The drive here was a blur.
Traffic lights and stop signs ceased to exist as I plowed through each of them, not giving a damn if red and blues appeared behind me and chased me to the ends of the continent.Time is not, and hasn't been, on my side in ages.I wasn't about to waste a second getting to her.Not when something irreversible is on the verge of taking her from me.
Pacing outside of her door, I try to give her time to answer after I knocked, but the sound of her padding feet never reaches the hallway.What if nothing's wrong and I'm freaking out over nothing?
Your gut hasn't been wrong before.
Yeah, okay.
Knocking more frantically, my knuckles redden from the abuse.The bones beneath rattle and ache when the strikes get harder.
"Sadie, open the damn door!"
Nothing.Not a fuck you, go away, Sadie's not here, nothing.
Fuck this.
One step back, I lift my right foot and drive the heel of my boot at the weak spot above the door handle and shatter the frame.It flies open and ricochets off the wall, almost hitting me as I step through and race down the hallway, around the corner, and into the kitchen.
For a brief moment, I think my brain’s playing a trick on me, but then my stomach slaps onto the floor as it drops out of me.
"Sunshine!"
Three devastating stomps of my boots bring me to her, then I kneel next to her motionless body.Where denim-clad knees crack under the sudden drop.
She's prone; pale with sweat lines sparkle along the dried salt while her left arm rests heavily over her stomach.
The right's slightly bent over her head and peeking from the end of the island—what the camera showed me.Both are torn up, gashes in the left and angry red welts on the right.Her shirt's managed to absorb some of the blood; the rest, however, she's lying in.
Locked on something a hundred miles above us, her eyes fail to blink.Her once painted lids, lined with thick lashes, have become inflamed and raw.Her dead gaze makes my stomach twist into knots too complicated to untangle.
S...she, no.No, I refuse to believe it.
Schooling the shake in my hands, I cup her face.She doesn’t budge.There’s no resistance when I turn her to face me better.If—if she’s gone…
Carefully, I lean, listen to her airway, and watch her chest.Two, five, seven, seconds pass before I finally see it rise the slightest bit and lower.When the faint warmth of her breath tickles my sideburns, I crack a sob.
Focus, Elias, Focus.
Taking hold of her shoulders, I roll her into a rescue position.She’s not breathing deep enough; if I leave her on her back, she’ll asphyxiate.
My leg shifts against her lower back to brace her while I fish out my phone and turn on the flashlight.It’s too dark in here to see clearly.A few taps, and the backlight blazes enough to make me squint as we bloom from the darkness.
Still, she doesn’t shy away when my hand grasps her chin and the other passes the light in front of her eyes.If there’s dilation, then there’s brain function, and I can live with that.Bloodshot, they respond—lifting weight from my chest.
"What the hell did you do to yourself..."I murmur.
Takes me a few moments to pat her down: her waist, bare hip bones with a pair of plastered on underwear, behind her knees, then the other side before I roll her again.
Her dilating eyes tell me her body's alive, but that doesn’t mean a damn thing if her mind is gone.Making a fist, I push the knuckles to her chest, apply pressure, and begin to rub roughly.
"Come on, Sunshine...come back to me."
Three, four, five hard grinds and she doesn't respond so I do it again.Harder, until she groans and attempts to swat me away.She doesn’t have any energy left.Unable to move her fingers much or open her eyes, she damn sure doesn't have what it takes to fight me off.
"That's it, a little more," I encourage her.
I should be furious.She can't be alone for more than a week without turning into a banshee and hurting herself.
