Chapter 51 West
“Stay with me, baby,” I beg, heart cracking in half.
Her skin is ashen, and I watch in horror as the rise and fall of her chest gets slower and slower.
“I love you,” she whispers on one last exhale before her chest stills. A sob escapes me, and I feel my own heart wanting to stop alongside hers.
This isn’t how our story ends. It just fucking isn’t.
Jumping into action, despite feeling like I’m being torn in half, I remove my hand from the wound and start doing CPR just as voices come up the steps and into the house.
“OH MY GOD!” Sarah screams from behind me.
I stop for only a second. “Call 911!” I scream at the girls as they stand there frozen in shock. “And someone come stop the blood flow. Hurry!”
I can’t hear what’s going on around me, but I feel Wren drop down next to me, placing her hands over Jade’s wound. Sarah joins a minute later, taking Jade’s head into her hands, stroking her hair as tears roll down her cheeks.
I hear the echo of sirens in the distance, but I don’t stop. I continue to pump her chest and blow in her mouth. When I hear the crunch of her ribs, I choke on a sob.
“West, dear, I don’t think there is anything you can do.” Mrs. Ira places a hand on my shoulder, and it makes me fucking fume. How dare she tell me to just give up.
I’m holding the love of my life in my arms, but she’s lifeless.
The stomping of boots echoes the room. “Sheriff. You need to let go of her. We can take it from here, okay?”
I can’t. I can’t fucking let go of her.
The paramedic bends down and places two fingers on Jade’s neck. “No pulse,” he shouts to his colleagues, and my fucking world crashes around me at the weight of those two words.
He takes her from my arms and places her on a stretcher before running out the door, leaving me broken on the cold blood soaked floor.
“Go, West, go be there for her.” My sister cries.
She’s right. I can’t leave her alone and let them take her. Getting up off the floor, I run to the ambulance, hopping in the back with them. The entire ride to the hospital, I watch them work on her. When they shout they got a light pulse, I finally feel like I can breathe again.