stay with me

Chapter 41

Grey:

I'm out for a run and I'm beginning to regret my decision to start running during the day once I see how crowded it is. Running is supposed to be a peaceful time for me but instead of being able to focus just on running I have to focus on avoiding running into people. It's annoying but I try to clear my head and relax. Eventually I'm able to get into the zone and I feel myself relax.

I'm running down one of the more crowded streets since a lot of people are out having lunch at one of the many restaurants located on this street. I avoid people the best I can without having to slow my speed. I achieve a good pace when suddenly I see someone come flying at me and then next thing I know I'm lying flat on my back in the street. My head is spinning and my vision is blurred.

I know I should get up. I'm in the street for Christ's sake but I can't seem to move. My head hurts too much. Get up you idiot. I try again but my back hurts as well and all I can think about is how sore I'm going to be tomorrow.

Suddenly I feel two strong hands lift me up and toss me onto the sidewalk and then I hear a crash. I turn around once I'm able to stand up and when I do I feel my knees buckle and it's not because of my head injury. No. This isn't happening. This isn't real.

Those are the thoughts that run through my head as I see Hunter lying motionless in the street. I want to fall down and cry but I force my feet forward. I need to see if he's okay. Please be alive I silently pray. I kneel down next to him and feel for his pulse. He's alive. I exhale as I let out a breath I had been holding. His pulse is faint but it's there.

"Someone call 911!" I yell as more and more people gather around.

"I already did" someone shouts back to me.

"Hold on Hunter" I whisper to him hoping and praying he can hear me. "Help is coming. Please fight for me. Please stay alive. Stay with me. Please" I beg.

"Hey" he whispers so quietly I think I imagined it for a second but then I see his eyes flutter open.

"Hey" I say back as tears wet my eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asks his voice weak and hoarse.

I laugh in disbelief. "You get hit by a car and you are asking if I'm okay?"

"Are you?" he asks again ignoring me.

"Yes I'm fine. Thanks to you" I tell him as I gently touch his face which has cuts all over it. It looks like his leg is broken and there is blood coming from other parts of his body as well.

I see him visibly relax when I tell him this. He was worried about me. Even now when he could possibly be dying he was concerned only about me. Maybe Daniel was right.

"Good" he sighs and then coughs.

"You're going to be fine too" I tell him anxiously. Where the hell is the ambulance?

"Grey?" he asks and I recognize the tone he is using. I don't like it.

"If the next words out of your mouth are 'promise me' I swear to God Hunter" I warn him. I can't lose him. I won't.

"They aren't" he chuckles weakly.

"Okay then" I say. "What is it?"

"I just want you to know that I came here to find you. I wanted to tell you I . . ." Before he can finish I cut him off. Of course I want to hear the words I know he was about to say but not like this.

"Don't you dare" I tell him. "Don't you dare tell me like this. Okay? Don't tell me because you think you aren't going to make it. Tell me when you're better. Tell me once we get through this. Alright?"

"Alright" he sighs weakly. He's growing paler by the second and his breathing is becoming shallower and shallower. He closes his eyes and I slap him awake.

"Don't close your eyes alright?" I tell him. "You need to keep them open. You need to stay awake. Stay strong for me" I plead with him.

"God, you're beautiful" he whispers as he opens his blue eyes and stares at me. The way he's looking at me it's like I'm the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. I feel another tear slip down my cheek.

I hear the ambulance then and I perk up but I also have flashbacks of the last time something like this happened to me. No, I tell myself, not again. I look down at Hunter and I see his eyes have grown heavy and I can barely hear him breathing.

"Hunter, no don't do this" I say to him desperately. I grab his hand and hold it in mine. I feel some relief when he grips mine back. He's fighting I tell myself. The ambulance has to only be a minute away now. He's going to be okay. "The ambulance is almost here" I tell him. "Stay with me alright?"

He looks at me weakly his usually beautiful bright blue eyes now dull and I can tell he's fighting to keep them open. He studies me for a few seconds like he is trying to memorize everything about me, and I grow worried. He smiles sadly at me and then his hand goes limp in mine and his eyes close.

"No!" I yell as I grip his hand tightly. "Hunter please stay awake! Fight dammit! Please Hunter" I beg. "I need you okay. I need you so much and I love you. I love you so please stay with me. I can't lose you. Stay with me" I plead desperately as I sob.

I'm suddenly reminded of all the people who are surrounding us but I don't care. I sob and I beg but then I'm moved out of the way by someone and I'm about to fight them when I realize it's a paramedic. I sigh with relief.

"What happened?" one of them asks me.

"He was hit by a car" I explain trying to calm myself. "I've been trying to keep him awake but he just slipped into unconsciousness a few seconds ago."

"Do you know him?"

"Yes" I say holding back tears.

"What's his name?"

"His name is Hunter Williams" I tell her. And I love him. "Please save him" I beg.

"We're doing our best" the woman tells me. "Try to stay calm."

I watch them as they work trying to listen to what they are saying but I'm having difficulty with all the commotion. Hunter still isn't awake though that much is clear. They load him onto the ambulance and I'm surprised when the woman asks me if I'm coming.

"Yes" I say once I realize she is talking to me.

"Well let's go then" she says as she pulls me onto the ambulance with her.

I'm telling her more about what happened and when she hears that I was thrown into the street she says I need to be checked out. She looks at the back of my head and then tells me I have a pretty serious cut back there. She cleans it for me and I hold Hunter's hand as she does. He's still alive I remind myself as I look at him. We reach the hospital and they quickly unload him and I follow them inside. Doctors are already there to greet us and they are about to take him away when the machine Hunter is hooked up to begins beeping and everything happens very quickly then.

"He's coding" one of the doctors say. "Someone hurry and grab the paddles."

They drag him off to a room and when I try to follow one of the paramedics grabs me and tells me I need to stay here. I struggle against her at first but then I stop fighting her when I suddenly become weak and my vision begins to blur. I feel like I can't breathe as I picture Hunter lying lifeless in the street and then being taken away by the doctors. Is this the last time I'm ever going to see him? Is this how our story ends? Was our last kiss really our last kiss? I can remember it with perfect clarity and the thought that I'll never have another crushes me. This can't be real. This can't be happening again.As all these thoughts run through my head I suddenly regret not allowing Hunter to say what he had wanted to say. He was going to tell me he loves me.

"Please don't let him die" I whisper and then suddenly everything goes black.

To be continued . . . in Never let you go