Heartbeats

Chapter Ten

                “No no no! Tezzi!” I crumpled to the floor beside him. When I leant my head down to his ribcage I could hear his heart beating, his lungs taking in air. But he wasn’t moving. He wasn’t healthy. This wasn’t right.

                I scooped him up without hesitation and started carrying him out the door, rushing to get him into the car. It started without hesitation, and I cranked the heat up while I pulled out, trying to remember the directions to the vet.

                I kept the car going at least ten over the speed limit the entire time, and I managed to get there in ten minutes. Each minute felt like an hour, the silence of the car unnerving as it amplified Tesla’s labored breathing.

                When I peeled into the lot I didn’t even take the time to find a legitimate parking spot. I barely remembered to turn the car off before I took Tesla into my arms and hurried inside.

                “I need help!” The words rushed out of my mouth as I carried Tesla up to the desk.

                “What happened?” The secretary’s brown eyes widened with alarm, and she abruptly came to a stand, barely remembering to call over the intercom. “Dr. Nichols to the front desk.” Then, after her eyes flickered to Tesla again, she added “Emergency.”

                “I don’t know. I just…” I was too filled with anxiety and worry to form actual sentences. Fragments continued to stumble from my mouth even after they had taken Tesla and I had been ushered to a seat.

On the wall behind me a ticking clock near drove me to insanity. It scared the words, keeping the nonsense unspoken.

After a while I began to think. Not about Tesla; I couldn’t. About Charles and Mason.

Charles was the shadow Mason had deserted, everything egotistical and ballsy. But there was more to him than that, like innocence, and a conscience. He saw more, felt more, knew more, and it showed every day in his movements and his expressions.

Just not as obvious in his words.

Mason was… Mason. He was sweet and understanding. He was more mature than his friends, and he didn’t care what they thought of him. He was easier on the soul than Charles.

I tried to shake my mind of the two, but all that I had to fill my mind was my worry for Tesla. I loved him more than anything because he was the one who held me together. He was my therapist, my best friend. Something inside him understood me better than anyone human ever could.

My head fell into my hands, which were supported by my elbows, which rested on my knees as the violently trembled. Simultaneously, my phone started vibrating in my pocket; I had a text from Mason.

Mason: Hey Jace. Called your home number and your mom told me you left for the vet. What’s up with Tesla?

Me: I don’t know.

Mason: Are you okay?

Me: Fine.

Me: Distract me?

Charles: What’s up?

To Charles: Go away.

Mason: ‘yet “banished”? Hang up philosophy! Unless philosophy can make a Juliet, Displant a town, reverse a prince’s doom, It helps not, it prevails not. Talk no more.

Charles: Are you okay?

To Mason: ?

To Charles: Yeah. Fine.