Page 159 of Meet Me at the Metro

“I can’t lose anyone else,” Theo mumbles, gripping the roots of his hair as he paces the street. There’s a crazed look in his eyes that tells me his shock is setting in. “I can’t lose him. I can’t lose him. I can’t—”

“He’s going to be alright, okay?” I take Theo’s wringing hands in mine, anchoring him still to stop his restless pacing. “He’ll be alright.”

“I’m cursed, Nora. I lose every person I love, and it hurts so much. It hurts so fucking much.”

“We haven’t lost him.”

“But if we do,” he murmurs, the whites of his eyes turning red. “I can’t take it. I can’t fucking take it. I can’t—”

“We haven’t lost him yet,” I reiterate, more firmly this time. I’m holding my composure together by a thread, not letting myself contemplate the most frightening outcome. “We have to have hope, okay? If not for ourselves, then for Harvey.”

I bore my gaze into Theo’s, offering every shred of hope I have left and praying it’s enough to keep him sane—from slipping into the uncertainty darkening his mind. It was as though he and I were taking turns holding each other together.

“For Harvey,” he sniffles.

I repeat the mantra to myself—over and over and over—as Connor, Theo, and I climb into the taxi and make our way toward the hospital.

The bright lights in the hospital’s waiting room starkly contrast with the gloomy unease emanating from Evie, Connor, Theo, and me as we wait for an update on Harvey’s condition. Every second that passes is another thundering heartbeat, another moment spent in dreadful anticipation.

I couldn’t sit still; none of us could over the long hours of waiting. We were all stuck in a continuous cycle of pacing the painfully quiet floors or restlessly tapping our feet, praying that one of the nurses or hospital staff who occasionally passed would have an answer for us.

It felt likedaysbefore someone came by that actually did.

We all rise from our seats the second the doctor, dressed in deep navy scrubs, approaches us.

“Mr. Webb’s family?”

“Yes,” Evie blurts, hurrying his way. “Yes, we’re his family. How is he doing? Is he okay? Is he—”

“He’s doing alright,” he nods, and I feel like I can finally breathe right again. “He’s in PACU now. We’ve had some difficulty getting his respirations stable, so we’re going to keep monitoring him closely. Ensure that his body is getting the oxygenation it needs.”

“But he’ll be okay?” Theo asks. “When can we see him?”

“As of right now, we’ve got himstabilized. We removed the bullet. It was deep, and he’s lost a lot of blood, but we’ve given him a unit of packed red blood cells, so hopefully, that will compensate for what he’s lost. We’ll keep a close eye on his labs and vitals to see if they improve and go from there. We’ve started him on some oxygen—”

“Oxygen?!”Evie deeply respires. “What’s wrong with his oxygen? Is he not breathing? Why does he need oxygen?”

“He’s breathing. He just needs a little help doing so right now. Sometimes, the anesthesia from surgery can impede the patient’s breathing. Blood loss can contribute to it, too. There are a lot of factors involved.”

“How long until we can see him?” Theo impatiently asks again. “How long until he’s better?”

“Once he’s stable and we get him situated in the ICU, he’ll be permitted visitors.”

“The ICU?!I thought you said you had him stabilized!”

“Stabilized, yes, but in the condition that Harvey came to us in, it’s difficult to say if things will stay that way. Things can regress very quickly in cases like this.”

Evie’s head drops to the floor. “Oh my God.”

“He’s going to have a very long road to recovery, but that doesn’t mean recovery isn’t possible. It just means that it’ll take a lot more work. It could be weeks until he’s back to his baseline.”

I wanted to feel relieved—ultimately, Ididfeel relieved knowing that Harvey was alive and still fighting—but hearing the doctor speak of his current condition only erased a speck of my worry.

“What can you do?” I mutter. “To help him get better again?”

“Fluids, immunostimulants, rest, and lots of antibiotics to prevent infection and treat any that might already be present. I’ll ensure that his nurses keep you updated and do my best to do the same. I’ll have them come and grab you guys when he’s allowed visitors, and we’ll go from there, alright?”

We all nod, each seemingly at a loss for words after the news we were just presented with. It’s like our unconscious minds are quietly trying to piece together all that our conscious ones heard—like we’re fighting to accept it all.

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