Chapter Forty-Five #2
“I know this is such a delicate matter, especially with both families here. Dr. West and I are fine splitting the families up to update if you’d be more comfortable that way.” They look around at all of us, but everyone shakes their head no.
“Both girls are my sisters. You’re going to have to tell us about both.” Lee responds with a tremor in her voice.
Both doctors nod, but it’s the one who’s standing closest to us who begins talking.
He’s probably in his mid forties if I had to guess.
His salt and pepper hair is cut short, and his beard kept closely cut.
His black rimmed glasses cover hazel eyes.
I’m not sure why I’m noting his looks in a moment like this, aside from that’s just what my brain decides to hone in on while I listen to the words he’s saying.
“Anneliese suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen. The bullet pierced through her liver and her small bowels, and in the end we were unable to repair the damage. I’m so sorry, Fischer family, but we were unable to save her.”
My ears ring as what they said sinks in, followed by the loud, anguishing screams of absolute devastation from my parents and sister.
I hear the doctor tell Theo that Elle’s in critical but stable condition and that he can see her soon.
As they turn to walk away, my hand shoots out to grasp the doctor’s arm, stopping him in his tracks.
“Where’s my partner? Where’s Declan?” The panic in my voice rises as the words slip past my lips.
“Follow me.”
Without a word I follow him back to Declan’s office, only realizing once we’re in front of the door that Flynn has followed me. “He’s in there. He said he won’t leave her by herself. That it’s his job as her future brother-in-law to stay with her.”
Tears openly pour down my cheeks. I couldn’t love him any more if I tried to. Even after death, he’s caring for the people he loves. I take a moment to steel my spine and wrap my mind around what I’m about to see. I watch Flynn watching me closely. I hadn’t even realized he followed me down here.
“Maybe you should stay out here, Flynn. Once you see whatever is beyond that door, you can’t unsee it.”
“I have to, Jake. I have to see her.” Making the decision right then to take care of Flynn the same way Dec is Annie right now, I shake my head and wrap my arms around him.
He fights my hold for a few seconds before he sags into my arms and grips the back of my shirt as he wails.
I’m fully holding him up as he falls apart.
My soul is shredded, and I have no idea how I’m going to keep going without my little treasure.
Annie was our little baby. She was so sunshiny and bubbly.
The past year she appeared different, and I think I know now that Calvin was the cause of the change.
I should have seen it, should have killed him, and gotten her away from him, but I didn’t know.
Natasha kept me so wrapped up in the fighting shit that I had no idea my sister was being hurt by this piece of shit.
I watch Rowan walk up behind Flynn and nod at me before pulling his baby brother into his arms. Envy and jealousy slam into me as I realize that he gets to hold his youngest sibling, and I never will again.
It’s not Flynn’s fault at all. Hell, it’s no one’s fault, and I’d pay all the money in the world to know what she was thinking.
“Come on Flynn, let’s go upstairs. I’ve got you.” Rowan uses the voice that I’ve only ever heard him use on his children as he guides Flynn back to his family.
I stand with my hand hovering just above the doorknob.
I can’t make myself open it, though. My stomach turns at just the thought of having to walk in and see what I know is true.
Instead I walk into Declan’s room, strip out of my clothes, and climb into his bed.
My back faces the door, which is something I’d never let happen normally.
Right now though, I know the door is locked and I need to fall apart as the reality of my situation sinks deep into my bones.
* * *
Sometime later Declan wakes me by climbing into bed and pulling me until I’m half laying on him.
The tears from my eyes fall onto his bare chest. My head hurts from crying myself to sleep.
My eyes feel like sandpaper, and my entire body aches with the extreme exhaustion that comes with experiencing one of the most traumatic things that you can witness.
“I am so sorry, baby. I tried to save her. I swear Jakob, I tried.” His fingers gently scratch my head in comfort.
My voice feels scratchy from the crying and disuse when I ask the one question that’s been pressing to the front of my mind every time I think about it.
“Who shot her?” Dieter and I were running through the tunnels and trying to find her, so I have no idea who did this to her.
“You aren’t going to like my answer, Chaos.” He whispers into the silence. “I don’t know. It all happened so quickly. By the time I knew what was happening, everything was over.”
His arms wrap tightly around me, hugging me to him.
“It’s not your fault, Beast.” I gently kiss his chest.
“Feels like it. I’m so sorry, Jakob. If I could go back I would have stopped it.”
My voice catches as I answer him, “I know. Me too.”
The rest of the night we spend in silence, just soaking in each other’s comfort.
Tomorrow I have to be the oldest. I have to hold my siblings up and help my parents plan a funeral for their twenty-two year old daughter.
So I’ll take tonight to be the one whose soul is crushed and needs to be held together by his partner, because tomorrow I have to slip that mask back in place and be the pillar for my family.