Page 62 of River & Crown
Crown raced out of the room as Honey gawked at me with guilt dancing between her eyes.
What the fuck happened to me?
Blocking out the pain, I tore the blanket from my body. I glanced down toward my lower stomach and cringed, blood seeping from various spots. A deep ache cruised through my body, but I couldn't look away. A doctor and two nurses rushed in, with Crown following closely behind them. Kyree snatched the curtain open, giving her and Kysre a front-row seat to my trauma. Words were being slung at me from every direction. I couldn't speak. A sentence wouldn't form, and my eyes wouldn't leave my wound. As tears fell from my eyes, I shook my head. I wasn't crying because of the pain or the fact that I felt like I was dying. The tears were courtesy of karma. What happened wasn't clear, but I knew just from how diligently the doctor and nurses worked on me that my body was in mourning. I might have survived the accident, but I lost something much greater.
This time, when I woke up, the room felt different. Not in the same way it did when that man was in Kysre's face, just different. Everything was shifted. Still... quiet, with a hint of cruelty. Whatever thedifferentwas connected with me as soon as my eyes opened. The feeling wrapped itself around me, cuddling me to soothe an unimaginable pain. All eyes were on me, but no one spoke. I drifted between every familiar face, looking for a hint of honesty. Somber faces, too many gawking back at me, but still no words. I swallowed hard, thinking if I closed my eyes and reopened them, the faces would disappear.
Close. Inhale. Exhale. Open. They remained.
Honey.
Lynx.
Chosyn.
Wolfe.
Honor.
Navy.
Rize.
Kyree.
Kysre.
Crown.
My mom.
Eleven different people. Eleven different personalities, all wearing the same stupid sorrowful look, and still no fucking words. All these fucking people, and no one had the balls to fucking speak. Then someone did.
"I'll go get the doctor," my mother whispered, heading out of the room.
My eyes followed her until she was gone. I looked at Crown, but he didn't give me much. His somberness was heavy in something I've felt before. I glanced at Chosyn. If anyone would slip, it was her. She was leaning against Wolfe's chest, slouching. If he wasn't there, Chosyn would've hit the floor. Wolfe was her stability. Her eyes were red and swollen from tears. I was sure. There was only one other time I've seen Chosyn like this, and then it hit me. Death was the feeling that wrapped me in its arms. I was alive. Lying here was uncomfortable, but I was positive I was alive. What did I miss? What did I lose? Kysre was alive, so it wasn't her.
"Ah!" I winced in pain.
"Four!" Crown shot up from his seat beside me.
I held my hand up, not wanting to be touched. Tears found their way into my eyes as I moved the blanket from over me. I looked down, piecing together what nobody in the fucking room had the guts to say. This wasn't just an ordinary death.It was death in its most intimate state. It didn't cause the uncomfortable eeriness that it usually did. Nope, this was thedifferent. Death felt delicate against my skin, watching with quiet eyes as every heart in the room faltered and silently mourned a loss we didn't know existed.
"Cro—" It tore out of me before I got a chance to call his name. My stomach tightened, gnawing in pain as a violent scream ripped through me.
"River!" Chosyn cried just as loudly as if it were a mating call for my pain.
"Four, you gotta chill, or you gon' bust your stitches open again." Bringing his hands to my face, Crown's thumbs strummed my cheeks, but the sweet gesture wasn't enough.
My chest caved. I screamed again, hoping this time, if I were loud enough, time would undo itself and bring back what I lost.
"Oh my god! What happened?" my mother questioned, rushing into the room with the doctor on her heels.
"Ms. Ashland?—"
"Mrs. Gravehart," Crown corrected her. I was a mess, tears pummeling down, but I blushed, knowing even in a crisis, Crown wouldn't hesitate to let it be known I was his.
"Crown, please!" Chosyn scolded, then looked toward the doctor. "Please address her as Mrs. Gravehart for this idiot. She started screaming after she took the blanket off. I'm not sure if she tore open her stitches or not."
