Dating the Dead • lrh

39. proposal

The ambulance drove as fast as it could.

I saw my body lying pale and lifeless on the gurney. The only color there was was the blood-stained gauze around my head. There was just too much blood.

Am I supposed to bleed like that?

Minutes later, the ambulance stopped. They wheeled my body behind another gurney. Shelby.

If I was bleeding a lot from my head, Shelby bled all over. Her body was covered in blood. The sheets were practically soaked with crimson by the time they wheeled her into the emergency room.

The room blurred as the doctors and nurses were trying to save Shelby. And just as the darkness swallowed everything, I heard someone say, "dead upon arrival."

My eyes shot up, meeting the harsh light of the ceiling. I groaned as I gathered my bearings. My throat felt dry but I managed to speak. "What time is it?"

"Showtime!" Kendall shouted as he emptied the delivery carrier on the table. The smell of fast food and cholesterol battled against the strong odor of disinfectant. "Hey there Luke, just dropping by. Bye!"

The room was silent when Kendall left. Neither Mum nor Ben spoke. I didn't feel like asking questions since they obviously didn't want to answer any of it.

Ben was arranging the food Kendall brought and Mum only gave me a reassuring smile before she went out. Jack, then, barged through the door. He looked mad.

"Hey," his expression softened when he saw me staring. He made a beeline to the chair beside my bed. "How are you feeling, bud?"

I only shrugged, turning my head slowly to the other side. He let out an audible sigh. My eyes blurred.

"Luke, Shelby's gone," Jack said solemnly. I turned to look at him, tears making their way down my face. "She's gone out of the country."

Before I could ask any more questions, my mother came in the room followed by a couple of men in white clothes. Ben pulled Jack aside. One of the doctors pushed the button that made my bed fold to make me sit up so the other could check my vitals.

He kept asking me questions but my focus was somewhere else. My mother and brothers stood by the table speaking in hushed voices. I strained to listen.

"You saw how much it affected him!" Jack's voice rose. "He just had cranial hemorrhage!"

Ben's eyes drifted to me who was staring at them. My mum looked at me and choked back a sob, pulling Jack out of the door. Ben followed suit.

With them out of the room, I paid more attention to the doctors. The one who checked my vitals was a middle-aged man with a huge build. His hair and eyes had the same shade of brown.

"Luke?" His thick voice finally reached my ears. He furrowed his eyebrows. "Can you hear me?"

I slowly nodded.

"Excellent," he said, sitting on the chair. "My name's Charles. I'm one of your attending physicians. This is Zeke, he's training to be one."

Zeke smiled, his Asian eyes looked thinner when he did. He waved a thin hand and spoke in an Australian accent. "Hi. So nice to finally meet you. You slept pretty long-"