Habits

Can't leave me

Lea's POV

I'd been texting Cory all day and no answer. I think back to our last conversation. Did I do anything to hurt him?

The last conversation we had was about some teacher's homework that he forgot to turn in. He wasn't mad, he was exhausted.

Without further thought, I decided to drive over to his house. His mom won't be home yet, still at school. As I pull into his driveway, I notice his car is there. Cory has to be home. I walk to his front door and ring the doorbell.

No answer.

I ring the doorbell again.

No answer.

I decide to just twist the doorknob, sure enough it was open. The first thing that greeted me at the door was a foul smell.

"Cory? You home?" I shout while plugging my nose.

While walking to his room, the smell got stronger and stronger until finally it felt like I was punched in the stomach.

What I saw in his room, I wish was something that I could never see.

I saw Cory passed out on the floor with a needle nearby his lifeless figure. Then I saw the powdery substance on the floor.

Cory had just OD.

I fall to my feet to where he was, shaking him.

"Cory!!!! Wake up!!!" He wasn't waking up.

I then pull out my phone and dial 911.

"Hello, 911, what is your emergency?" A female operator asks.

I can barely talk, but somehow I get out the words I intended for her to hear.

"My boyfriend, he's not waking up!! I think he took drugs but I don't know if he's alive!!!" I'm shouting and crying while holding him.

She asks me the address and I tell her.

"Please stay on the line until the paramedics arrive, mam'."

"Ok, ok, ok. I forgot how to do the p-pulse thing, can you tell me?" I feel like I'm speaking a different language. It's a combination of yelling, crying, wheezing, and heavy breathing.

"Place 2 fingers on his upper throat and search for a heartbeat."

I do as she says and search for it. At first, I had a hard time finding where to put my fingers, until I felt it. The lightest beating that I have ever felt.

Even more tears fall from my eyes.

The funny thing is, paramedics are suppose to be quick, like lighting. But time slows down when tragedy strikes. It's only been a few minutes since I called, but it feels like years. Cory means everything to me, he is my everything. Losing him would be like losing myself.

I check his pulse again, I feel the little heartbeat hanging onto his throat. Just hang on a little longer. Just a little longer.

I stroke his hair, it feels soft, like the hugs he would always give me. He can't leave. Not now, not ever.

"Cory, remember when I came to visit you at the hospital? When you almost didn't make it? You said, and I quote: I would never leave you like that. Well then what is this? Your leaving me, I feel you slowly slipping away minute by minute. 60 seconds by 60 seconds. I need you to stay with-" the sirens interrupt me.

The medics were finally here. I ran outside to the front yard where people were getting out of an ambulance.

"Please hurry!!" I'm so frustrated, why aren't they quicker?

Once they reached Cory's room, I followed behind.

"We'll take his vitals in the ambulance." One of them says while lifting him up along with 2 others onto a stretcher.

"Can I come into the ambulance?" I ask them.

"If your family, then yes. Are you his sister?"

I shake my head. "No, girlfriend."

"Meet us at the hospital." He mutters while pulling Cory out of the room.

I don't hesitate to get in my car and follow.