09
Caleb stopped dead in his tracks.
He stood a few feet from the ER doors, his face bleached white by the harsh overhead lights.
After a few seconds of stunned silence, he lunged at the doctor, grabbing the front of his scrubs.
“You’re lying! He was just unconscious, he wasn’t getting enough oxygen! It’s happened before! You give him oxygen, and the cyan- osis goes away! Are you even doctors?! If you can’t save him, then get out of my way!”
He shoved the doctor aside and tried to force his way into the room.
The doctor grabbed his arm. “That wasn’t cyanosis! It was the beginning stages of livor mortis!”
Caleb didn’t believe him. He wrenched himself free with surprising strength and threw open the doors.
A gurney, covered with a white sheet, stood in the center of the room.
He tore the sheet away and saw the familiar face beneath it.
Lea
00:20
Chapter2
He leaned down, his lips close to my ear, and whispered my name. His voice was soft, hesitant, broken.
“I was only an hour late,” he rambled, his words nonsensical. “You’re just p
you?”
He sank to one knee, his apology earnest and desperate.
punishing me. You’re pretending not to wake up, aren’t
“I’m sorry, Leo. I promise, I’ll never be late again. Please, forgive me, okay? I know about the recording. It was Finn, wasn’t it? I’ll make him apologize to you, and then kick him out. Just don’t be angry with me anymore. Get better and come home with me…
Mom is waiting for you.”
A draft blew in from the open door. My eyelashes fluttered for a fraction of a second, then stilled,
Caleb stared, searching for any sign of life.
The doctor came in, murmuring his condolences. A pair of nurses gently replaced the white sheet. “We’re so sorry, Mr. Kane,” one
of them said softly. “We need to move him to the temporary holding room now.”
Caleb didn’t move.
After a tense moment, he finally spoke, his voice low and pleading. “Can I… can I just be alone with him for a little while?”
Worried about his mental state, the staff relented, “Fifteen minutes.”
Caleb reached out and touched my cheek. He smoothed the hair back from my forehead.
“Only fifteen minutes,” he whispered.
“We could have had so much time, couldn’t we?
I thought he was just regretting being late..
But then he said, “Do you remember? Last year, when you were in the hospital, I stayed with you. I fell asleep in the chair next to
your bed. You woke up in the middle of the night, and you got up and came over to me.”
A faint, broken smile touched his lips, a strange light in his eyes.
“I was actually awake the whole time. I just kept my eyes closed because I wanted to see what you were going to do.”
He paused, his throat working.
“If only I hadn’t opened my eyes…” he choked out.
Iremembered.
If Caleb hadn’t opened his eyes that night… I would have kissed him.
