Embrace
"Please don't die. Please don't die."
I whisper it again and again like a chant, as if my pleas could ward off death. He says he'll be all right, that the bullet passed through, that it's only a flesh wound, but he's lost so much blood and, as I lie here in his embrace, I'm afraid to go to sleep. Right now I can hear his shallow breathing and, cradled against his chest, I can feel the pulse of his heartbeat. But I'm afraid of waking up next to a corpse.
The attack was so sudden. Ephraim is still missing. There's no signal from his cell phone. And my father... I think dad is...
I cling to Seth: Tonight he's my whole world. I press my lips against his skin and try to whisper life into him.
Eventually, sleep falls over me like a shroud.