Chapter 2 #2
“Listen up!” Damien yells, almost coming off as loud as the megaphone was.
His voice carries authority and holds the weight of a king—something that immediately demands attention.
“We understand your need for information, but this is only going to make it more difficult. Everyone back the hell up and let the professionals do their jobs. Leave the ambulance bay and redirect yourselves to the front of the hospital. Check in with an officer, and they’ll direct you on where to go.
” More murmurs come from the crowd, but very little people actually start to move.
A few look around warily, like they don’t know whether or not to listen to him.
“Now!” Damien’s voice booms, and people immediately kick their asses into gear.
In a matter of seconds, the crowd starts to depart like a wave, rolling out towards the street and making their way to the front like they were told.
Holy shit, he’s got a hot dad voice.
I totally should not be thinking about that right now, but how can I not when he sounds so fucking hot? I’ll just continue to blame the hormones and the fact that my husband is a God pretending to be human. Obviously, not really, but it’s definitely believable.
When he turns back to me, it’s like he reads my mind, and a smirk sprouts on his face—only for a split second, though, like the urgency of the situation hits him again. Then he turns around in a full, slow circle, taking deep breaths like he needs to compose himself before he steps back up to me.
“Now is not a good time for that, little wolf,” he says through a huff, taking my hand once again and leading us through the emergency room doors.
Even though the ruckus outside has started to dissipate, the inside is hectic, and the air is thick with sadness and mourning—much like an emergency room normally does, but the concentration of death is more prominent than ever.
The space is laced with souls, and it leaves a lingering chill to the air around us.
I can’t help but shiver as we fully make our way in, and I shrink into Damien’s side, needing more warmth for the first time all summer long.
Tony was right. It’s absolutely packed in here as well.
There are families crying and huddling together, while others look like nervous wrecks.
I immediately try to find Zeke, and my nerves rattle every second I don’t see him.
Things may still be a little weird between us, but he doesn’t need to be alone right now.
We’ve talked some here and there about our parents, but knowing that we’re siblings is still just a lot to digest. I’ve been a little selfish about it, I’m not going to lie.
I had to think of all the trauma that I dealt with alone when I could’ve had him beside me.
I know it’s not his fault. It’s just another thing that my parents fucked up, but I still can’t help but have some mixed emotions about it all.
Carter walks into the furthest waiting area and looks around, shaking his head and signaling Zeke’s not there either as he walks back over. We continue to look around the corners and study every face until Damien steps forward again.
“There,” Damien declares, and I snap my head back to him, then to where he’s directing.
He points through the double doors towards the rooms, and I see Zeke talking to Derek.
Both men stand tall and tense, like the weight of the entire world is on their shoulders.
Only with Derek, his stance is exhausted, but stoic—almost prepared, like he recited what to say to families at least one hundred times before his shift.
Zeke’s posture is strong, but shaken—like if someone did so much as poke him, he’d crumble, and the sheen on his forehead and in his hair from his worry is visible from here.
They talk close together, like they’re speaking about something intimate.
And there’s not a single sign of hope in either of their eyes.
Zeke’s face morphs into something horrified, and that’s when he shatters my heart with a yell so agonizing that it carries his pain with it—barreling its way through the doors.
It bounces off the walls like a raging bull or a rabid animal sent from hell to collect another life.
Damien lets go of my hand and forces his way through the swinging doors towards him, catching up to him just in time to help Derek grasp him before he falls to his knees.
Tears immediately flood my eyes, and I have to cover my mouth to suppress a sob. His agony only means one thing, and my chest immediately clenches. His world is now laying in tattered shreds, and there’s nothing I can do to help him—nothing anyone can do to make this go away.
Taylor is dead.
Damien sinks to the floor with him, and I can no longer see them as their image drops below the windows.
I immediately want to push through them as well and take Zeke into my arms. I’m not even able to imagine the pain he’s feeling.
My chest aches at the sounds of his whimpers and sobs.
Instinctively, my feet move to take a step forward, but I stop myself.
What if I only make things worse? What if he doesn’t want to be touched?
Comforted? What do I do? How can I help him?
The itch to do something surfaces, but I know I need to do what he needs. Whatever that is…
“Should I…” I start to say, but Carter squeezes my shoulder gently, silently telling me it’s okay.
“I got it.” He sprints through the doors as well, leaving me to catch only a glimpse of Zeke’s hyperventilating body under Damien’s grip.
I just stare at the closing door, not knowing what to do or what to say—who to call or whether I should even make a move.
“Ashia?”
My head snaps in the direction of my name being called out, and the small, sweet, reddish-blonde-headed woman I’ve come to know over the years, sits in the corner in her pajamas with a tear-streaked face.
Her hazel eyes look brighter beneath her tears, and her normally-flushed skin is even redder now.
The freckles that cover her face, neck, and chest seem to bleed together with the heated skin, but I instantly notice her shaking.
“Jamie?” I look back towards the doors, but then step over to her, feeling the grief rolling off her. “What are you—”
She shakes her head before I can finish, and it hits me then—the reason behind her sorrow and the hard truth that laid right in front of me the moment she called my name.
From what I know about Jamie, she doesn’t have family here, and never really had time to make a lot of friends.
She lived and breathed her job as an in-home nurse, and there was nothing she took more seriously than that.
Charlie’s nurse.
“I don’t know who to call…” she shakily speaks and wipes tears from her cheeks. Dread settles in my lungs, and I take a deep breath as I finally let a teardrop run down my face.
“Charlie? Is he…” I ask through trembling words, unable to finish the question, and she nods just before sobbing once again.
My stomach sinks and flips another time, and I can’t help but look at the ceiling to try and compose myself.
I try like hell to keep my shit together.
So much has been lost so quickly, and while we knew this would be catastrophic from the moment Carter put the TV on this morning, it’s hitting even harder now.
Every single person in this room is feeling this grief—this pain—and it’s tough to wrap my head around.
I was supposed to see him today. It’s not like we had anything planned, but I knew the moment I would walk in the doors at work, Charlie would’ve been there.
He’s always been…was always…one of my biggest supporters.
He was my loudest cheerleader, and even though the world already felt empty today, it definitely feels darker now.
“Coming through!” I look back as paramedics wheel another victim in on a stretcher.
This man is larger in size, with dark skin and hair, and he’s hooked up to a bag to help him breathe.
I almost look away, not sure how much more I can take of this, but then I catch a glimpse of the necklace around his neck—the one now draping lazily over his shoulder.
Emmett’s necklace.
“Oh, God…” I whisper to myself as I watch them wheel him through the doors, only to catch another glimpse of Damien and Carter, who have managed to get Zeke to his feet.
My hand finds my chest, and I can feel the pounding of my heart beneath it.
Ice cold circulates through my veins, making the tips of my fingers feel numb, and my limbs feel heavy.
Damien’s eyes find mine, and the sorrow shines brightly through them.
His grip is so tight around Zeke’s torso that his knuckles are turning white as he grasps his own wrist. Sobs wrack Zeke’s body, and his face is still contorted in agony.
Damien just shakes his head, seemingly trying to control his own heavy breaths.
It’s like it’s the first time he doesn’t know what to do, and that alone crushes me.
“Ash?”
I immediately find Jaimie’s eyes again at the sound of her voice, taking in the depths of her anguish.
She may have been Charlie’s nurse, but that’s not all she was.
He loved her dearly and really thought the world of her.
Sometimes she would act like he annoyed the hell out of her, but I know she loved him, too.
Despite their age difference, and the fact that she had to care for him, they were thick as thieves, and now that’s burned to ash with everything else.
“What do we do?” she asks with a quivered lip.
I can only stare in disbelief. Linette’s cries and loud demands sound out behind me, echoing throughout the room before she even enters it.
All of the voices around me collide in one sound, mirroring the momentum of a crash.
The lights are too bright, and the room closes in around me, suffocating me with the anger, confusion, and grief that coats the air.
I try to speak, to give her some type of hope, but nothing comes out.
Because I don’t know what we’re going to do.
Or what’s going to happen next.