A boy who has felt years of pain meets a girl who shows him unconditional love.
Written over the course of five nights (and a secret sixth). I'm a sucker for gorgeous romance.
**cover art from tryhardninja on twitter!
NOTE: For anyone who might need the warning, this chapter includes description of a burn.
Also! The story isn't over yet - Night Six (epilogue) and Day Three (a *continuation* of Night Three) will be the final chapters.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Ashes
1991
A steady beep rang through the darkness. You gasped as your eyes blinked open, your lungs still feeling heavy and weak.
You were alive. You had no idea how, but you were. Your eyes were wide as you examined your body, wrapped tightly in bandages but still completely intact. Everything felt muted. You assumed it was a side effect of being on enough painkillers to take down a horse.
The hospital you were at was immediately recognizable. It was the worst one within 100 miles of the city, twice sued for malpractice and sent into bankruptcy more than once. To its merit, you knew they wouldn't ask questions. Especially ones you didn't know the answer to.
The first words croaked out of your mouth when an orderly walked in were, "Where's Michael?"
The woman hardly had a chance to speak.
"You mean the sickly fellow?" she asked, tinkering with the equipment in the room. "He's in the ICU. Looks half dead already. They've got him on life support."
"You mean he's-?" Your voice shook. Subconsciously you gripped the hospital sheets in the tightest grip you could muster.
"Barely. We didn't think he'd make it through the first night."
You breathed a heavy sigh of relief. There was a chance. You shifted in your spot to sit up further, grunting with pain and effort.
"How long have I been here?" you asked, your back stinging as you moved. Considering your proximity with to fire, you were surprised you didn't hurt more.
"Three days," she said curtly. The orderly grabbed a stethoscope, pressing the cold metal to your heart. "You know, you're very lucky. Someone must've cared an awful lot to risk salvaging you two."
"Was it not a firefighter?" you inquired in surprise.
"No. We received a call that someone pulled you two out of a fire," the nurse explained, now shining a light into your ear. "Sounded like a kid."
Could it be? No. That was impossible.
Right?
"Was anyone else found?" You weren't entirely sure if you wanted to know the answer.
"No," the nurse denied. "Everything inside the building was burnt to a crisp."
It brought you some solace knowing William could never harm Michael, or you, again. But for some reason, you could hardly believe it was true.
