Trust Fall // l.h

Prologue: The Wish

a/n: Hi guys, this is our first co-written piece together! We hope you all enjoy this prologue and we plan to post every Friday if people become interested. Thank you for reading, love you all!

~Allison & Faith

Luke's POV

Beads of sweat formed quickly on my brow, a result of the intense Australian sun and my nerves.

I jumped in my car as quickly as possible and floored the gas pedal.

Tears threatened to escape my eyes as I relived the entire scene: the shark, the blood, Lily smothered in it, and the blur of luminous red and blue lights as the ambulance raced my dying best friend to the hospital.

My first instinct was to go to her house and pick the usual bouquet of daisies; something that had become a tradition between us since the first day we met.

We were both in kindergarten when she caught me making mud pies in her mother's flower bed.

Just as she started to shout for her mother, I yanked a handful of daisies out of the dirt and gave them to her.

Her grin was a mile wide and made my cheeks flush red.

I still remember that smile, even after twelve years.

She always loved the gesture, even though every time I brought her a bouquet it came from her mother's garden.

The first few times her mom fumed as she'd shout at me, but she began to realize her pleas were failing because I continued to dishevel her flowers anyway.

Everything was still a huge blur even after arriving at her house.

Lily's parents must have already headed to the hospital because I noticed their car was gone.

Someone must have called them.

I ran to her backyard and grabbed a fistful of flowers; as many as my hand could hold. From there I hopped back into my car and sped to the hospital.

The walls of the lobby were blinding. As soon as the sliding doors opened I was disoriented.

Why are all hospitals painted white? I mean white isn't the most soothing color, especially for people in desperate need of comfort.

The combination of the fluorescent lights and hospital smell; which I had determined was a mixture of disinfectant and fear, almost caused me to pass out.

The lady at the desk whose name tag read Brenda, but whom I cared nothing about, spoke with no manners.

My only request was to talk to Lily or her family and make sure she was doing okay, but "Brenda" stared right through me with aging grey eyes that looked as if they've encountered death on more than one occasion and told me I couldn't see her because I'm not immediate family.

Give me a break. I'm closer to Lily than 95% of the people who share my last name. If blood was the strongest bond two people could share than I wouldn't feel the need to worry about her at this moment.

But I do worry, a lot, my best friend of twelve years is in the hospital after a gruesome shark attack and I have no clue as to whether she is even alive or not.

Luckily in the midst of taking a phone call, Brenda turned her back to the room sign-in sheet and I got a quick glance at my precious piece of information.

"Lily Sinclair: Floor 3 Room 3303"

In the heat of the moment, I bolted down the halls and made my way into the elevator.

I mindlessly pressed a button that I thought beamed the number three, but at this point I wasn't sure of anything. Nothing felt real.

l was completely unaware of my surroundings. I began to bite my tongue from the anxiety; it helped me to keep my composure.

The sudden taste of blood in my mouth made me realize just how scared I really was. "I can't lose her," were the words that repeated in my mind.

The moment the elevator doors started to separate, I forced my way through and darted down the halls. Room after room was passing me by.

I felt like I was a part of some cliché chase sequence in a film as I ran through the cramped hallway. I weaved in and out of various people dressed in scrubs, accidentally bumping into janitor carts and spilling papers from clipboards as I went. I didn't really know what I was feeling, but I knew one thing.

I had to see Lily.

My head snapped left and right to see if I could find her room in the disorienting blur; back and forth and back and forth until I was dizzy.

I looked up ahead to the right and had to do a double take to read the room plate.

"Room 3303"

My heart rate accelerated at least five times its normal pace as I made my way through the doors.

There was a number of people dressed  in green scrubs surrounding her bed. I snaked my way through the immense amount of chaos to reach her.

She was pale as a ghost but her chestnut hair flowed in beautiful waves; still wet from when we were in the ocean hours earlier. Her eyes still had that glow, that brilliant blue shimmer to them that convinced you that you were staring up into the trees.

That was the thing about Lily. Being with her was like a reminder that you were alive.

The way she took everything in stride and laughed when things went wrong.

She was the eye of a tornado; the calm inside the storm. She was my amazing best friend.

But there was blood, lots and lots of blood.

I broke from my thoughts to hear a doctor shout for everyone to back up, but I reached for her hand anyway and just before we separated she whispered to me,

"Luke, I know-," she stopped for a moment as tears started to form in her big blue eyes. "I know I'm not going to make it, but I need you to promise me one thing,"

I'll never forget the way her voice sounded. It was so weak and filled with sadness. She didn't want to leave as much as I didn't want her to.

"Anything, anything you want," I said hopelessly.

"I want you to keep making people happy. Make someone else feel the way I did that first day you gave me flowers. You made me feel so...so special Luke. Like I was important and that I mattered. All I want is for you spread that feeling; that undeniable happiness to someone else in the world. And I want that for you too, that same year one happiness."

And just as I began to reveal that last bouquet of daisies from behind my back and respond...

"I pr-"

*beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep*

She was gone.