“Total Eclipse of the Heart”
2011 Copyright All Rights Reserved
Chapter 2
Raven laid on her bed, staring at the bank wall, feeling utterly helpless. The smell of antiseptic filled her nostrils, the ghostly quietness of the room was overtaxing and she just wanted to curl up and die.
Zach was gone, he wasn’t coming back and Raven was lost without him.
All their dreams, all their hopes… Gone, vanished in the span of a heart beat.
She closed her eyes, and prayed for God to take her. Remove her from this cold, hard world and unite her once again with her true love. That was all she wanted, her beloved Zach.
Was that too much to ask for?
The door squeaked open, but Raven had long since ceased to care anymore. It was probably a nurse coming to check her vitals, give her more of that damned medicine that made her woozie or one of the doctors that wanted to come and make her life more miserable than it already was.
Life was a bitch, then you die….. It was a lesson that she learned all too well.
At least all of the good people do anyway, she mused. Her parents died in a fire when she was only a baby and her aunt did the best she could to raise her, but sometimes that isn't enough. For so long she felt so alone until she finally met Zach, Christopher and Layla. They helped fill that void in her life.
Now Zach had been ruthlessly ripped away from her as well. Taken away to a better place while she suffered alone.
“Raven.”
She couldn’t open her eyes, it hurt so much. She felt the warmth of Christopher’s touch on her chilled arm and flinched.
“Raven, sweetheart-,” he started and let our a sad sigh, finding the words that he wanted to speak suddenly so hard to pronounce.
She opened her eyes, but couldn’t look at Christopher. She loved her friend, but it was hard. Too hard to face him because he survived, she survived and Layla too.
But Zach didn’t. She would never have the joy of hearing him call her name again. She would never be able to feel his gentle touch on her skin. She would never be able to revel in the smile that lit up his face every time that she looked in his eyes. He was gone.
Her world was so dark now. She was drowning and she didn’t want to be saved. She wanted the water to take her, steal away the pain. Relieve her of all the hurt that threatened to break her apart.
Christopher was tired of seeing his friend in pain. It was bad enough having to see his mate suffer through her healing process but she would make a full recovery, that he had no doubt. It was Raven that they both worried about so much these days. It had been two weeks since the accident and there was no change in her.
She wouldn’t talk, barely ate and he knew that she ached. She hurt for her lost love and what made the whole situation so impossible was that he didn’t know what the hell to do about it.
He was now sitting here, in her room, holding a box. It was the small box that the coroner had found in Zach’s pocket and inside it was nestled an engagement ring. A beautiful ring that signified his best friends love for Raven.
He was going to propose to Raven over the holiday. He had talked to him about it and they had perfected the ultimate scenario. Zach was going to take Raven on a moon lit stroll along the white sands of the beach, the waves crashing in the background, with nature as their only witness. He was going to go down on one knee and ask her to share the rest of her life with him and be his wife.
Now he was gone. Christopher rolled the box in his hands nervously and stared down at Raven who refused to meet his eyes. He was hard pressed to hold back his own emotions that simmered inside.
He wanted to tell her everything but he just couldn’t find the courage to say a word.
Leaning in, he took Raven’s hand and placed the small box in it that had once held the promise for everything but now it was only a heart breaking symbol of what could have been.
Raven looked down at her hand that held the small box Christopher had given her.
She tried to swallow past the tight knot that had suddenly formed in her throat and froze.
No, it couldn’t be.
For the first time since the accident, Raven looked up and met Christopher’s’ gaze.
Saying nothing but yet saying everything at the same time.
Christopher felt the betraying wetness on his cheek and knew that he had to get out of there. He couldn’t take it, the pained look etched on Raven’s face was just too much for him to bear.
Bending over he pressed a chaste kiss to her temple and for a long moment his lips lingered against her skin.
Squeezing his eyes shut he whispered the only words that came to mind, “He loved you Raven, don’t ever forget that. He loved you so damn much.”
He heard her choked sob and quickly stood up. He touched her face, wiped away the lone tear that trailed down her cheek and then left the room that was close to swallowing him whole.
Closing the door behind him, Christopher collapsed against the wall and dropped his face in his hands. That was the hardest thing that he had ever done in his life. He slid to the floor and felt as if the fires of hell were tearing out his heart.
Why? He asked himself, Why did this have to happen to Raven? She had already been through so much in her short life, she didn't deserve this. None of them did.
He heard her guttural scream from behind the closed door and then something crashed against the wall. The nurses raced passed him as she continued to scream. Pandemonium ensued and then all of a sudden it was over. The screaming stopped and the nurses all filed back out of the room. He had no doubts that they had tranquilized her, again.
He wanted more than anything to go back in there and hold Raven, assure her that everything was going to be okay. But that was the one thing that he couldn’t do. Not now, not ever.
Things would never be okay again, not for Raven, not for him and not for Layla. When they lost Zach, they all lost someone very special that day. The tragic accident that the cards of fate had dealt them was more than just a bump in the road, it was an oversized road block that Christopher didn't know how to get around.
But Raven, poor Raven lost out more so than any of them. She not only lost her one and only love, she lost her very heart.