She doesn’t move.
“Gem?” I croak.
Nothing.
“Baby, wake up, please. It’s over.”
“Dia?” Aveena drops to her knees next to her best friend. “Dia?”
Fear fills Aveena’s gaze.
She whisks her head my way. “What the hell happened to her?”
“I… She got knocked out, but she should be awake by now. She should be okay. I… I don’t understand,” I ramble.
I attempt to wake her, holding her up by her waist and shaking her shoulders to no avail.
That’s when I feel something on my hand.
Some sort of… liquid.
I withdraw my hand from her hip and flip it over to take a look.
Then my soul leaves my body.
“Oh my God,” Aveena gasps. “She’s bleeding.”
Blood spills from my baby’s flesh and onto my hands, my head spinning out of control as I realize…
I didn’t stop the bullet.
No, no, no, no.
This can’t be happening.
I was supposed to stop Joel.
I was supposed to save her.
“He shot her.” I start to hyperventilate.
“Call an ambulance. Now!” Xavier yells at Theo.
“On it.” Theo immediately pulls his phone out of his pocket.
I only realize how fast I’m breathing when my throat starts to burn.
“Did she inhale a lot of smoke?” Aveena asks.
Images of Dia lying on the floor unconscious, unable to cover her mouth or protect her lungs, flash in my mind. I was able to breathe through my shirt, which wasn’t much, but she didn’t have anything.
“It couldn’t have been that much. She wasn’t in there that long. She’s fine. She’s going to be fine,” I choke out.
I glance at Aveena for reassurance, but she doesn’t soothe my panic, so I look up at Xavier. He stares at me with this nauseating pity in his eyes.
“Stop looking at me like that!” I snap, grabbing Dia’s hand and squeezing her fingers. “She’s going to be okay. She… She has to be okay.” I fall apart, tears coating my cheeks. “You’re going to be okay, baby, I promise.”
I’m afraid I’m going to pass out when Aveena places her index and middle fingers on the side of Dia’s neck to check her pulse. I count the seconds until she speaks again, my senses slipping and my limbs too heavy to move. I see the tears pool in Aveena’s eyes as she removes her fingers from Dia’s neck.