The Foreigner & The Pessimist (malexmale)

26. Zuuro

For a moment, I let my guard down. For a moment, I convinced myself that he was safe here. For a moment, I let him walk away. And now...now I just wish I could take it all back. I wish I could go back in time and follow him like I should have. I wish I'd been faster when I knew something was wrong. I wish I'd never let that text settle me the way it did. I wish. I wish. I wish.

"Out of the way!" Someone shouts from behind me, and I just barely manage to step to the side as they come rushing in with another gurney, carrying yet another person from the party.

I still don't quite understand how it all happened. How what was supposed to be a fun went so wrong, so fast. It was like one second, I was worried about Lane because he'd wandered off and I couldn't find him, and the next everything was shaking. Everything was shaking, and there were lights shattering, and walls cracking, and screaming. There were so many people screaming.

And then something hit me in the head, and I think I might have blacked out for a minute. Not long. Just a minute. Because when I woke up again everything was dark. It was all dark, and there were people crying, and calling for help, but I...I couldn't help them. Lane. I had to find Lane. He was in trouble. I knew it. I knew he was in trouble and I had to find him.

So, I dragged myself up off the ground and I started looking, but...but the longer I looked the more persistent...the more urgent the need to find him got, and then suddenly I knew. I could just...I could feel it. I could feel it like a wave of overwhelming grief and dread washing over me, and I knew. I knew he wasn't just in danger. He was dying.

I tried so hard to find him. I looked everywhere in that building. Everywhere, but I just...couldn't. He was gone and it didn't make any sense. He was here. I knew he was here, but I just couldn't find him. I didn't understand why I couldn't find him.

I found Fallon and Paul while I was searching the third floor. They were with a girl who'd gotten stuck under a piece of fallen ceiling and someone from the fire department trying to get her out. I thought maybe Lane would be with them. I hoped he would be. But he wasn't. Fallon hadn't even known we were here. So, she tried calling him. I told her I'd already tried myself, but he wouldn't pick up. He never picked up. And when her call went straight to voicemail as well, she started helping me look.

It took us a lot longer than it should have to learn there was a backyard. But the moment I saw that door, I knew. I knew that's where he was going to be. It was the only place we hadn't checked. But when I stepped outside...when I saw that huge crater in the ground with all the broken pipes and the water pouring in...damn, I hoped I was wrong.

I wasn't, of course. I'm never wrong about these things. Because as soon as Fallon turned on the flashlight on her phone, and she shined it down in that deep, dark, freezing hole, I saw him. I saw him, and he wasn't moving, and I just...

I've spent my whole life being afraid of water. I've spent my whole life being told continuously how dangerous it was and how fast it could kill you in the cold. But there wasn't even a moment where I thought twice about diving into that quickly filling pit when I saw Lane. I just did it. I did it even when I knew there was no way for me to get out again. I did it, and I swam to him, and...and I don't remember much of what happened next. Just bits and pieces. Flashes.

I remember holding him. I remember crying. I remember he was cold. Too cold. Too still. But his heart...I could feel it. I could still feel it beating, so I knew he wasn't gone. I knew he was still with me, I just had to keep him above the water. I had to keep us both above the water.

I remember Fallon next. I remember her telling me Paul had gone for help, but I needed to make Lane breathe. I needed to get the water out of his lungs. So, I did. I put my mouth over his and forced my own air into him until he gaged, and choked, and finally took a breath on his own.