The Elites

Chapter 88

Until I had eavesdropped on his conversation with his older brother, Jeremiah was the only child of Benjamin Ozor that I really knew. I mean I knew he had children, I just didn't know how many or what they looked like.

"You must be here for my brother, Jeremiah."

That explained it. So she was the sister.

"You're his friend aren't you? You're Kora."

How did she know my name- never mind, I could always get back to that later. I narrowed my gaze to the rest of the family gathered in front of the ER. They all had their eyes glued on me and it made me really nervous and uncomfortable. That was Jeremiah's entire family. He even had a younger brother from the look of things. I scanned around again in search of him. Where was he? Why couldn't I find him anywhere? My anxiety and fear grew worse.

"He's not here."  I narrowed my gaze back to the girl's. That was a really huge trace of assurance in her voice. What did she mean he wasn't there? My heart began to beat faster. I clasped on hard to the neck of my dress hoping she had not meant what I thought she did. There were a lot of tears welling up in my eyes and my legs had finally lost their ability to stand firm. I found myself bending over and supporting my whole body with my hands on my knee. I had to breathe. I really had to breathe.

How could this be happening? How could he be shot? We just talked. He just told me he liked me and I didn't say it back. How on earth was I going to lose him just like that? How was I going to lose the one person I really cared about? How was I going to forgive myself for not telling him how wrong I was? How I never meant any of the hurtful things I had said to him? How I didn't mean to push him away?
How it hurt me everytime I thought of the reason we couldn't be together?

How was I supposed to forgive myself for not being with him? For not being honest to myself about how I felt about him? At that point, I had realized how much it hurt and broke me to imagine him in that room, battling for his life and how much it was going to break me if he didn't come out breathing. I regretted it, I regretted all of it. I should have told him. I should have told him how much he meant to me, I should have told him how I had so much butterflies when he called me his girlfriend and held my hand. I should have told him how grateful I was to him for always taking my side. I should have told him I loved him, that I loved him with all of my heart. I should have accepted his feelings for me.

"Ahhh." I kept on hitting my chest hoping I could hit it hard enough to force air into it. It was hard crying and breathing at the same time. My guilt was killing me. I still had so much to say to him.

"Kora?"
I froze for a second.

What was that? Did I just hear my name? Someone just called my name and I wasn't hearing things. It sounded a lot like him, like Jeremiah and it came from behind me. Wait, I found the upper part of my body raising itself slowly. Was I just crying for nothing? If Jeremiah had just talked behind me, if he just called my name, it meant that...I quickly turned as fast as I could, my weave and everything else going in slow motion. I hadn't even got a chance to change out of my uniform. I looked a mess but I didn't care.

He wasn't the one in the emergency room. I dropped my hands from my chest immediately as I took a long look at him. The tears in my eyes were on a pause. I examined him for a while, he had his eyes glued to me and there was blood all over his white shirt and green suit. It wasn't his blood, it couldn't be.

Goodness gracious, my heart skipped multiple beats. His eyes were swollen like he had been crying for hours and the look on his face was just...empty, lost. The light in his eyes were almost gone and he looked the palest I had ever seen him. Shock, he had to still be in shock after witnessing what had happened to his father. My heart ached for him.