Paper Heart ✔️

Chapter 18 | back to the memory

Hero closes the hood of Wyatt's Camaro and walks over to me. I'm nervous, I don't know why, but I can feel my palms sweating and my heart was beginning to pump with adrenaline.

Hero takes my hand in his and leads me to the back steps of his house. We both take a seat on the steps and I wait for him to begin.

"Wyatt was supposed to pick me up from the airport that night." Hero doesn't look at me which is leaving me to believe he can't because he'll see the pain in my eyes and feel it for himself. "It was a last minute call, he offered to do it."

"After and hour or so he never showed up and when I called him his phone when straight to voicemail. Justin arrives instead and he told me Wyatt's car stalled in the middle of a crossing intersection. The cars around didn't realize and that's when a large van smashed into his side of the vehicle."

It flipped Wyatt's car several times until it landed in a ditch. There wasn't much anyone could do when they got to his car they saw the scene in front them. Wyatt was halfway through the window, broken ribs, broken arms and a fractured skull. He was-"

Hero stops and sees I'm already crying.

"Ella." He sighs and wraps his arm around my waist to pull me into him. "I don't have to continue."

I wipe my tears. "Please just finish it, otherwise I'll never be able to stop thinking about it."

"He was still alive, a few witnesses told the police he was breathing but it sounded more like wheezing. A few seconds later the wheezing stopped and his eyes closed. When the police arrived they took his body away and called up Wyatt's parents. Justin was in his truck listening to the radio which is where he heard about the accident, he rushed to the scene but couldn't get passed the police securing the perimeter. Justin went back the next day and he set up a memorial at the sight of the crash."

Hero pauses. "He found a picture of you and Wyatt at the crash site and put it with the rest of the pictures and gifts he left."

"What about the other car?" I ask choking on every word. "What happened to them?"

"They came out with a few scratches, nothing severe."

I lean closer into Hero for comfort and wrap my arms around him. I dig my face into his chest and start crying out. I finally look back up and Hero wipes away my tears with one swipe of his finger. I turn to look at the Camaro, so he did die in it, that Camaro was the place Wyatt took his last breath?

"That's why you wanted to fix it?" I sniff. "You blame yourself for the accident?"

Hero stands up. "I'm fixing it because Wyatt was the closet thing I ever had to family."

"Why'd you come back here?" I add.

Hero shakes his head at me. "This is my home."

"You hate it here, admit it." I stand up with him. "Why did you come back?"

"I came to stay the weekend with Wyatt and Justin. When the accident happened I just needed to see you, I knew how much he meant to you so I decided to stay after I saw how badly you were handling this."

"You stayed for me?"

It's hard to believe that, Hero didn't care for anyone but himself.