Page 117 of Time to Bounce

GABLE

It was getting hard to breathe.

Was this what dying felt like?

“You’re going to be okay, brother.”

I looked up at Quinn’s face. “I am?”

Wow, was that my voice?

It sounded like sandpaper and gravel had a baby.

“Yes,” he said. “You are.”

“Athena,” I coughed. I felt like I was choking. “Can you get her?”

“We’re looking for her right now. She’s not answering her phone.” He pressed harder on my chest. “We’ll find her.”

Maybe they wouldn’t.

I might not get to see her before I died.

“What happened?” I asked again.

They wouldn’t tell me.

None of them would.

I couldn’t remember how I got into the room I was in.

My family was against the wall.

A lot of them were crying.

“I need a fuckin’ OR!” I heard yelled. “Now!”

“Felix is going to save you,” I heard whispered.

Val.

My sister’s sister-in-law.

Dr. Felix was her husband.

Both of them were doctors in the ER I was at.

And both of them were losing their mind.

From what I could tell, there weren’t any ORs open because of a mass incident that none of them would talk about.

“If you say so,” I sighed.

“She’s here!” someone called.

I turned to the doorway, expecting to see Athena, and found… Callena.

“No.” I shook my head. “Not her. I don’t want her.”

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