Ronan looked in the rearview mirror and caught Beah’s eyes. The rolling of his eyes almost, but not quite, made her smile. Man, she’d never been so terrified, was still scared and knew she wouldn’t be able to function properly until she saw Finn’s face, heard him breathing, felt the thump of his heart under her hand. A part of her still thought he was dead, that she’d lost him, and a shudder racked her body.
She didn’t want to live in a world without Finn.
Beah buried her face in her hands, feeling another batch of tears wetting her fingers. Then she felt the car slowing and she jerked her head upward, seeing they’d arrived at the hospital. Ronan braked, and as soon as the big SUV came to a stop, she crawled across Sadie, almost tumbling out the door.
She heard her friends yelling for her to wait but Beah started to sprint across the road, heading for the entrance. She couldn’t wait anymore, not one second longer. She flew through the automatic doors and spun around in circles, looking for signs. She’d heard Carrick say he was in room 201.
Beah saw a sign and, not bothering to wait for the elevator, found the doors leading to the stairs and sprinted up one flight, then two. Bursting into the hallway, she dodged around a cleaner’s cart, skidded past the nurses’ station and looked around, wild with worry.
The two and one shimmered on the door and the looked through the window to Finn’s room and sobbed at the sight of his closed eyes, his oh-so-pale face and his still slightly blue lips.
Beah felt hands lifting her up, felt Ronan’s arms around her. “Sssh, Bee, stop crying, sweetheart.”
Beah gulped, held on to his shirt with tight fists and made herself look up into those eyes so like his younger brother’s. “Don’t tell me he’s dead, Ro. Please.”
Carrick gently separated her from Ronan. Linking an arm around her waist, he pushed the door open. He pulled her over to Finn’s bedside and placed her hand on his chest.
“Feel his heart, Beah. Look at this machine, it’s showing his heart rate. He’s fine, Beah, he’s just sleeping.”
Beah put her head on Finn’s chest and wept.