Less than Perfect

15. Broken {part two}

Chapter Fifteen

Broken

Part Two

Skye pulled Bryan's lifeless body into her lap, sobbing and shaking her head. "No, Bry, don't leave, please don't leave me." She whispered, begging through sobs. "You can't leave me Bryan, not now. Please not now."

Tears cascaded down her ghostly pale face, her eyes reddened and puffy. Her emotions were zigzagging in every direction, dropping her heart into her stomach and clouding her mind. She couldn't believe it. Bryan was gone, her Bryan, the boy who was crazy in love with her. In those moments, she didn't remember the bad memories, only the good ones, and it broke her heart.

She cradled him in her arms, rocking back and forth as she let her tears pour. She tried catching her breath, her hands and clothes covered by the fresh blood of his wounds. Everything ached, her head, her body, her heart; she was slowly losing herself in the agony and heart-shattering truth of it all. Bryan was dead, lifeless and gone, and she was never getting him back. He gave his life for her, and, in her mind, all she had given him was reasons to hate her.

"Bryan, I'm sorry. I'm s—so s—sorry." She stuttered, crying into his cold body. "It's my fault this happened. I—I should've been stronger, I shouldn't have let this happen to you."

She waited, for a response though she knew there would be none. When there was no response, not even the beat of his heartbeat next to her ear, she grasped a tight hold on him, wishing he would breathe again, wishing he would come back to life. She knew it was a lost cause, he was already gone, but it didn't seem real to her. Nothing seemed real anymore.

Get help, Skye, she heard echo in her head, call the police before that foul man gets away with murder. She knew to listen to the voice. Even though it was her voice, she felt Bryan's soul within it, telling her to save herself. His last words would never be forgotten by her: I love you. I've always loved you.

Looking up, she saw Bryan's father's unconscious body covered in small shards of glass. As her heartbeat sped, the thought of that man waking up and harming her, she stumbled to her feet, wiping her blurry tears away.

She scurried over to the phone on the post, dialing 911 frantically as she tried to calm herself. Her lips were dry, her mouth parched. She needed water, sleep, and medicine, the previous pain pills had worn off. Her new injuries throbbed, along with her pounding head as everything started crumbling down on top of her, squeezing the life from her.

Bryan's dead, gone, she thought to herself in distress, and it's all my fault. He was trying to save me, me. Even after everything he's done to me, I still don't feel worthy of that kind of sacrifice. Her heart ached, screaming regret. Why, Bryan? Why did you save me? She wished he would answer. She needed to know why he saved her so willingly. Just hours earlier in the same day, he had violated and hurt her; yet, when the time came to sacrifice his life for hers, he took it. He gave her his life. All for love's sake, he sacrificed everything just to save her.

Skye wished she had never hated him. He was ill, there was nothing he could do about it, yet she'd still hated him. Though it was too late, she realized that she really did love Bryan— it had only been masked over when he'd changed. He had been so good to her from the time he brought her to the house, so much like he'd been before the illness had enveloped him. She knew he didn't deserve to die like that, so brutally, so suddenly—especially when it was done at the hands of his own father.