“Stop fucking doing that!” he screams, kicking me back down.
“Then stop fucking attacking me!” I scream, on the edge of consciousness. I’m losing too much blood from the stab wound on my hip, and my body is spent.
Adam reaches forward, gripping my hair, causing my vision to momentarily go black. My head already throbs from where he hit me, and now the grip he has doesn’t help.
I blink through the pain and haze, eyes meeting his. Then I watch in slow motion as his arm pulls back and drives forward.
A guttural scream leaves my throat as I feel the serrated edge of the knife tear through scar tissue and nestle deep into my abdomen.
My body goes still, and I hear a shot ring out just before Adam’s body jerks and he falls, blood pooling from his head.
“Jade!” Through the haziness, I hear West’s panic-stricken voice, and all I can think is that he made it. He came to save me.
Big, warm arms wrap around me, and a sense of calm washes over. I’m in West’s arms. I’m safe.
I can feel my chest slowing and my breaths lessen as my body gets colder and colder. I glance up at the man who means so much to me, and his name leaves my lips in both a plea and a goodbye.
“Stay with me, baby.” He shakes my body, trying to keep me awake and places a hand over my wound to stop the flow of blood, but I’m so cold and tired.
“I love you,” I whisper, hoping he can hear me, before I sink into the dark abyss.
“Stay with me, baby,” I beg, heart cracking in half.
Her skin is ashen, and I watch in horror as the rise and fall of her chest gets slower and slower.
“I love you,” she whispers on one last exhale before her chest stills. A sob escapes me, and I feel my own heart wanting to stop alongside hers.
This isn’t how our story ends. It just fucking isn’t.
Jumping into action, despite feeling like I’m being torn in half, I remove my hand from the wound and start doing CPR just as voices come up the steps and into the house.
“OH MY GOD!” Sarah screams from behind me.
I stop for only a second. “Call 911!” I scream at the girls as they stand there frozen in shock. “And someone come stop the blood flow. Hurry!”
I can’t hear what’s going on around me, but I feel Wren drop down next to me, placing her hands over Jade’s wound. Sarah joins a minute later, taking Jade’s head into her hands, stroking her hair as tears roll down her cheeks.
I hear the echo of sirens in the distance, but I don’t stop. I continue to pump her chest and blow in her mouth. When I hear the crunch of her ribs, I choke on a sob.
“West, dear, I don’t think there is anything you can do.” Mrs. Ira places a hand on my shoulder, and it makes me fucking fume. How dare she tell me to just give up.
I’m holding the love of my life in my arms, but she’s lifeless.
The stomping of boots echoes the room. “Sheriff. You need to let go of her. We can take it from here, okay?”
I can’t. I can’t fucking let go of her.
The paramedic bends down and places two fingers on Jade’s neck. “No pulse,” he shouts to his colleagues, and my fucking world crashes around me at the weight of those two words.
He takes her from my arms and places her on a stretcher before running out the door, leaving me broken on the cold blood soaked floor.
“Go, West, go be there for her.” My sister cries.
She’s right. I can’t leave her alone and let them take her. Getting up off the floor, I run to the ambulance, hopping in the back with them. The entire ride to the hospital, I watch them work on her. When they shout they got a light pulse, I finally feel like I can breathe again.
It’s been five hours since we got to the hospital and they took Jade into the OR. No one will tell us anything, and I’m getting antsy. Surely this is a good sign at the least? That they haven’t come out with bad news yet.
All our family and friends are waiting in the lobby, and with each passing tick of the clock, my heart fractures just a bit more.
