The Imperishable Flame⎪✓

❨28❩

♀︎

The mirror in front of me reminds me of that horrific time during senior year, I've changed since then, my eyes are bigger and some parts of my face have grown more mature. The change is subtle, but it's unmistakably there. Even with these changes, my eyes are still as frightened as back then, the pure horror written behind my attempt at an indifferent mask is very apparent. My hammering heart and sweaty palms make it hard for me to breathe, my chest moving at a rapid pace. There is something truly terrifying of waiting for the news in a sterile waiting room, I saw how hard he truly fought to breathe, especially after he passed out in my backseat and I ran into this hospital screaming for a nurse. 

They drove him away on a gurney and I haven't seen him since. Luckily, I managed to get through to Tilly and she's sitting next to me, squeezing my hand tightly in hers. He is her everything and I know this, those two solely have each other and I can only imagine how much she must hate him fighting. This is the result of a fight gone bad. This is the result of him trying to afford their bills. This is the result of Elijah trying to save his sister from the system. 

A doctor suddenly walks in our direction and I tighten my grip on Tilly's hand, both of us are worried sick about Elijah and none of us have heard any news for over two hours. It makes me sick to my stomach. "Relatives to Mr. Black?" He asks once he reaches us. 

We nod our heads in desperation, "Is he okay?" I splutter and try to get a hold of myself. Ever since my father passed away, I never once visited a hospital. The notorious smell, the sterile vibe, the nurses, fucking everything reminds me of his death, and having Elijah here is absolute torture. 

"He's fine," The doctor says and both Tilly and I let out huge breaths of relief, he will be okay. "But he broke two of his ribs and one of them managed to puncture a miniature part of his lung, he has a tough time breathing and receiving enough oxygen to feel right. He is using an oxygen mask right now and he must rest for the next weeks, preferably six weeks. We already gave him the instructions to his mobile oxygen mask, but he is very disoriented and he presumably didn't hear a thing."

Tilly takes a step forward, "Can we see him?"

He nods his head and scans my face, "Just family though."

It feels like a slap in the face, for some reason I find myself saddened by the news that I have to either wait out here for hours or leave. He is right, I'm not family, but I brought Elijah here and he means so fucking much to me. My eyes cut to Tilly's in frustration, she ponders for a moment and I find myself wondering what she is thinking about. 

Her eyes fall to my left hand where a simple ring is placed, a small smile lights upon her face, "She is his fiancee, now please lead us to his room so we can see him ourselves."

His eyes widen in apology, "I'm so sorry, follow me."

Quick thinking there, my dear. The mere sound of being his fiancee makes my heart skip a hard beat and I ignore the shivers from the images entering my mind. My finger burns under the friction from the ring that now became the imaginary engagement ring to Elijah. I need to get a grip, this is quite pathetic. 

Taking the elevator we step out on the fifth floor and walk to the hospital room at the end of the long hallway, my feet ache by the time we reach number 567. The doctor urges us to go inside and apologizes to me again before leaving, his shoes squeak against the floor when he hurries away. Apparently, he feels truly apologetic by his assumption, even though he was right. Minor detail. 

"You're truly a mastermind, Tilly," I laugh at her and she smiles at me.  

"He isn't the judge of who can and can't visit Elijah, if that means I have to lie, then so be it."

She opens the door and both of us step inside, the sterile room is cold and in the center is a white bed with a very bruised Elijah laying on top of it. His eyes cut to us immediately and his face lights up in a smile, the oxygen mask makes it impossible for us to see his lips, but I can sense his grin. Even all bruised up, he is still the most handsome man I have ever laid my eyes on. It seems pretty damn impossible and yet here he is. 

Tilly runs in his direction and throws her arms awkwardly around him, he tries to hug her but the drop in his hand makes it hard. His eyes meet mine over her shoulder and the two of us gaze at each other, there is a silent conversation conspiring. The immense relief of seeing him here, alive, tugs at my heart, and I step closer to him. Tilly lets go of the hug and sits down on a chair to his right. I step to his left side where his hand subtly grabs mine, the little squeeze provokes a small smile onto my lips. 

"You had us worried sick, Lij," I say to him in a light tone. "I know you have a hard time responding, but please know that I won't accept you ending up in here again, and especially not by scaring me as you did tonight."

"Nope," Tilly adds in. "No more 'fighting till we're laying in a hospital bed', this is honestly the last straw. And I know what you might want to answer," She says and lowers her voice to impersonate Elijah, "I'm not doing anything wrong by fighting, this is my escape." 

Her finger points in his direction and she smiles again, "But no! We aren't having it anymore, you punctured your lung this time. This isn't a game, Eli."

My eyebrows raise and I smile by her words, catching the eyes of Elijah, "I see, you don't need me to scold you. Tilly is doing just fine over there."

He nods his head in an exaggerating manner, all of us laughing at his reaction. This is exactly the ending I needed to a considerably traumatic experience, being able to laugh with the two of them is amazing and makes for a great sleep once I get home to my dorm again. Not that I want to leave them yet. Right now I just want to enjoy the moment and talk about Elijah as if he isn't in the room, he can't answer either Tilly nor me either way.