Page 123 of Undone

“We still need to finish that dumb show we started. It’s almost Sunday, and you need to be there to help put way too many chocolate chips on Gracie’s pancakes. We can get a dog and name him Stewart like you wanted. There’s so much we still have to do. Please, Dorian…”

My heart sank with every word as she told me all the reasons why I couldn’t leave, all the reasons I had to fight. But the darkness was too strong.

And then, as if she knew, she whispered, “Please, don’t leave me. We’re not done yet.”

We’re not done yet.

I barely managed to croak out the words, so weak, it didn’t even sound like it wasn’t mine anymore. “I love you.”

“No, no, no.No!” Her scream was louder, more desperate than anything I had ever heard in my life.

And then there was nothing. No sound. No light. Only the cold, empty void.

FORTY-SIX

Noah - November

BREATHE ME - SIA

I raceddown the dimly lit tunnel, Sawyer and Officer Ramirez at my side. Every echo of our hurried footsteps seemed to magnify the dread coiling around my chest. My mind kept replaying Dorian’s voice, faint and breaking, warning me he was fading. I had to get to him. I couldn’t lose him.

Tears still streamed down my face, but I pulled myself together, needing to find him and needing to find him now.

“How much farther?” I asked, the panic creeping up despite my best efforts to hold it back.

Sawyer’s jaw tightened, his eyes scanning ahead. “We’re close.”

As we rounded the corner toward what I hoped was the exit, the dim light flickered and stretched into the next stretch of tunnel. A shadow moved ahead.

My heart lurched. “Did you see that?”

Sawyer nodded toward a door at the end of the corridor. “Yeah.”

“Let’sgo.” My tone was strained, the need to get to Dorian growing unbearable. Every second counted.

We moved faster now, adrenaline pumping, but then I heard it—the faintest sound. Muffled voices, too close for comfort. My breath caught in my throat.

“That’s John and Ellie,” I whispered, my skin prickling.

Fuck.

We didn’t have time for this.

I needed to get to Dorian. I had to find him. I needed to get to him now. He was fucking bleeding out and I couldn’t get to him.

Sawyer motioned for silence, his hand coming up in front of me. “We’re going to have to get through them. Stay behind me.”

I nodded, my heartbeat hammering in my ears. The closer we got, the louder the voices grew. And then, just ahead, I saw them. John, leaning against the wall, Ellie standing just a few feet away, her eyes wide and terrified.

“Look what we have here,” John said, oozing malice. He smirked at us, sizing us up like we were nothing more than prey.

I could feel Ellie’s fear from where I stood, but she didn’t move. She was frozen, holding her arm that was bleeding.

“Get back,” Officer Ramirez ordered, his voice steely and calm, but with the unmistakable edge of command. He stepped forward, putting himself between us and John, his gun never wavering.

“Let her go, John. This ends now,” Ramirez said.

John’s eyes moved between us. “You think you can just come in here and stop me?” he sneered, raising the gun, eyes gleaming with something dangerous.

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