SCARLETT
“Oh God, no, no, no.”
“Scarlett,” Mum said, rushing to me but it was too late. I was up and hobbling along toward them.
“Noah! Noah!”
One of the nurses looked back and held her hand up. “You know him?”
I nodded frantically and collapsed to the floor, consumed with grief. “Is he dead?” I asked, sobbing on the floor.
Mum knelt down and wrapped me in her arms.
“He’s dead, isn’t he? They killed him. He’s gone.”
The same nurse had a quick conversation with someone else and then came rushing toward us as they took Noah through another door.
“Scarlett, sweetheart, you need to get up,” Dad said. I could barely understand what he’d said. My mind was stuck on seeing Noah like that. He couldn’t die. After everything we’d been through and what he’d done to get me away from Eternal Light, he couldn’t just be gone.
“I can’t. It hurts so much,” I sobbed, trying to catch my breath. He was gone and I had never felt anything hurt so badly.
“Are you all right?” the nurse said, keeling in front of me.
“No. Is he okay? You need to make him okay,” I said, gripping her arm.
“Shh, we’re doing everything we can for him, but I need you to help. Can you do that?”
I nodded. “Whatever you need just, please, don’t let him die.” Tears burned my cheeks and made everything blurry.
“Do you know his name?”
“Noah. It’s Noah.”
She smiled and nodded her head. “We thought so.”
“How do you know?”
“He was found about thirty minutes ago in the forest.”
The police had found him.
“Why is he bleeding? What’s wrong with him.”
“Let’s get you back to your room and then—”
“No. I’m not going anywhere until I know he’s okay.”
“All right. Maybe we can get you back in your chair and you can go to a room up the corridor to wait.”
I looked longingly at the door they’d taken him through. They wouldn’t let me in there, so I didn’t even bother asking.
“That would be great,” Dad said, picking me up and carrying me to the room. Jeremy wheeled the chair in too. After lowering me onto one of the chairs, Dad kneeled on the floor, probably worried that I would take off.
“What happened to him?” I asked.
The nurse smiled but her eyes didn’t. “He’s received a stab wound to his abdomen and lost a lot of blood.”
Stabbed. I coughed, sobbing at the same time. “What?”
“He’ll be all right,” Mum said, stroking my hair from the seat beside mine.
What if he wasn’t?
I cried harder. I’d lost him once but we’d found each other. I couldn’t lose him forever. We’d been through too much for it to end like this. We deserved a chance, a proper chance.
“Mum,” I said, leaning over and crying on her shoulder. My body shook with every painful sob. “He can’t die, he can’t die,” I chanted. It was too much. I wanted to retreat back into myself and stop the pain, but Noah was a part of me now. There was no way to stop it hurting so much.
“Shh, honey, it’s okay,” Mum soothed. “I’m sure he’s going to be all right.” She was crying too. That didn’t look good. Noah wasn’t her favorite person right now, but she was still upset over what was happening to him.
“I’ll go and check on him and let you know when we have an update,” the nurse said.
“Thank you,” Dad replied.
The update could be he’s fine or I’m sorry, there’s nothing more we can do.
“I need him, Mum.”
“I know you do. Jonathan, Jeremy, can you follow and see if there is any immediate news you can find out rather than waiting?”
“You’ve forgiven him completely?” Mum asked when Dad left, Jeremy following.
I curled up against her side. “Yes. Have you?”
She was silent for a minute. “I think so. I understand what it’s like to be completely controlled by someone or something else. Don’t get me wrong. I’m angry. You could’ve died. But I don’t blame Noah. He was merely a pawn in their game. They would sacrifice his life to get what they want. They make you feel part of the best thing on earth. I could never judge Noah for something I would’ve done when I was still under their influence.”
“Do you think Jeremy will come around?”
“Of course. It’s a little more difficult for him. He was so young and never knew the level of control people like that have over you. Noah believed he was doing what was best for everyone, you included. His love for you was able to help him override and question what he was taught, just like us. Then he was able to think freely and form his own opinion.”
“Thank you,” I said, wiping my wet cheeks with my hands only for them to be damp again the next second. “It means so much that you don’t hate him. I knew you’d understand.” How could she not though, really?
“Of course, honey. He’s going to need a lot of support. Living outside the commune, knowing what a fool you’d been for so long, isn’t easy.”
“I’ll be there for him.”
She smiled and kissed the side of my head. “I had a feeling you might.”
“What do you think is going to happen to him now? I mean after he’s better, because he will get better.” There was no way he couldn’t.
“He’ll be fine, and I guess that’s up to him. He is in charge of his life now. For the first time ever, he can do what he wants, go where he wants, and believe what he wants.”
“Yeah,” I replied. He deserved that, and I thought he’d want to be with me. I took a deep breath and threaded my fingers together, nervously tapping the backs of my hands. Now I was sitting down and a little calmer than before I’d felt the consequences of standing up. My feet hurt, but it was nothing compared to the feeling of possibly losing Noah.
I loved him so much still—probably more now than before he’d betrayed me. It hadn’t been easy for him to turn his back on everything he’d known and risk his life to save me. Now it was my turn to help him and when he was better and out of hospital, I was determined to do just that.