༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄
Chapter 25: "Everything's gonna be okay."
༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄༄
I open my eyes, and immediately know that im in a hospital, just by how bright the room is. I try to sit up but struggle a bit. I feel weak and dizzy. There's bandage all around my head.
I look to my side and see Zach sitting on a chair besides the bed, his head in his hands.
"Zach." i say but it comes out more like a whisper
Zach's head snaps up, and he looks at me, his eyes red, from all the crying. His expression shocked for a bit.
Zach takes my hands in his and smiles.
"Please lay with me." I plead
Zach gets up from the chair then gets onto the bed, and lays down beside me, placing his head on my chest, his arms around my stomach. I play with his hair and massage his head until he falls asleep. I close my eyes and doze off.
>>
I open my eyes, and see that Zach is still asleep on my chest. I smile at how cute he looks when his asleep and kiss him on his head.
The door shoots open and ma runs in, Aria behind her.
"Elle!" Ma shouts
"Shhhh." I hush her, pointing to sleeping Zach.
"Are you okay dear?, i was so worried" She whispers kissing my forhead
I nod
Aria just looks down.
"What did the doctor say?" I ask ma
"You're very weak and that it's best to stay here until...until...i can't Elle. Im not ready, im not ready." Ma speaks through sobs
"It's okay, everything's gonna be okay." I say in a soft voice assuring ma
"Stop saying that! Nothing will ever be okay!" Aria yells at me and runs out of the room.
Ma shakes her head and runs out after her. Zach sits up and rubs his eyes, giving a yawn.
"What happened?" He asks placing his hand on my back
"I think Aria hates me."
>>>>
"No I'm staying!"
"Don't be silly, you have exams. I'll be okay besides ma and Aria are here."
"I know but still, I'm scared, i don't wanna leave you." Zach says then intertwines his fingers through mine.
>>>
After some cuddling and kisses, Zach finally agreed to go write his exam, said he'll be back as soon as he's done.
I lay still in the bed, my eyes closed. Im so bored!
After a short while ma walks in and sits on the chair besides the bed.
I take a deep breath before talking
"Does she hate me?"
"No dear, she could never hate you. She's just... She's confused, angry and disappointed. She had just found you and now she's going to lose you."
I look down in my hands and sigh
Ma stands up and gives me a kiss on my forehead.
"I'll be back later."
I nod and watch her walk out.
~~~~~~~~
The night
~~~~~~~~
I wake up from a nap and sit up. I look around the room and see Aria sitting on the chair besides my hospital bed.
"Where's ma?" I ask awkwardly
She doesn't say anything.
I sigh before talking again
"Im sorry okay?! I didn't want this!, i want to live more than anything! I want to get out of this dull room and go home with my sister and grandma, i wanna finish school, i wanna study, i wanna see you grow up, i wanna spend the rest of my life with my boyfriend!, i wanna keep going like i promised mom, but you can't always get what you want Aria! Im so scared but im trying, im fighting, can't you see?!"
Aria just looks at me, tears running down her cheeks.
"Come here."
She gets on the bed and hugs me tightly. I rub her back trying to comfort her.
"It may not seem like it will but everything's gonna be okay, okay?"
"Okay."
"I love you so much."
Aria just cries louder into my chest, her body shaking.
My heart breaks a little, seeing my baby sister in this state. I never meant to bring tears to her eyes. I just want her to be happy.
>>>
Later that night after ma and Aria left, i just lied in bed, my mind filled with thoughts. I'm so weak, i can barely get any food in, it's almost time, i can feel it.
I lie in the darkness, the blinds are closed, the room is dark, kinda scary. Suddenly i hear footsteps approaching in the passage. I sit up in the bed, my eyes wide open, the footsteps becoming louder but then stop and there's silence, i let out a deep breath i didn't know i was holding in, just as Im about to lay down again the door opens slowly, the room is dark and all i see is a black figure entering the room. I gulp and just stare at the dark figure walking over towards me. I let out a slight squirm out of fear.
"Elle?"
A gentle voice talks. Zach.
Zach puts on the light and looks at me.
"Shit! I didn't mean to scare you."
"It's okay, im just glad it's not some murder."
Zach walks over and sits down on the bed.
"What are you doing here? You can't be here. You'll get into trouble."
"I brought you some chocolates." He says taking out a bag of lindt chocolates from his jacket pocket.
"Thank you but you really didn't have to."
"But i wanted to."
I smile and take the bag of chocolates.
"Okay i got my chocolates now, you should go home, you need to rest Zach."
"No, i wanna stay with my girlfriend!"
"Zachary."
"Isabelle."
I sigh and lie down.
Zach chuckles and takes off his shoes then gives me a smirk
"We never got to finish the last time."
"Huh?" I ask confused
Zach bends down and takes something out from under the bed. A book?
I smile.
"The fault in our stars." Zach says lying next to me.
Zach opens to where we stoped the last time and reads.
>>>
"What else? She is so beautiful. You don't get tired of looking at her. You never worry is she is smarter than you: you know she is. She is funny without ever being mean. I love her. I'm so lucky to love her, Van Houten. You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world , old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers."
Zach pauses and takes a deep breath before reading again.
"I do, Augustus. I do."
Zach kisses me on my forehead and then closes the book.
"That was lovely." I say sleepily
Zach smiles and places the book on the bedside table.
We snuggle closer and soon enough i fall asleep, wrapped up in the arms of my love.
>>>>
~~~~~~~~~
Zach's pov
~~~~~~~~~
It's been a three hours since Elle has fallen asleep. I however can't fall asleep. How can i possibly sleep knowing that the one person who i love most in this world is dying. The one i wanna see succeed, the one i wanna live the rest of my life with, the one i wanna marry, the one i wanna start a family with, the one i wanna grow old with. I can't sleep! I'm trying so hard to be strong, to not cry but i can't, im weak.
I sit upright and next thing i know im crying, my body shaking, struggling to breathe.
~~~~~~~~
Elle's pov
~~~~~~~~
I feel cold, no longer in Zach's arms, i wake up from my sleep and sit up. I see Zach sitting upright too, his legs hanging off the bed, his head in his hands, his body shaking.
He's sad, he's crying.
I gently place my hand on his back and Zach's snaps his head towards me.
"Zach, what's wrong?"
Zach just shakes his head and places his head on my chest, crying into it.
"I-i i'm scared! I'm so fucking scared!" He whisper shouts through the sobs.
I hold him and rub his back and head to comfort him.
"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay." I repeat, trying to fight my own tears from coming down but I'm not strong enough.
I take a deep breath before talking again
"Everything's gonna be okay."
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Everything's gonna be okay.
keep going!
Stay strong!
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