{18+ COMPLETE} For the past three years, Bren Hadaway has been preparing to die.
When he was sixteen, he watched his dad murder his mom. And ever since, he's been counting down the days until it was his turn to be at the end of a gun. And Bren has...
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a/n: if you didn't catch chapter fifty-one which was updated earlier today, make sure you check that out first.
The beeping of the machine next to me seemed to coincide with the stabbing pain in my abdomen. It pounded in time with my heartbeat.
I'd been lying there in the darkness for god knows how long, fighting with myself.
Pain wove through all of my senses. It was pervasive, trying to pull me under. But I'd learned how to swim through even the darkest, roughest waters. And I refused to drown here. I refused to give in to the depths.
Everything was heavy. A faint memory skirted around the corners of my brain. It echoed there, repeating back to me over and over again. It was a hopeful memory of freedom. Of waking for the first time.
And when I finally woke, when I finally managed to break through and pry my lids open, I felt different.
Light trickled its way into my darkness. It was cloudy, foggy, but it was light.
"Madie?"
The voice was distant. I didn't understand why the beeping was so loud, and the voice was so soft.
"Madie, can you hear me?"
I swallowed, and it hurt. But it didn't hurt as much as my stomach.
"Yes."
I blinked up to see Bren's blurry face, his dark shaggy hair hanging over his equally dark eyes.
"Oh, thank god," he breathed.
"Bren," I rasped.
It was exactly as it should be, with his soft brown gaze looking over me. He collapsed against the bed railing, leaning his weight onto it.
"You're here." I tried to cough to loosen whatever was in my throat. But it caused pain to shoot through my body, and I instantly regretted it. "I knew you'd be here."
"Always, Madeline." His expression was tortured as he gazed down at me. "I'm always going to be here."
"I know," I breathed, letting my eyelids flutter shut again.
He didn't say anything else. His cool hand lightly covered my forehead. And then I fell back into darkness.
When I woke the next time, it was with a gasping breath. Everything felt sharper, brighter, and infinitely more painful.
"Bren!"
He jumped from the chair next to my bed, rushing over to my side.
"I'm here, Madie. I'm here," he said hurriedly, grabbing my hand in his. I squeezed it, trying to push the pain out of my body through a frenzied grip. With his other hand, Bren pulled on the cord near my bed.
