When the Clock Ticks [Shourtney]

8. 3:33 A.M.

Hey, how are you guys doing?

As much as I want to prolong this book and keep writing, we're already bound to be busy mid-August, and this book is set to end by then. We're past halfway, and I'm glad you guys are liking it so far. The timeline may seem a little too rushed, but I'll try to keep it going at a good rate so as to not surprise you guys with sudden turns of events. Let me know if it's okay or not, I got ya.

Anyway, let's start! Courtney's POV and see ya!

-/-/-

The last thing I knew was Shayne walking into the box. I sat still at the other end of the hallway, and then I felt dizzy. Extremely dizzy, and then, just darkness.

When I wake up, I wake up with a gasp. I didn't feel like I was drowning, but I was certainly out of breath. On the couch next to me, sleeping with a blanket on her and a hoodie was Kari. When she sees me waking up, she smiles out of relief and rings the nurses as she checks the clock. It's three in the morning when a flurry of nurses surround me, and Dr. Locke sighs in relief in front of me.

"Don't speak for a while," she assures me, holding my hand. "We'll be doing some tests on you, okay? Nothing too painful, and then we'll have you drink some medicine too. Some of it is already injected into your bloodstream. Don't worry, Courtney. You'll be fine."

But I knew I wasn't going to be fine. I was going to die, and I honestly thought I was dealing with it better than Shayne was. But Shayne wasn't the one who had to go to the doctor after work every Monday and Thursday to get hours-long checkups. Shayne wasn't the one who had to cut down everything he loved, isolate himself from his own family for the sake of keeping it together and not getting emotional, and try to get by every working day. Most importantly, I don't think Shayne was worrying about falling in love with his best friend a month and a half prior to his death. He was dating Alex, and even if they weren't exclusive yet, they were perfect for each other.

I was the one in love with Shayne, and as stupid as it sounds, I've kept falling in love with him when the clock ticks a little closer to Doomsday. At first, I didn't understand if the feelings I had for him were nothing but pre-death emotions, but when you really go through every single day together and only together towards death, things change between you. He wasn't in the room, but seeing his face in my mind somehow kept me calm for the duration of the time nurses performed these tests on me.

I don't know how to tell him about this, but I think he already knows anyway. The sickness, I mean, not the emotions.

After the tests, Dr. Locke, Kari, and I were the only ones inside the room now. "Okay, so I think you need a refresher on what had happened," Dr. Locke says as Kari and I listened to her intently. "Based on the story I was told, your co-worker and friend Kevin had found you unconscious on the floor, and you were rushed here. That was what I missed out on, but here's what you missed.

"You have been unconscious for a week now, and we actually thought it was going to be a coma," she explains sternly, not mincing her words at all. "But somehow, you manage to wake up, and I'm very surprised and relieved that you did. However, because this is happening, we'll have to restrict your actions. I spoke with your boss, Ian, was it? We're only allowing you to work and work with restrictions until the end of the month. From September onwards, you'll be confined either here or at your apartment, but we recommend that you stay here instead, because in case of an emergency similar to this one, I cannot instantly attend to you in your apartment.

"Ian really asked me if you could work a little longer, but based on your condition when you were unconscious and your condition now, I can only give you until the end of your month, and that is still so generous. I should actually be asking you to stop working this instant, but ultimately, I don't think you would agree with me. So August 28th is your last day at work, okay? After that, we'll start on your medications.