Both momentarily at a loss for words, we clung to each other. Several strong emotions attempted to push their way to the surface at once. Anger and confusion won out.
"Who did this to you?" My eyes trailed the bloodlines and blue and purple scars embedded into her skin. Fists clenched at my side, she told the story, my anger boiling more and more with each word.
"A man was waiting for me behind the restaurant after my shift ended. I couldn't tell what he looked like because he wore a hat and black jacket. There was no one else around, and h-he just g-grabbed me." She started shaking more and fell to the floor, taking me with her. "I d-didn't know what to do, and he wouldn't let me g-go."
"Don't worry," I told her, grabbing her chin to meet her eyes. "I won't leave you again."
Movement from the darkness caught my eye a second before the sound exploded into the warehouse. We fell in a heap of arms and legs. Vision momentarily black, ringing filled my eardrums. When sight returned, Lindsey was kneeling by my side, surprise and worry etched into a crease between her brows.
"What happened?" I asked her.
She grabbed my shoulders and pushed me back to the floor at my attempt to sit up. Every muscle in my body ached, and I could not determine whether it was from the fall or something else. My hand followed a dull pain at my side. Something sticky and wet had gotten onto my shirt, clinging to my fingers.
"Don't move, Gabriella," Lindsey said, each syllable coming out in a whisper. "You've been shot. No, hold still. You'll only make it worse, trust me, please." More tears ran down her face. Using the fingers not coated in blood, I gently wiped them away. Her hand came up to meet mine, pressing into her gentle skin. "You're going to be okay. You hear me?" Her attempt at a smile faltered.
I knew there was no hope. Long suspecting that the man in the fedora was sitting, waiting, watching for me, we should have run as soon as Lindsey was out of the chair. Caught off guard by her identity, we wasted precious moments. Perhaps we could have both lived, escaped from this tomb of death and uncertainty, and lived out the rest of our lives.
My vision was slipping away.
"I-I want you to promise me something," I told her. The pain in my side was growing exponentially, sucking away the words that I had to fight to come out. Lindsey's fingers clutched mine at her cheek. "Promise me that you w-won't wait until death is close until you decide to live your life. Y-you're still young, still beautiful, still full of l-life. Don't waste it."
Her lips trembled, opening and closing several times before the words came out. "I promise." She placed both shaking hands onto the sides of my face, resting her forehead against mine. "You're gonna be okay."
I closed my eyes, accepting my fate, my destiny. The world was slipping away agonizingly slow, but as long as I knew that Lindsey would be with me till the end, I knew what she said was true.
Everything would be okay.