Evan
I was sitting in Mariana's hospital room.
I glanced over at her.
The monitor beeped rapidly.
A nurse came in.
"W-- What is it?"
"Just a bubble in her IV."
The beeping stopped.
"Nothing to worry about."
"How is she doing?"
"She's hanging in there. Time is really what will tell. But her vitals remain stable, so... That's good."
She walked out.
"I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."
"Why did you go to the farm in the first place?"
I looked across the room.
It was Mariana.
"I wanted to tell you that I love you."
"But you had to know that it was dangerous."
"It didn't seem dangerous. I thought I was just going for the ride."
"And yet, you got there, had no cell reception, and decided to stay the night? Didn't you think that people would be worried about you?"
"I didn't think it all the way through. I wanted to help Joaquin."
"Oh. Joaquin. So, that's what this all comes down to... Again."
The door opened.
It was another nurse.
She hung a bag of fluids.
I walked into the waiting room.
Jenna was sitting in there.
"Hey."
She stood up.
Jenna approached me.
"I know you're mad at me. I mean, you probably even hate me. I wouldn't blame you. But you gotta-- You gotta eat something."
"God. I should've never let Mariana stay on the farm with me. This is all my fault. I'm so so sorry."
"No. I'm sorry. I'm the one who went to that farm without telling anyone. The fault's all on me. I'm responsible for her laying in there and fighting for her life."
"Hey. No. That's not true. That's not true. Come on. How could you be responsible for some nut shooting-- Shooting at us?"
I wiped my tears.
"Okay. The only person to blame here is Adam and Silas."
I shook my head.
"Yeah, but if I hadn't gone out there, none of this would've happened."
"No, no. Please. Hey. Don't do this to yourself."
Jenna sat next to me.
She sighed.
"When we were talking on the farm, um... Mariana told me that Joaquin and her weren't seeing each other anymore because she thought she still might have feelings for you. I-- I don't know if that, you know, makes any difference. I just thought you should know."
Next Morning
I was sleeping in a chair in Mariana's room.
I was woke up by a knock on the door.
The door opened.
I sat up.
"I'm sorry to wake you. Are you Evan Speck?"
"Yes."
"I'm Jarod Martin, Mariana's attorney."
Jarod shut the door.
"May I have a word?"
"Yeah. Of course."
I stood up.
"What a tragedy."
I looked back at her.
"Uh... So why did you wanna talk to me?"
"Yes. I'm here to inform you that Mariana made you her proxy."
He handed me an envelope.
I had heard they went under some leadership changes at Bulk Beauty.
"Her proxy?"
"If anything happened to her, she appointed you in her will to act for her in her stead."
"Uh... What does that mean?"
"As of today, you are the acting interim CEO of Bulk Beauty."
I looked through the papers.
