If I Stay✔️

26

Trigger warning;
Mentions of suicide.

The streaks of lightening that illuminated the stormy grey sky were overlooked by the flashes of blue and red in the near distance. The faint echoing of sirens filled the tense silence, that mixed with the soft sound of sniffles and snippets of thunder.

Ace hadn't stopped sobbing since Zac jumped into the rapids after their two brothers, his heart felt like a burden in his chest as the pain of the unknown shook him to the core. What if they don't make it out? Ace knew none of them would be able to cope with such loss, Zac had been the only father figure in their lives for years, whilst Grey -on most occasions- was their mother hen. And then the hardest loss they would bare- their baby brother, their bambino, their Leo.

None of them would ever get over that, not when they missed all of the signs that now seem so obvious.

How could we be so blind? Came his bitter thoughts.

Shouts in the distance snapped everyone's attention to the trees, Callan being the first to see Ryan's distressed face.

Ryan rushed to the scene, his plimsoles gliding on soggy mud, whilst the pelting drops of rain soaked through the polyester fabric of his navy blue dress shirt. As a detective he wasn't supposed to respond to such calls, but when Zac frantically called him and told him to get to the old red bridge with no reason as to why, he dropped everything and dashed.

"Where's Zac?" Ryan frantically asked, his eyes roaming around their peaky faces as he searched for the azure gaze of his best friend. "Cal, where is he?"

Ace turned to Ryan, the younger boys tear stained face filling the detective with a sense of dread. "He's in there." Ace mumbled solemnly, his voice strained as he pointed his finger to the blackened hues of froth-like waves.

"What?" Ryan choked a gasp, his hands trembling as he ran them over his face roughly. His tanned complexion paled further as he noticed his best friend wasn't the only person absent. "Where's the twins' and Grey?" He asked, referring to both sets of twins, his voice laced with terror.

"Kaden, Kill and Lily are at home." Carter added, before cussing under his breath. "What are we going to tell them?" He mumbled dejectedly, running a stressed hand through his hair. "We left them with no explanation and what? We return only to tell them our three brothers are dead?" He stated with no emotion, his blue eyes bloodshot and wide.

"Carter!" Callan hissed, his eyes darting to their younger three siblings and Emilio. "Don't talk like that!" He knew Carter was terrified, but they had to stay strong for their siblings.

"Like what Cal? I'm only saying what we're all thinking. Look at the water Callan, fucking look at it, there's no chance they're going to make it, Zac and Grey maybe, but not Leo." Carter vented, his voice cracking in the process. "You all seen his head hit that beam, if that didn't kill him the water surely has."

"Carter."

"He's dead Callan, DEAD! We've lost him, we've lost them, they're dead, he's dead!" Carter began to sob, mumbling he's dead over and over in a state of shock. "He's dead and he'll never know how much he means to us."

"Shut up! Stop it! STOP!" Emilio cried. "He's not dead, he's not dead!" He repeated, the tears pouring from his eyes quicker than the raindrops from the clouds.

No, no, no, no, no.

Leo couldn't be dead, this couldn't be it. There's still so much more, so much more Emilio needed to say, so much more he needed to do. So much life they needed to live. This couldn't be it, it couldn't be over before it had even begun, before they had even begun.