Third person POV
Tyler could hear his heart beating in his chest rapidly, he could feel his fingers getting sweaty by the second, the pain in his chest, the ache in his head. He could feel his brother's hand on his shoulder as he ushered him towards the car.
Tyler clasped his hand over Malcom's and sucked in a harsh breath. He shook his head vigorously and leaned against the door, trying his hardest to maintain his breaths in fear that he'd pass out and right now wasn't the moment to pass out. "Tyler, breathe. Okay?"
Tyler snapped his head towards Malcom, they're eyes came in contact and for a moment he wondered what kid would have been like if his brother never left for LA. Would they have never been in this situation? No, it wouldn't have stopped their mother from taking drugs but maybe things could have been easier.
Maybe he could have started college sooner and get to graduate with his friends then. Maybe with Malcoms help, he would have been able to save their house from the clutches of the bank. He wouldn't have to fight and come home with bruises every day, he wouldn't feel like he was alone.
But Tyler realized that fantasizing now wouldn't change anything. He's been at his mother's side for two years alone, grinding hard in order to pay for her medical bills, her nurse and school. Now finally when he had the chance to get it all off his back and finally put himself first this happens.
One of the most important women to him life was at risk and he didn't know what to do. "Deep breaths, okay. In and out." Tyler followed Malcom's directions until he was breathing at a steady pace. Malcom nodded his head slowly until Tyler calmed down, "now let's get in the car." Tyler gulped and opened the passenger's side of Malcom's car before slipping in.
His mind was hazy, he couldn't think clearly. If he thought before he was confused and conflicted then this moment right now only worsened it. What would have happened if they didn't get that phone call he thought? Was Malcom serious when he told Tyler to stay?
Would he have stayed?
Of course. That little voice muttered in the back of his mind and he clenched his jaw tightly. He would have stayed. . .for her.
"GOD DAMMIT!" He shouted in frustration, slamming his hand against the dashboard repeatedly until Malcom had to struggle to restrain him. "Tyler! Tyler calm down!"
"Calm down!? Mom had a fucking stroke! A stroke! People die from strokes! They lose their memories sometimes when they wake up–if they wake up. She can pop a vein any day!"
"I know but screaming and punching my car won't make her get better. So relax! Mom is fine. . .I just know it. She has to be." Tyler realized something at that moment. Sure Malcom appeared cool and collected but he knew his brother and this was his way of being worried.
Malcom was dying on the inside just as Tyler was on the outside. He just channelled his anger in a different way.
The ride to the hospital was excruciating for Tyler, he was anxious, his hand twitched every other second and his mind flooded with worry. He didn't know what the outcome of today would be, if he walks into that hospital will his mother be okay? Will she be in critical condition?
He leaned against the glass panes, his eyes trailing the hospital which came into view. He leaned forward and snapped his gaze towards Malcom who pulled the car into the parking lot. Before Malcom to turn off the ignition Tyler was out of the car and rushing up to the main doors.
He pushed it open and tumbled inside, ignoring the eyes that followed his frantic movements. He made his way towards the receptionist table and slammed his hands down onto it unintentionally. His eyes were wide, wild. He rummaged his hands through his hair and leaned over the table. "Alesia Hart, I think she was transported here like thirty minutes ago! Can you please tell me her room number?!"
The receptionist nodded her head frantically and typed something into the computer just as Malcom approached them. He was out of breath, his eyes wide as well and he didn't miss the way everyone eyed the two peculiar guys. What did they expect? It's not like they're the first people to do this in history.
"Sir, she's in room 124, wing c. Go down the hallway to the right, take the elevator up until you reach C, alright?" Tyler thanked her and both he and Malcom rushed down the hallway and towards the elevator.
When they made it inside Tyler slammed his hand against the button which led them to wing C and toppled out as soon as the doors slid open. "124, 124, 224." He chanted repeatedly as they slid down the corridor, brushing past patients and visitors.
"Here!" Tyler snapped his head towards Malcom's voice and followed in suit behind him. They approached room 124 and peered through the window. There, laying on the hospital bed was their mother, drips attached to her arm, covered in a hospital gown and fast asleep.
His father sat beside her, his hands slipped into her own and his head hung low. Tyler could feel the tears stinging his eyes and he twisted the handle of the door and stalked in. Malcom in suit behind him lost for words.
"How is she? Is she okay? What happened?" Tyler babbled as he tumbled towards them. His father peered upwards and greeted them both with a sad smile. "She's okay. She was taking a shower and slipped after one side of her face went numb. Thankfully she didn't hit her head too hard when she fell and I got there just in time to rush her here. The doctors said it's due to stress and recommend a list of things for her to do.
From what I know this could be dangerous but your mother is still young, she's only forty-eight for crying out loud. A stroke can't–it will not kill her by the grace of God."
Tyler didn't take the grace of God as a yes she was definitely going to be okay. A stroke is many things and death is amongst it. He didn't want to feel that, losing someone so close to him. His family. . .his blood.
"Fuck." He muttered softly as tears pricked his eyes. He sucked in a harsh breath and spun on his heels. Shaking his head in disbelief. How can he leave his mother knowing this can happen again? Knowing that in a second she'll be completely gone and he might not be there to hold her hands when she dies.
How?
~ ~ ~
Arabella leaned against the tree, gazing up at the sun setting below the horizon. She wondered how the colours purple, red and orange mixed so elegantly together in the sky, almost as if it were a perfected image by an artist. She smiled, wondering if life could always be this beautiful.
And then she remembered it's not.
Tomorrow is her wedding with a man she doesn't love. Her boyfriend is out deciding whether he'll choose family over love or vice versa. And her father is in the hospital after being poisoned.
She knew she should have visited him but Ryan said that he was being released from the hospital tomorrow for the wedding. He was a powerful man, she wasn't surprised how he convinced the doctors to allow that to happen.
For some reason, her father was making it extremely difficult for her to feel sad and worried. It's her father for crying out loud, the man she cried for whenever her mother ignored her existence. Whenever she had no one else to cry too.
He could have died.
So why does she feel so numb?
So done with this, with him, with life?
She flickered her eyes shut and felt the tears pricking her eyelids. Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. "Fuck." She whispered as a tear trickled down her cheek. She wondered to herself how her life turned out like this? From being the best year of her life to her worse.
She got the guy she's been in love with for two years, she got the perfect college, the dream job, the supportive and wonderful friends. And then just like that, all those wonderful things would be taken away one way or the other.
The only thing she'll have standing are her friends who have their own lives to worry about.
Arabella flickered her eyes open and frowned up at the sky as grey clouds began to replace the white clouds. She heard it, far away but she heard the thunder crackle. "Ironic," She muttered.
She pushed herself off the ground and grabbed her phone from her pocket. Her wallpaper was that of Tyler and herself under the duvet at the hotel they spent before thanksgiving. She smiled at the photo and wished she could be this happy again, this happy and unsuspecting that her life would do a complete 180 turn.
Maybe, maybe he'll choose me she mumbled to herself as she began to walk away from the tree. He said tonight, to meet him tonight and he'll give her an answer.
A choice that she knows will determine her own. Will she run away without Tyler if he chooses his family? Or will she stay and marry Ryan?
Arabella gazed up at the sky as the thunder grew closer. She felt a sudden pit in her stomach. As if something bad was going to or has happened. She didn't think this was petty foreshadowing, how the sky suddenly went from being painted in blue, red, orange and purple bright colours to this in a matter of minutes.
As she rushed across the campus the thunder grew louder. The sky turned darker and already she could see the crescent moon hanging above her head. "Everything's okay, right?"
As she whispered the words to herself she saw it. His rapid movements, head hung low, feet moving hastily across the campus floors and towards the housing building. Arabella frowned deeply and rushed after him. "Tyler!"
He stopped dead in his tracks, almost as if her voice were a string that suddenly tugged at his legs. He moved like a robot and Arabella grew more worried as she approached him. Tyler's eyes didn't meet hers, they remained focused on the pavement below him but is body pivoted towards her.
"Tyler?" Just as his name escapes her lips something wet trickled down her forehead, against her cheek and into her mouth. Then another and another until she realized it was drizzling. "Tyler, are you okay? What's wrong?" He didn't reply but instead raised his hands and pressed his fingertips against his eyes as he brushed away his tears.
He cried before her once, when he let his guard down. And here he was again, letting his guard down but for a completely different reason. Then it was because he finally realized that if he wanted to continue living life his way he needed to tell the girl he loved that he loved her but now he had to tell the girl he loved that. . .that they were over.
*Play the song!*
"Tyler?" The drizzles weren't light against her face anymore. The more seconds that passed the heavier it grew and she realized any moment there would be a massive downpour of rain. Her heart sunk when she heard a sniffle and slowly he raised his head, his eyes were bloodshot red and even though his face was covered in rainwater she knew he was crying.
She closed the space between them and peered up at him, her lips were pressed into a thin line but she could feel them slowly beginning to quiver. "You made a decision haven't you?" It was more of a statement than a question and she already knew the answer.
The rain indeed got heavier, they both listened as it splattered against the pavement. As it soaked them both, their hair matted against their heads, their clothes like a second skin but neither of them cared.
Tyler stepped closer towards her and suddenly cupped her cheeks in his hands. He peered down at her, slowly caressed her cheeks and pressed his forehead against hers. "I love you, Bella."
She felt the contraction in her throat, the tears that pricked her eyelids but she didn't hold it down. She let them fall and leaned into him as her arms came around his waist. "Please don't break up with me."
"I realized that no matter where you are and what you are doing I will always truly love you," Tyler muttered softly and she gripped his shirt tightly, clenching it in her palms until it crumbled beneath her fingertips.
"Please don't do this. I don't want to break up. I don't want to lose you." She sobbed, hating the way her voice cracked as she spoke. Tyler could feel it, she could feel it; they're hearts literally shattering in pieces with each word exchanged.
Tyler sucked in a harsh breath and tilted her head upwards, "do you love me?" He asked genuinely as if he needed some sort of reassurance. She nodded her head frantically and pressed her hand against his cheek, "I always have, I always will, so please don't end this."
He didn't reply but he let his eyes speak for themselves. All his life Tyler never really thought about love, he never thought about having a family, marrying the woman of his dreams and dying old together. But the moment he saw her, the moment she walked into his life and he shared that moment with her it was like he knew.
He knew she was the one.
And no one else.
He brought his lips down onto hers and she immediately kissed back. Their tears mingled together and they're grips tightened as if they never wanted to let go. She felt that flame in her chest, the same one she felt the very first time they kissed. It ignited within her body, burning through her skin and onto the surface.
That was love.
And she was afraid that flame would one day die down.
He pulled away hesitantly, not wanting to break up this moment but he had to. Tyler closed his hands around hers and then pressed his lips against her forehead. "Forgive me." And just like that, he was gone.
And she was left, on her knees clutching her shirt tightly as she sobbed in the heavy downpour of rain.
I cried writing this chapter because I was listening to music from my emotional playlist for inspiration. Damn, who knew an author would cry for her own book eh? 3 more chapters left!