28
ERICA
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King is on his back on the bed, completely buck naked, his body seizing violently.
I never thought it was possible to see something this low and sad. The man I’ve come to know as my friend is lying there with his eyes open, but he isn't seeing anything.
White and red bubbly froth slowly leaks from his mouth as his body convulses violently. His legs hang over the foot of the bed, and his very hard dick still leaking cum even as he's dying.
My voice doesn’t even feel like my own as I give the operator the address.
“My friend looks like he’s od’ing or having a seizure! He—he isn't breathing right, and someone needs to get here fast!! Please hurry! Please!”
I’m terrified, my hands shaking so hard I can barely hold the phone.
“Ma'am, stay calm,” the operator tells me. “I need you to roll him onto his side to keep his airway clear. Can you do that?”
I’ve already started to do it, pulling from what I remember from nursing school, even though I’m late because I was panicking.
It’s hard because he’s so heavy, but I manage to roll King onto his left side.
His eyes stay open, never blinking once.
The convulsions kick and spasm before they start to slow down, but King is still choking.
“King! Oh fuck! KING! PLEASE!” I cry out. This can’t be real life right now.
“Ma’am, is he responding?” the operator asks.
King isn't moving. His eyes are still, and his mouth is open. I press my fingers to his neck, then move my hand to his chest. I stifle a sob when I realize I can’t feel a thing. His heart has stopped.
“Oh my God, please fucking hurry!” I scream at the phone. “He’s not fucking breathing and I can’t feel his pulse! Please, oh my fucking God! Oh my God, please don't do this! Oh my God, PLEASE! WHAT THE FUCK, KING!” I scream my heart out as I push him back onto his back and start administering CPR.
Every time I pump his chest, doing the counts in my head, I hope and wish he’ll blink or his pulse will come back. I’m desperate for him to respond to something, but the only time his body moves is when I push down near his sternum.
“KING, PLEASE! WHAT THE FUCK! WHY THE—WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THIS?!” I shriek so loud that my voice creaks under the strain.
I keep trying. I can hear the sirens nearby, but they aren't close enough. Time feels like it’s dragging, or maybe everything else is just moving too slow. I don’t stop. As I perform the chest compressions, bits of our past conversations start to drift into my mind.
“What about college? Are you in college?” he had asked me.
“I was going to be a nurse, but I dropped out of the program,” I replied.
Tears fall down my face as I continue the motion, switching to mouth-to-mouth, trying everything I can to bring him back.
“You never know who you’re going to bless. Do for others and they do for you,” King’s voice echoes through my memory.
I remember the first time he took me to church. I didn’t even know we were going.
“Good morning. You look nice,” he had said with a smile.
He was in his Sunday best, looking clean and handsome, a far cry from how he looks right now. I remember how he always opened the door for me, no matter what, even when he was mad at me.
“I won’t give up on you,” his voice echoes again, the sound of him praying for me. Encouraging me.
“KING, PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEAAAASE!” My voice croaks with absolute agony and despair because nothing I am doing is bringing him back.
Suddenly, it’s like I’m back in the Hollow, back when I thought I was all alone after the tornado tore us from the ground. In that memory, I reach out into the dark, stretching my arms out and having faith that King is there.
I sobbed against him then, and even though I know he must have been scared too, he held me close.
“I got you. It’s okay. I got you… I got you,” he had whispered.
“Good men are so hard to find, King, and everybody lies,” I told him.
“I believe God will bless you,” he said.
“Not if I don’t believe in Him.”
King smiled, his grey eyes locked onto mine. “Well, we’ll have to work on that, won’t we, Little Lost Lamb?”
The memories rush into one horrible realization: he’s gone.
I’m losing him again.
Forever.