Save Me (Best of Me Book 2)

Chapter Four

Oop-- We back. Kinda. Sorta. Not really, I have this update and that's it for now. But I really wanted to put it out there and see what happens.

Thank you for your patience. A lot has been going on. Between my mental health, work, being sick, and getting a concusion left me little room to do anything.

ANyway, enjoy!!

The stairwell is brightly lit. Footsteps echo occasionally as doctors and nurses move throughout the hospital. I don't know how long I've been sitting here. Or how a flask of alcohol even appeared in my hand. I don't care to question it. I just drink. And drink. And drink. I couldn't stand to be in that room anymore. Couldn't stand the beeping and the crying and the questioning glances.

They know. They all know. My whole family is keenly aware that Quinn and I have been fighting a lot lately. That we aren't on the same page—or at least that's what I was feeling. I don't know how Quinn feels...I don't know if I will ever know.

It's only been a few days, but the longer it takes for her to wake up the less likely it becomes that she'll wake up at all. And if she does wake up...what will become of us? Will she leave me? Hate me? Resent me?

I take another swig of alcohol. It doesn't burn as it goes down. Not anymore. I stopped feeling things the moment Quinn's body fell limply to the ground.

Old habits die hard, right?

I've been here before. I've been in the hospital room and the ambulances. I've seen the flashing red lights and the fluorescent filled hallways. I've heard the bad news and the finality of a heart monitor flat lining ...

I have been here before.

With Mae.

And that ended with a funeral, not a wedding.

***

"Theo," CoCo's voice cuts through the drunken haze that has filled my brain. I found my way outside to a bench in front of the hospital. It's down pouring now. A fresh bottle of alcohol in my hand. How do I keep getting these?

The rain has soaked through my clothing, but all I feel is the warmth of the alcohol and the deep ache in my chest.

"What?" I say keeping my eyes trained on the road ahead of me. Cars race through the rain, headlights cutting through the sheets of water coming down. CoCo's feet smack against the puddles on the ground as she walks toward me. The rain pelting against my body stops as her umbrella covers us both. I don't chance looking at her. Her eyes are burning a hole in the side of my face, but I won't look. I can't.

"Why are you out here?"

"I can't be in there..." I sigh taking another drink from the bottle.

"You're drunk."

"No shit."

"Hey..." CoCo says softly, putting her hand over mine to stop me from taking another swig. "She needs you." The image of Quinn laying in that hospital bed flashes behind my eyes. Wires, tubes, casts, and bruises. Broken and barely alive. And it's my fault.

I pull the bottle away from CoCo, swallowing several gulps of alcohol.

She reaches for the bottle again, but I try to stop her. We both watch as the bottle falls from my hand and shatters on the group. Alcohol mixing with the rain. I turn to my sister, eyes wet and burning.

"Fuck you."

"Theo..."

"No. No!" I stand pushing away from her, glass crunching under my shoes as I walk away from her. "Fuck you, CoCo! Fuck all of you. I can't be there; I can't watch her die. Not like—everyone I love dies. Don't you see that?"