Wishing I hadn’t waited until the world was on fire to tell the truth.I think the worst part of all of it is knowing I won’t get the chance to say I’m sorry.
Not to you Nate, not the way you deserved.
So if you wake up?—
If you make it out of this?—
Just know this was never supposed to be your burden.
It should’ve been mine.
CHAPTER30
PARALYSIS
NATE
The needle enters my arm,and the world immediately starts to smear at the edges—like someone put their thumb over my eyes and dragged.I've seen enough overdose and watched enough bodies drop to recognize the signs.
Fentanyl.
But laced with something else.Something meaner, crueler.Designed to end things fast.
It hits my system like a sledgehammer made of lightning.
No—like my nerves are beingunzippedfrom the inside.A chemical inferno races through my blood so fast my brain can barely keep up, each second tightening around me like a vice.
This is instant annihilation.
My chest seizes, muscles contracting involuntarily as my respiratory system begins its shutdown sequence.My breathing becomes shallow and labored within seconds, each breath requiring more effort than the last.The world tilts violently, and I'm falling even though I'm still sitting upright.
“That’s it,” Monty says, voice echoing behind glass.“Just let it take you, Preppy.”
Paralysis crawls up my body—cold, slick, merciless.My limbs turn from muscle to concrete slabs.
Not heavy—just gone.
Disconnected.
Like someone cut the wires between my brain and the rest of me, and now I’m trapped inside myself with no exit.
I try to lift my hand.
Try to twitch a finger.
Try to scratch at the floor, at the air—anything.
I can feel my heartbeat slowing, each pump of blood becoming more labored.My vision starts to tunnel, darkness creeping in from the edges like a closing iris.The paralysis is complete and terrifying.
My eyelids feel like they weigh a thousand pounds, but I force them to stay open through sheer willpower.
I can't close them.
I can't let this happen.
I have to stay awake, I have to protect Jake.
Nothing.Not even a flicker.
