Page 80 of The Boy I Once Loved

Chapter Sixteen

“Oh my god, she’s freezing.” I hear a voice saying as I’m lifted by a warm body.

“Come on, let’s get her to the car,” another voice says that I know somewhere deep inside of me I recognise. I hear the sound of an engine before I lose myself to the darkness again, to a place where I can’t feel anything.

I open my eyes and I squint as the daylight hurts my eyes. Sitting up, I look around me confused. I'm in a hospital bed. Wow, I feel like shit. My arms and legs feel weak. I spot a glass of water on the table beside me and I reach for it and take a long, much-needed drink. My throat feels so dry. I look at the clock and see that it's 3pm in the afternoon. I rub at my eyes as I try to piece together how I ended up here. Then Lauren's words hit me like a freight train. The betrayal, the lies. I gasp for breath as my chest tightens and, in my panic, I knock the glass of water to the floor with a thud. The door flings open and my mums’ eyes land on me and she comes rushing over to me. I grasp for her.

“Ella, what’s wrong, honey?” She asks me searching my face.

“She’s having a panic attack. She used to get them when she first lost Liam.” Uncle Matt informs her as he comes and sits on the other side of the bed and he cups my face in his hands. “Ella, look at me. Look at me.” My eyes find his. “That’s my girl. Breathe. That’s it, nice big breaths. You’re in control. In and out, my angel.”

I take in a big breath and blow it out and copy him, and I feel the tightness in my chest ease a little. A few minutes later and I'm over the worst of it. My mum and Uncle Matt hover over me and keep asking me if I'm okay.

“What are you doing here?” I ask my Uncle, confused as to what he is doing here.

Uncle Matt takes my hand in his and squeezes it. “You were missing, Ella. You didn’t come home and then your friend Aria came to the house and told your mum what happened at the party. We were all out searching for you most of last night. Your mum and I found you at the cemetery at four in the morning. We brought you to the hospital, as we were worried you might be hypothermic.”

I shake my head, trying to remember what happened after I left the party, but it’s all a blur. All I remember is feeling intense pain and heartache. “I’m sorry I had you all worried.” I look up at my Uncle Matt with tears in my eyes. “Did Aria tell you? That they were responsible for Liam getting in that car?”

Uncle Matt looks briefly at my mum before nodding his head. “She did.”

“They betrayed him. He’d have never got in that car if he hadn’t seen them together. I’d still have a brother if it wasn’t for them.”

My Uncle gently coaxes me to lie back down. “I know, angel. I’m sure they never could have dreamt in their worst nightmares that their actions would have such consequences and they have to live with that for the rest of their lives.”

There is a knock on the door to my room and Connor stands there with a bunch of flowers in his hands. “Hey, you’re awake,” he says with a smile as he comes in. My mum takes the flowers off him and says she’ll take them home and put them in a vase on my bedside drawers.

“Thank you for the flowers. What are you doing here?” I ask, confused how Connor knows I am here.

Connor looks to my mum and Uncle Matt, a silent conversation taking place between the three of them.

“Tell her,” Uncle Matt tells him. “She needs to know.”

I notice then that Connor looks exhausted and pale. “El, last night when Dylan left the party, well you know he got in his car and drove off. He was drunk Ella and well, he crashed.”

My heart drops to my stomach as my world collapses around me. No, not Dylan! Not my Dylan. “Is he, is he dead?” I sob, praying that Connor says he is okay.

He shakes his head. “He’s alive, but he was pretty bashed up. Dylan had to have emergency surgery because of internal bleeding, and he’s got a few broken ribs and a broken arm. He also punctured a lung.”

I release a sob. "This is my fault. I wouldn't talk about what happened. He got in that car because of me." Tears fall down my face. "Oh god, Mum, I'm Kyle and Heather. I'm no better than they are." I can feel my chest tightening and I gasp for air as another panic attack comes on. Uncle Matt tries to help me, but my brain is just a fog of pain and regret. I hear my mum ask Connor to get the nurses. A nurse comes in and she also tries to calm me down and, in the end, it's a needle in my arm that gives me my escape and my eyes close as darkness claims me.

I open my eyes and I remember everything straight away. My heart is shattered into a million pieces over the events of the last day. Connor is asleep in the chair in my room, his head resting on a cushion he has made from his coat. Why is he here? He must hate me. I mean, it’s my fault our best friend is somewhere in this hospital. The tears spill from my eyes, and I release a sob that has Connor jumping awake.

“Oh El,” he says rushing over to me and sitting on the edge of my bed he pulls me into his embrace and holds me tightly.

“Is he okay? Did he make it?”

Connor nods as he continues to comfort me. "He's doing better, but he's got an infection. They're doing everything they can, Ella. Dylan's strong. If anyone can survive this, it's him."

I cling to my friend. "What time is it?" I ask him, feeling dazed and confused.

“It’s one in the afternoon. I said I’d stay with you while your mum and your Uncle Matt went back to yours to shower and change and get some sleep.”

I pull away from him so that I can look at his face. “One o’clock, but it was just three before when I woke up.”

Connor brushes my hair off my face. “Ella, that was yesterday. The doctor decided it was best to keep you sedated and let your body rest and recover.”

I blink in shock. I’ve been asleep a whole twenty-four hours. I’ve been in here sleeping while Dylan is fighting for his life. I am the worst friend. How will he ever forgive me if he wakes up? If I’d never come back here, he’d have been going about his life, happy and healthy without a care in the world. I’m cursed. I must be. People around me leave me or die.

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