Ethan- An Open Heart Story

Chapter 9- Names First

No way in hell.

No freaking way in fucking hell!

"Dolores!" I shouted and barged towards the table, pushing the nurses standing on the way. She was lying on the table, on that cold table and there was blood everywhere. They didn't even stitched her up. What the hell was even happening!

My fingers touched her hand and I flinched.

They were stone cold.

Cold like the creek water from the glaciers. Cold as ice. Cold as dead.

"Dolores..." I whispered against her body. She was dead. Dolores was dead.

My friend was no more. She was gone.

A sob was building inside me. I thought everything was gonna be fine! I was giving myself that belief that she was fine, from the fire, in the building and even during operation. She would be fine. Now she was...gone.

I felt some glassy layer building in front of my eyes and blinked quickly to clear it. My vision moved towards her face which still held the warmth. But her eyes...they were lifeless. The light within them, the energy and radiance...the joy and bliss was no more. They were hollow and were staring at the blank above. They didn't even closed her eyes.

I did.

For a moment I felt frozen in my spot when her final words to me came hurling down on my head.

"Promise me that you'll live. Live for yourself and for me and for my son. And for your love. That you will figure out whatever is bothering you and fight it. With someone by your side. Live Ethan. Live."

Such a big thing she had asked from me. She had asked for a life from me. My life. And I had just mumbled that I was gonna do something about it. I didn't even assured her about that. I thought she was delusional from the pain medicines.

I was the mightiest jerk alive on this planet.

I was unable to look at her again. I walked out of the room without bothering to say anything to anyone. They knew what to do next. Did I know what to do next? 

Yeah. Keep going.

I realised that my steps had taken me to the back of Edenbrook where nobody lurked around. The people often found around were the shipment guys who would be delivering the stuff needed for the R & D department on the upper floor. And thankfully today there weren't any.

I stood motionless on the stone yard with the rustling of leaves and the whistling of the winds as the only sound of melody to my years. Wet streams birthed from my eyes fell drop by drop to the ground below. I stuffed my hands on my pocket and just stood. The air around me was compressed reflecting the whirling emotions inside me. I never even wanted to speak those words aloud. That she wasn't here anymore.

That Dolores wasn't there anymore.

And that broke me.

I sobbed helplessly. If anyone would have seen me, I would have had to kill him or her.

"I am so sorry....so sorry." I whispered against the winds. They would carry my words to nowhere but at least they would hear. The sky above was dark with no sign of a single star in the inky world. My world was feeling the same. And suddenly I realised.

Third decade. Third person.

This was the third time I has lost someone within ten years. Jesus. That woman who paraded herself as a forseer was suddenly so eerily right.

My hands shivered at the realisation regarding that. But this was no time to ponder upon the past and remember the awful stuff it made you remember. This was time to be struck with this midnight hour and carry on.