Then Cas strides in, jaw clenched, color drained from his face. He hugs his mother first, then turns to me, his hand brushing mine briefly.
“Sorry,” he mutters.“I had to make sure the bastard was charged and locked up.”
Penny is home with Mia. Thank God.
“Any news?” Cas asks, dropping heavily into the seat beside Dex, the weight of the day pressing into his shoulders.
“They’re still working on him,” Josh answers, voice thin, tight with fear, hands clenching and unclenching in his lap.
???
An hour later, the ER doors finally swing open.
A female surgeon steps out, peeling off her cap. Her expression is professional, tired, but not shattered, and that alone makes my lungs move again.
“Hawthorne family?” she asks, scanning the packed waiting room.
Josh and Lily rush toward her. I follow, legs trembling.
Please…
Please, God…
The surgeon exhales, folding her hands in front of her.“The bullet passed through his upper arm and severed a branch of the brachial artery,” she explains.“He lost a significant amount of blood before he reached us. We were able to clamp the artery, control the bleeding, and repair the vessel.”
My stomach flips. Brachial artery. That’s bad. That’s really bad.
“He received multiple units of blood,” she continues gently.“The shock to his system was… considerable. He’s still unconscious, but his vitals are stable, and he should wake up soon.”
A sound ripples through the room, a collective exhale, a prayer released.
He’s alive.
My knees buckle, and Lily clutches my arm to steady me.
He’s alive.
Ethan
Darkness isn’t empty.
It’s heavy. Thick. Like swimming upward through tar with someone’s voice echoing from somewhere far above the surface. A voice I know. One that always reaches me, even when nothing else can.
“…please… please be okay…”
Summer.
I chase her voice through the fog. My body feels wrong, numb in places, burning in others. My arm throbs like a heartbeat that isn’t mine. Every inhale feels like I’m dragging air through cracked ribs.
Then…light.
Not bright. Not sharp. Soft. A dim hospital lamp glowing like a halo.
And then I feel it.
Weight. Warmth. Right over my stomach.
A head.
