Fighting For Hope

Chapter Twenty Five

"As your feelings for someone grow stronger, so does your fear of losing them."

—

HOPE'S POV

I was drowning in an ocean of guilt. It robbed me of my ability to breathe and was painful to endure. For a moment, I convinced myself that this was eternal. The lingering images of the horrid scenes would be the decorations under the ocean that I call my dreadful home. Everything hurts.

I still remember how everything started, how everything was under control before a sudden impact throbbed my head. After a while, when the pain subsided, and I realized what exactly happened, I looked over to my left.

Tyler lied unconscious beside me, in a strange position. He had shards from the window agonizingly pierced in his arms and a bloody wound on his head. He had injuries more severe than mine.

I climbed out of the car with much trickiness and scurried to get Tyler out. Soreness shot up my legs like a bullet with every step I took as I sprinted to his side and got him out of the vehicle.

I was positive someone crashed into us, but no one was in the area. All I could hear was my galloping heartbeat and my brain, pleading Tyler was alright. My hands painted with crimson, but the blood was not mine.

After that, everything became a blur. There was the deafening sound of the ambulance and nosiness surrounding me as I struggled to free Tyler.

Now, I stood solitarily in a room as white as chalk, a small bed in front of me. I had always detested being in a hospital; it feels like a place with a high risk of losing someone forever.

I felt this once in the past, when I ran from Josh's house to escape the fire that I started. Like I had caused a person to be close to death, but this time, it was someone I trusted. The weight in my chest is driving me insane.

Silence hung in the room, and I loathed it. There was always very little silence around Tyler.

I reached out, hesitantly at first, covering my hand with his. My father did this action when he was on death's doorstep. I wanted to give him the affection and hope that my father gave me to cling onto.

I disliked false hope, but I had to believe he is strong enough to get out of this. The doctors said with such feigned sympathy that the large impact on his head had caused him to go into a coma. I blamed myself, but I knew I did not lose control of the car. It wasn't me. I did not see a car coming at all.

Still, I decided to drive. Maybe Tyler will be on his two feet if I did not attend the party.

"I was right. I shouldn't have dragged you into my mess. You don't belong in my world, Tyler; it's too brimmed with loathing and aggression," I whisper, feeling emotions collapsing onto me at once. It has been so long since I felt the sting in my eyes.

"But thank you for being there for me, you helped make me feel something I missed. I don't know how to explain this connection I feel with you, and the mere thought of losing you is breaking me," I told Tyler, assuming all I said was heard.

"You know...I get it." My vision blurred for a moment before I blink the tears away, "I get why my dad always warned me about how trusting will only hurt me. Right now, I feel nothing but overwhelming pain because I trusted you."

"I don't regret it. I don't. But you're an amazing person, and you don't deserve this at all."

"I know this is reality, not a story where someone would wake up in a matter of days after hearing a voice, so I'm pleading with you to hold on."