling rushes through you, ice water spilling done your spine, pushing you back to reality.

One of the nurses grabs your hands tightly.

"Oh Miss, Mr. Merril isn't well. His heart is faltering. Poor thing...we're trying our best to make things right again, but I'm not sure..."

Before the nurse can say anymore, a 'coming through!' booms through the room, and Doctor Bennett wheels another large tank next to Ace, clicking a wire from the new piece of metal into place.

The monitor stops beeping, and relief floods through you immensely.

"Doctor Bennett, what's happened?"

"His heart gave out for sometime. The oxygen tank must have been low. We replaced it, and hopefully will last until..."

Those last two words left unspoken drifted into the air like smoke. You both understand that there's no hope for Ace to get better.

"I'll...leave you two in peace," says Doctor Bennett. He motions for the nurses to exit the room and closes the door behind him.

Once again, the cold feel of the chair makes contact with your skin when you sit down and take Ace's hand.

The silence is killing you, and the last thing you want to hear are the distant sounds of the oxygen tank processing.

"What can I say, Ace? I love you. I️ love you very much."

Ace's chest rises and falls slowly, but he doesn't reply.

"I don't know. I mean, I thought that we could get out of Castle Rock and everyone else."

It was true. Your love for Castle Rock had eventually died out when you and Ace were starting to see each other. As time went by, the only thing you had in mind was to leave with Ace.