Chapter One-Hundred and Thirty-Four
Claire listened to the thunder outside as she curled up in John's empty bed. She held his blankets to her nose, hiding her tears from anyone who might see her while at the same time breathing the faint sent of him that still lingered there. It'd been two days and there was still no sign of him… her parents had spent hours each day searching the city for him, but even Dominic hadn't been able to find his cousin. She sniffled, looking out the window as the rain pelted the glass. "Please come home…" She cried, her fingers tracing over the tearstained pages of his notebook. "I'm so sorry…"
Claire snapped out of her fit full sleep, able to hear that the whole house was in chaos. "What's-"
John's bedroom door burst open, and Kaylie's messy bedhead appeared in the doorway. "They found him." She stated, catching a bra that someone threw at her and slipping it on under her old hoodie that used to belong to Sid. "Clarissa wants us all in the car in five minutes."
Claire took a shaky breath, her hands trembling as she lifted them to her lips. "Oh God…" She threw the covers back, not bothering to go to her own room to get dressed. Instead, she pulled on a pair of John's boxers for underwear, the bra that she'd been wearing for a little over two days, and a pair of John's old sweatpants and his stained Kiss t-shirt. "Please be okay…"
Claire paused outside of the hospital room, swallowing the lump in her throat as she tried to work up the courage to go inside. "I can't…" She choked, turning into Dominic's chest as her emotions began to overwhelm her. "I can't see him…"
Dominic shushed her, holding her in a tight hug as he fought off the memory of John's condition when Chance had led him to his cousin. "Take your time. He isn't all there yet anyway."
Claire clutched at his jacket, the rough canvas so strange on her fingers. "How bad is it?" She asked, her knees quaking as she trebled.
Dominic sighed, leading her to one of the chairs outside of John's hospital room to sit. "It's pretty bad…" He took a breath, forcing himself to be strong for her. "He relapsed again… and… he, um, he's pretty messed up." He remembered the dried blood on John's naked body when he'd found him, the signs of a beating clear on his broken body. He shuddered at the thought of what could have happened to his little cousin that he didn't know about, the abuse his body could have taken. "I'm not sure what all happened, but… they're running tests on him to get an idea of what happened…"
Claire nodded, looking up as a man in a lab coat exited John's room with a cart filled with test tubes of various bodily fluids for testing. "I'm scared…" She whispered, watching as a nurse entered the room with a bag of blood for a transfusion.
Dominic rubbed her back, praying that she would be strong enough to see John before it was too late. "He needs you Claire…" His voice cracked as he spoke, unable to hold his own fear down any longer. "He doesn't respond to anyone else as well as you. You are the only chance we have of getting him back."
Claire looked at the giant of a man before her, seeing him break for the first time since they'd become friends. "It's my fault."
Dominic shook his head, holding her shoulders in his hands. "It was a misunderstanding. But please. Please Claire, talk to him. You're the only one who can save him. He needs you."