you blamed yourself.
you blamed yourself for everything that had happened. about how you were in the situation you were in.
if it wasn't for you then zion wouldn't be where he is now, battered and bruised. you couldn't think straight, there was just too much running through your mind and it was difficult to focus on just one thing.
looking at zion laying in the hospital bed, cuts and bruises scattering his body, brought tears to your eyes. seeing him look so broken only added to the guilt.
flashbacks of the night before played in your mind and you couldn't help but let the tears stream down your face.
.flashback.
the smell of blood and bleach enveloped your senses and all you could think of was a long hot shower, multiple actually. not that it would get rid of the horrid memories of the night but at least the smell and blood that stained your skin would disappear.
"what are we going to do zion?" you rubbed at the dry blood on the tops of your hands and looked over at zion.
"nothing. we go home clean everything up and act like nothing ever happened"
it amazed you at how he was able to just sweep everything under the rug and act as if it never existed to begin with. but you knew he was putting on a front.
"right, nothing." you didn't mean for your remark to come out sarcastically but it did. zion's jaw tensed and he moved his hand from your knee.
"what's that suppose to mean?" zion snapped.
he was on edge and every word that fell past your lips seemed to push him further towards it.
"because if i remember right, i told you to leave but like usual, you don't fucking listen"
you couldn't believe it. did he just-?
"well i'm not the one that fucking killed a guy"
and that's all you remember saying before you felt the car flip and everything go blank.
.back to reality.
you woke up the next day feeling like you had the weight of the world literally on your shoulders. it was sore all over and every time you'd move, the pain multiplied.
when you registered where you were, the events from the night before came rushing back to you. you looked down and say your leg was in a cast and there were cuts and a few bruises up your arms. you also needed to two stitches to your forehead.
but you didn't care about yourself. you wanted to see zion and how he was affected.
ever since you were allowed to see him, you hardly left his side. questions were thrown at you from everyone about the accident and what had happened but you didn't want to say anything.
using both the emotional and physical pain as an excuse of not wanting to talk.
zion was affected more than you had been. sure you had walked away with a broken leg and a few cuts and bruises but he was worse.
the doctor told you he had to be rushed to theatre because the amounts of shrapnel from the crash that managed to be lodged in his body and a disc in his back had been injured. you were told that he could wake up any moment but it didn't seem like the case.
you had been by his side for 4 hours now and there was no sign that he would be waking up anytime soon.
"i'm sorry, it's all my fault" the tears streamed down your face yet you knew that they wouldn't wake zion.
.flashback.
the body hit the bottom of the hole and you grimaced at the sound. you felt like you were in a nightmare and any minute you would wake up and it'll all be over. that you'd roll over and become enveloped in zion's arms.
but no. you're in a isolated area burying a body with your boyfriend.
you were beginning to have your doubts about the whole situation and you didn't realise that "ride or die" would involve accessory to murder.
obviously you weren't going to pull out now because that would be a shitty thing to do and you didn't want to leave zion in this situation.
there's no backing out, you're too involved.
"you okay?" zion looked at you concerned. tears pooled in the corners of your eyes but you didn't dare let them fall.
"yeah" you nodded your head and quickly wiped your eyes and filled the hole with dirt.
.reality.
the only thing on your mind was zion being okay and that stupid mistake of his. what had happened really weighed down on your conscience and you were kind of unsure on what happens next.
you held his hand and gently ran your fingers over the needle in his skin or you'd mindlessly play with his dreads. all you wanted was for him to wake up.
but next thing you know, zion seemed like he was about to wake up. his eyes fluttered open and looked around the room before his eyes landed on you. at first he looked confused and then it's like something registered in his head because that confusion turned to relief.
"hey, how do you feel?" you grabbed his hand and he held on to it so tight you thought that he'd break it.
"baby, what happened?" you looked at him and ran your thumb along his cheek. he'd have to find out eventually and you thought it was better to say something now.
you knew you should've pushed the button to alert the nurses but you wanted to make sure that zion had an idea of everything.
"zion, we're basically criminals"
•••
this book is almost at 100k!!!! like what the heck??! y'all are amazing and i love each and every one of you.
but with this pt 2 i wanted to do something a little unexpected & different.
i should just turn this into a mini series i feel. like there's just so much that needs to be written and plot holes that need to be filled.
