Like Real People Do - Jill Roord

I Thought The Light Had Died

TW: intoxication

Jill's POV

Lia screamed, the sound sent shockwaves through my nervous system as Leah spun around and that's when I felt the moment stop. Lia stood there, her hands shaking as she clamped them over her mouth, I could see her knees weaken and eyes wide with fear. Leah's face dropped, her eyes softening as her body fell limp, she stood there with the light from her soul drowning in the pain of this room.
As for me, I felt choked. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry but I had this rope around my neck, choking me of air. I wanted to move but the moment had paused, everything just stopped as the world fell down. Crashing, burning and bombs but it was silent.

The silence is what scared me, the silence felt like hopelessness.

My mind snapped and the world began again, I could hear Leah's muttered, "No, no, no, no," She shook her head. 

Lia cried, almost turning completely around in fear. 

I ran.

I ran into the bathroom, my hands trembling over Hunter's body as every other person in the world turned completely irrelevant. She was it.

"Is she breathing?" I heard Leah behind me.

I looked for the rise and fall of her chest, I couldn't see anything, "I don't know," The words came out so quiet and shaky but the spoke in such volumes.

"Well check Jill!" I could hear Leah's panic, begging for me to be the one to find out. No one wanted to accept any probability of Hunter's end, everyone feared to find out that it was over. 

I leant to the floor, finding her wrist and praying for a pulse. I found a pulse and strangely that's when my heart stopped; to know hers was still beating was all that mattered. "She's breathing," I whispered, feeling that stress lift from my shoulders. 

Leah rubbed her chest, "Oh my god she's breathing," She sighed, I could hear the relief in her voice. 

"She's breathing?" Lia walked in the room, peering over Leah's shoulder, terrified to see the full scene again.

Leah nodded, "She's breathing."

I was almost scared to touch Hunter, when I'd seen her lying there in the shower unconscious, part of me gave up. A small part of my mind thought that I'd lost her and I felt her slip away from me, like I was trying to hold water in my hands and it was dripping through the cracks. No matter how tightly I held my hands together, the water would always dry out eventually; it was fighting a battle I was always destined to loose.

Now that we'd realized Hunter was in fact, thankfully alive, we needed to help her. The situation still wasn't good, Hunter was lying limply in front of me. As my eyes searched her face, I could see red tear stains down her cheeks and this delicately pained expression even in this unconscious state. 

I shifted so I could position Hunter's body in my lap, holding her head up as I looked for that constant rise and fall of her chest. Once I found it, my breathing settled slightly. 

"She's not hurt, is she?" Leah crouched down, inspecting Hunter.

I shook my head, "No, I don't think so."

Lia pointed to the countertop, "Look," She sighed, picking up the now empty alcohol bottles. 

My heart dropped slightly, now this was a whole new situation, "How do we know how much she drunk? What if we need to take her to the hospital?"

Leah remained silent, looking deep in thought.

My eyes widened, "Leah! Tell me!" I cried, needed someone elses' instructions because I felt clueless. It was one of the first times when life felt truly out of my hands, when I realized that Hunter could have done anything, I felt truly insignificant in the grand scheme of things. It was challenge to feel it all slip away yet I was held in place; unable to move, unable to help.