Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Chapter Twenty-Two
Cromwell
“Bonnie! Bonnie!” I shouted as she slumped in her seat. Her right hand clutched her left arm, and her eyes started to close. Panic rushed through me like a river.
Bonnie’s eyes fell on mine, and all I saw was fear staring back at me. Then her eyes shut. “No! NO!” I shouted and moved over her. My hand searched for her pulse. It wasn’t there. I didn’t think. I just let instinct rule my actions. I took Bonnie in my arms and carried her to the dock as quickly as I could. I laid her down and started resuscitations, something my dad had made me learn years ago. “Come on, Bonnie,” I whispered, my blood running cold when her pulse didn’t come back.
I kept going, breathing into her mouth, pushing at her chest, when suddenly someone came beside me. I looked up to see the canoeist. “Call 911!” I shouted, not daring to take my hands off Bonnie. Because she had to live. She couldn’t die. “Tell them she has heart failure. And to hurry!”
It was all a fog. I kept going and going until someone pulled me aside. I fought them to get back to Bonnie. But when arms held me down, stopping me, I looked up. The EMTs were here. “She’s got heart failure,” I said, watching them take Bonnie from the dock and onto a gurney. I sprinted after them and climbed into the back of the ambulance and stayed frozen against the side as the paramedics worked on Bonnie.
Her hand had fallen over the gurney. And that was all I could see. Her limp hand, one that only a short while ago was holding mine. The doors to the ambulance started to close. When I looked up, the man in the canoe was gone.
The ambulance pulled out, and the whole time I stared at Bonnie’s hand. I called her parents. I didn’t even remember the conversation. I followed the gurney through the hospital as doctors and nurses swarmed around Bonnie like bees. I heard the beeps and whirrs of the machines keeping her alive. And I heard the pounding of my heart in my ears. The colors flew at me like shrapnel, hitting me with every strike. Emotions buried me until I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I stayed against the wall, watching Bonnie’s hand that still hung over the gurney. I wanted to hold it. Wanted her to know I was here, waiting for her to wake up.
“No!” Bonnie’s mother’s voice rang out behind me. I turned to see her father and brother coming in behind. Bonnie’s mum tried to run to the bed, but Mr. Farraday held her back. Easton stood in the doorway, his eyes fixed on his sister, a scarily calm look on his face. Like he wasn’t even there. Like he wasn’t watching his sister fight for her life.
Tubes and machines were all over Bonnie, drowning her dark hair and slim body. And all the time, I was buried further and further under colors and noises and shapes and feelings. Feelings I didn’t want.
I stood there, watching the girl who had brought back my heart fight to save hers. I stood there until I was led away. Mrs. Farraday steered me into a room. I blinked when the noises stopped and we were plunged into silence.
A doctor came into the room. I glanced up. Easton was beside me. But his eyes were vacant. His face pale.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion as the doctor started to speak. Only certain words made it through to my brain. “Cardiac arrest…terminal…no more than a couple of weeks…no going home…top of the list…medical help…machines…”
The doctor left the room. Bonnie’s mother fell into her husband’s chest. Crimson red filled my head as her cries filled the room. Mr. Farraday reached out for Easton. Easton was pulled into their arms, but he didn’t hold them back. He just stood there, eyes vacant, his body eerily still.
Bonnie was dying.
Bonnie was dying.
I staggered to the wall, and finally my feet gave out. I hit the floor and felt the shield of numbness drain out of me…only to lower my defenses so much that the emotions assaulted me, blanket-bombing me with images of Bonnie slumping in the boat, holding her arm, calling my name…
My head fell forward, and the tears I had held back came pouring out. I fucking fell apart on the floor until a pair of arms came around me. I knew it was Mrs. Farraday, but I couldn’t stop. She was her mother. Getting told her daughter would only have a couple of weeks…but I couldn’t help it.
Bonnie was it for me. The only one who understood me.
I loved her.
And I was going to lose her.
“She’s gonna be all right,” Mrs. Farraday kept whispering into my ear. But her words were navy blue.