Glitches

Chapter 17 - Green eyes

"What are you doing Sam? I told you to leave me," I mumbled as I looked at him searching through the random objects on the floor. My headache got worse with each heartbeat, making it almost impossible to think.

I didn't know if Sam had heard me or not. But if he had, he clearly chose to ignore me.

I tried to push myself away from the wall, but I was too weak. Just the effort from keeping my eyes open drained me from energy.

Sam kept examining the stuff from the small bag, grumbling that I shouldn't close my eyes every now and then.

"What are you doing?" I asked, my voice almost inaudible.

"Trying to help you, that's what I'm doing," he mumbled, picking up something that looked like a small microphone. On its side was there written with small letters: Voice Emulator.

Sam didn't look at it for long, before he continued to another weird thing on the ground. A small container with a clear liquid inside of it had rolled between my legs. On its side was there a label saying: Saltwater

"What are these things?" I asked, trying to grab a small container beside me.

But when my fingers brushed over its surface, I could barely feel it.

The colours around me had faded into different shades of grey. My once red hoodie was now a boring dark grey with a faint hint of some kind of brown. I knew it was because of my loss of oil, but it still seemed so unreal.

Even the effort of breathing drained me from energy. I tried my best to breath steady, but it only became more ragged and uneasy by trying. My head hung low, and my eyes were unable to focus on the world around me.

And a constant nausea made my stomach twist and turn, only draining my energy more.

I hadn't truly realised my situation before now. I was what I felt like. A machine running out of fuel. And if I had even the slightest spark of hope before, it was completely gone now.

I was going to die...

The well-known panic slowly began to consume me, making my breath become more and more shallow than before.

"Hey! Stephanie. Look at me." It was Sam. His voice seemed distant. Muffled. As if someone had taken it and locked it in a glass jar. I could see his blurred figure in the corner of my eye. But I was too tired to even look at him.

"Steph?" His voice dripped with concern as he lifted my head to look at him. Even though his face was a blur, I could still see the deep frown plastered on his face, as he scanned my eyes.

"Stephanie?" he asked again, panic laced to his voice, "focus on me. Okay? Focus on me. Just hold on a little longer Steph." His voice cracked in the end.

"I can't," I whispered, and my head fell forwards, too heavy for me to hold up by myself.

"Shit!" he exclaimed, pushing my head up by my chin. Concern filled every inch of his face.

"Listen Steph... I'm not letting you die. You hear me? I won't. Not after all this."

Sam closed his eyes for a moment before continuing. And even if I couldn't see properly I could clearly hear the word coming from his mouth.

"Even though I have only known you for around 3 hours. You have become the closest friend I've ever had. You have no idea how important you are to me Steph. So, I am not letting you go. Not in a billion years. You hear me?"

His voice. It was so sad. So, broken. So, hurt.

This was the sound of a person who had been through hell. And it made me think that there was so much more about Sam I didn't know about.