He picks up her hand, pressing blood-soaked fingers against his cheek. “Right here, baby. Not going anywhere. How are you doing?”
His voice only breaks once. Kenny’s eyes clear slightly. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t,” he croaks. “You don’t have anything to apologize for, okay? Nothing, Kenny.”
I fold over. Just… fold, catching myself on the ground before I shift to be beside him. Oscar has his face turned away. His fingers are soft in her hair, pushing tangled strands away from her face. But I can see his shoulders shaking.
“Hey,” I breathe, even as my heart breaks. “Hey, sweetheart,”
“Max,” she breathes. “I got lost.”
I shake my head, my eyes wet. “No, you didn’t. We found you, Ken.”
Her lips barely move. “Knew… you would. Where’s…Oscar?”
He pushes his jaw out, as if it might stem the flow from his eyes. “Here. Got my arms around you, Kenny. We’re going to take you home, okay?”
“Home.” Her lips barely form the words. “That sounds… nice.”
Her eyes move. Searching.
“Here.” Theo’s voice sounds. “I’m right here, Ken.”
Her eyes seem a little more unfocused. She coughs, choking on nothing as her back arches again. “Still… hate me?”
Theo’s face is pure devastation. “Never. I never hated you, remember? You were – you’reeverything, Kenny. We need you to hold on, okay? We’re gonna get you help.”
“Everything.” She murmurs it. Her eyes close. “I think… I would have liked to be your everything.”
She doesn’t see Theo’s face crumple.
“It would have been… nice,” Kenny whispers. Almost to herself. “To be someone’s everything.”
My hand slams against my chest as her head tilts to the side. It feels like a cord. Stretching. Thinning.
Oscar stiffens. He shakes her. Just once, and then harder. “Kenny?Breathe.”
Jake has his head in his hands.
“No.” Once, then louder. Theo, cupping her face, tilting it up. “No. She – she’s not. She’s not. Fuck, Kenny. Come on. Comeon.”
But her chest isn’t moving. She’s not breathing.
She’s not fucking breathing.
And that cord in my chest gets thinner. I squeeze my hand against my skin, clawing at it. Fuck, I can almost see it. Wrap myhands around it in my mind, as if I can hold her here by sheer strength of will.
Theo chokes, pressing his forehead to hers. “I’m sorry, Ken. I’m so sorry.”
But my hand shoots out, pulling him back. “Wait –look.”
My heart turns over as her eyes fly open, locking on Theo.
Kennedy’s eyes aren’t muddy red anymore. Her pupils are a bright, vivid scarlet, lines breaking off and bleeding into the whites of her eyes.
But she’s breathing.
Slowly, her lips peel back, revealing sharp, pointed canines. A low, rolling snarl ripples up her throat and out into the stunned silence.
