Author's Note: Whoa, I am slow. Terribly sorry for this update after an entire month. I just haven't felt the muse, you know? Haha, I love how concerned people get about characters, I really do. I'm definitely aiming for you to go from disliking their decisions and then sympathizing with them. It makes me happpyyyy. :D ... Yeah, this chapter... it was tough to write.
At the Threshold
"Why won't they let us back in?" she asked rhetorically. He had absolutely no way of knowing the answer to her question and he didn't attempt to. He could already feel her starting to panic, though she hadn't said a word in the past few minutes. "It's not like they can say anything if I just walk in and see how he's doing, right?"
Preparing himself, he got up from his seat and put his hands to the side of her arms. "Honey, you can't do anything, okay?" he told her, eye-to-eye. "Just hope for the best, it'll work out. I'm sure he'll be okay." He wasn't sure of that at all. In fact, he believed quite the contrary, but he had to calm her fears and nerves. "Do you want some food? Coffee, maybe? Tea?" he asked, just doing his best to be helpful even if she wasn't asking for it.
"No, I'm okay," she muttered, plopping down onto the seat. She ran her hand through her hair, pushing the dark locks over to one side, trying to relieve her own stress. He sat back down beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders, trying his damnedest to be comforting.
In silence, they sat, though she continued fidgeting positions every few minutes, completely restless. At the sound of leather soled footsteps walking across the linoleum tiles, they both looked up. The doctor stopped before them, and they stood up, a serious look on all three faces. She was the first to speak though, "Well?" she asked imploringly, as though she had to intimidate the information from the man.
"I'm so sorry," he began, and she knew everything already. "Mr. St. James continued hemorrhaging regardless of our best efforts, the oedema around his heart was too much and he went into cardiac arrest, he expired at 3:28 AM. A formal autopsy will be conducted to confirm any and all possible complications or medical malpractice, however if you may wish..." The doctor continued with his explanation, which to her only seemed cold and distant. She'd stopped hearing anything he said after 'expired'; just the sound of the word, the meaning, the intonation, the meaninglessness of it, was too much.
She didn't respond, only began to shake her head rapidly from side to side. She wasn't able to catch her breath now, the sound of tearless crying came from her throat. In shock himself, he wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her in against him. She seemed paralysed for a long few minutes, numb in his arms.
"No," she breathed. "No, no, no, no, no." She struggled to escape his hold on her, elbowing him in the chest as she did. She was stronger than he had anticipated and the blows knocked the air out of him. She writhed in his arms, "Let me go!" she screamed, or as close to screaming as the toneless sound came. Her words were strangled, suffocating in her own disbelief.
He held her to him for dear life, hushing her softly. Watching her in agony, he felt tears sting at his own eyes. "It's okay," he murmured through hitching breath. "Baby, it's okay, shh, it's okay." As he did, she broke free of his grasp, running into the room, falling onto the bed where her dead lover lay.
"Wake up," she murmured to the shell of his body. "Your cruel jokes aren't funny, wake up." She grabbed onto his upper arm, attempting to jostle him back to life. "Wake up! I'm sorry I kicked you, okay? I'm sorry!" she bellowed through her futile attempts. She ran her hand harshly against his cheek. "Come on!"
At the threshold, Will leaned against the door frame, hands to his face, enclosing his nose and mouth as he watched her struggle with reality. She wasn't crying, but angrily denying what was right before her eyes. "Please," she sputtered.
He moved up behind her, scared she would hurt herself and wrapped his arms around her body, pulling her into him. The sound of her hollowed, raspy breathing paired with the screams she had only just emitted, rang through his ears, making him cringe as she lost her balance within his grip. He clung to her, letting her bury her head within his chest.
With each toneless gasp that escaped her mouth, he moved backwards supporting her as he found a chair against the wall and collapsed upon it; then shifting her, almost like a child, to sit across his lap, her legs curling up, holding her head beneath his chin. Beyond her varying hiccoughs and subdued whimpers, they sat in silence.
She still wouldn't cry.
Author's Note: So totally short, the next will be longer, I swear! Two more chapters to go, please leave a review, my darling readers.
