“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”
“My husband…” I couldn’t catch my breath as I ran back to the bathroom. Kneeling next to Lucian’s body, I scanned him for injuries and tried to continue. “He…”
“Take a breath, ma’am.”
“I’m trying. My husband… collapsed in the bathroom. I don’t know what’s wrong. He’s unconscious.”
“Can you tell if he’s breathing?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I can’t tell.”
“Put your hand behind his neck and check his airway by putting your ear near his mouth and your hand on his chest.”
“He’s breathing, I think.”
“Okay, just keep him still and keep his airway open.” I gave them my address and apartment number, though I felt like I was slurring my speech. It was hard to catch my breath. “We have emergency responders on the way. Are there any pets in the home?”
“No,” I breathed. We could have gotten a puppy. We should have gotten a puppy.
“Can you make sure that the emergency responders have access to your building?”
“Yes. We’re on the third floor, unit two.” I set the phone down and carefully removed my hand from behind Lucian’s neck.
I ran and propped the door open, then I went to the stairwell and propped that door open as well. I jogged down the stairs as fast as I could into the lobby of the building, where a man was sitting on the bench.
“S’cuse me,” I said, breathing hard. “Can you let the emergency responders in?”
He nodded. He said nothing to me, just a nod. Is he my new angel? Is this the end for Lucian?
I ran back up the stairs, back to Lucian. I took him in my arms and finally broke down and cried.
“Ev…”
I pulled away and looked at his face. “Lucian?”
He was groggy. “I’m still here.” Then he lost consciousness again.
“No, wake up, please.”
When the paramedics arrived, I was hysterical and hyperventilating.
One of them tried to calm me down. I screamed. “God, stop this!”
They plugged him into all of their machines and lifted him onto a gurney. They said his blood pressure was low. His condition seemed to be worsening rapidly. They put stickers on his chest and someone said, “Clear,” and his body jerked. They were trying to save his life. I was in shock.
Words were being thrown around, none of which I understood. I followed the paramedics to the van and hopped in the back.
Holding Lucian’s hand, I prayed while the two men worked on stabilizing him. They asked me about his medical history, but what could I say?
“I don’t know. We’ve never talked about it. He had a seizure a few weeks ago. They did tests but didn’t find anything. Please, please help him.”
“We’re doing everything we can, ma’am.”
In the hospital, they did their best to stabilize him. I stayed beside him all day, and he finally regained consciousness at four in the afternoon.
“What’s happening?” he said.
I was standing near the head of the bed. “They don’t know. They’re running tests. They’ve given you medicine to regulate your blood pressure.”
Somehow he had enough strength to pull me down onto the bed with him. “I’m okay, Evey. I’m still here, aren’t I?”
“Your heart was going crazy.”
“You own my heart, lady.” He smiled weakly.
“How much time do you think you have?”
As sick as Lucian was, he still got a laugh out of that. “Like anything else, who the knows? Who the hell knows? Will you promise me something, Evey?”
“Anything.” I kissed his cheek and nuzzled into his neck.
“Promise me that if you remember anything after I’m gone, you’ll protect yourself by not speaking a word of it. There’s no telling what could happen.”
“I would never.”
“Also, you have to live a normal life for me. Please.” He squinted, smiling with his eyes. “I worked so hard to make sure you had a normal life. I wish I could control myself with you. I wish I hadn’t done this to you. I’m sorry.”
“You said no apologies. You can’t fault a person for love, and you’re still here.”
Just when I said that, he looked like he was going to pass out. An alarm went off on the screen above his bed. I ran to get the nurse.
I FELT WOOZY. An alarm was beeping above my bed. Evey had run out to get help. On the other side of the darkened room, I noticed a figure sitting in the chair.
“Mona?”
She stood and came to me. “Well, you got your wish.”
“I didn’t wish for this, to die this way.”
“I mean you got yourself an appointment with Him.” She pointed at the ceiling. “A face-to-face, a sit-down, Lucian.”
That angered me. “Oh what, now? So I die, and then I get to go talk to Him? What’s the point of that?”
“To plead your case.”
“To plead my case? You’re not any less cryptic than you were two thousand years ago, Mona.”
She put her hand on my arm, and I felt a surge of energy. “They’re coming,” she whispered. “I have to go.”
She kissed my cheek, and then she was gone. The alarm stopped.
“False alarm,” I said when the doctor, nurse, and Evey all came rushing in.
“Oh thank God,” Evey said.
“Don’t thank him.” I smirked.
The doctor and nurse checked me out thoroughly before leaving the room. The doctors were all stupefied by my case. I think the fact that they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with a seemingly healthy thirty-year-old man, bruised their egos a little.
They stopped giving Evey updates. I think they were just trying to keep me alive.
I coded again later that day. The only thing I remember about it was that Evey was screaming. Later that night, I woke when I overheard a doctor telling Evey I was septic and that my body wanted to die.
Evey lay beside me and cried. I drifted in and out of consciousness. I tried to hold her and comfort her, but I couldn’t anymore. I was only hurting her. At one point I asked her to call her mom, but she refused.
“No,” she said. “It’s too complicated, and I don’t feel like lying to them anymore.”
“I understand. I just don’t want you to be alone. I love you so much. For two thousand years, I had no life. You gave me life, and I’m grateful to you.” I kissed her and she kissed me back, and then she began sobbing again. “Please say something to me.”
She sniffled and tried to calm down. “I don’t know whether I’m alive or dead, in heaven or hell or if any of this is even real. I just know that I love you, Lucian.”
The alarms went off.
Poof.
“HEY, PINKY, WAKE up!”
I opened my eyes to find Brooklyn hovering over me. “What are you doing here, and how’d you get into my loft?”
She smiled. “I stole your key the other day and made a copy for myself.” She tried to lean down and kiss me.
“Ew, get off me.” I glanced at the clock. It was six thirty on a Saturday. “I’m going to kill you. Seriously, why are you here? I was up all night sketching. I wanted to sleep in.”
“Well, first of all, don’t you miss me?”
I rolled my eyes. “And second of all?”