Touch The Sky | ✓

Seventeen

A/N: Trigger warning - vague description of death scene. 

My blissful world is shattered three days later with a shrill ring of my phone.

Despite our insistence that we would take it slow, I ended up staying over at Seth's on Saturday night, something Terry mercilessly teased me about the following day at lunch.

Since then, I've been on a high, but just as I'm entering the flat on Tuesday night after a long day at work, my phone starts ringing.

Smiling at the caller ID displaying my sister's name, I answer the phone cheerily.

All I hear on the other end, though, is heavy breathing, punctuated with the occasional whimper.

'Katie?' I ask, dumping my bag in my bed and sitting down. 'Can you hear me?'

'Cora,' she wails down the phone, her breathing coming out in terrible hiccups. 'Cora, there's so much blood, I can't-' she breaks off.

I take a deep breath through my nose, steeling myself despite the panic threatening to overwhelm my brain. 'Katie,' I say gently. 'Take a deep breath. Why is there so much blood?'

Honestly, all kinds of terrible scenarios screech through my head at record speed and my heart pounds viciously in my chest. Has she been shot? Has something happened to Stephen?

'The baby,' she croaks out. 'I- I lost the baby.'

Iswear the world stops moving for a second, comes to an absolute standstill as I close my eyes.

What?

I swallow hard, trying my best to keep my composure, purely for my sister's benefit. 'Have you just found out? Are you alone?'

I try so hard to keep the panic out of my voice and stay calm for her, but honestly, I have no idea how I'm coming across to her right now.

She takes a ragged breath. 'I just found out. I didn't feel good this morning so I... took today off...'

'Right,' I say, because I have no idea what else to do.

'I just- I'm in the bathroom. I... There's blood everywhere,' her voice begins to rise in volume and pitch, borderline hysterical.

'Take a deep breath,' I interject.

I hear her trying so hard to get a grip on her breathing.

'Have you spoken to Stephen?' I ask gently.

'No,' she sobs. 'I'm scared, Cora. This will break him.'

Won't it break you, too?

'I know,' I murmur softly. 'But I think you need him right now. I can phone-'

'Don't!' she interrupts harshly. 'Don't leave me, don't hang up the phone – please.'

I shake my head vigorously. 'I won't, I promise. I'm right here, okay? I'm not going anywhere,' I say, my own voice beginning to crack.

My brain is struggling to process the situation and I close my eyes, lying back on my bed as I try to think of the best thing to do.

Eventually, I put Katie on speaker and find my messages with Terry.

Phone Stephen and tell him he needs to go home ASAP. Will explain later, love you so much xxx

'I've just told Terry to tell Stephen to go home,' I inform her, taking her off speaker and putting the phone back against my ear. 'I'll stay on the phone until he gets home, okay?'