Bruises - JATP Fanfic (Luke x OC)

Alternate Ending (Chapter 29B)

"Brielle, please, wake up," Luke whispers, and Reggie and Alex touch her, wishing sheo culd be magically healed like they were. Their stamps are even gone after they all touched one of the two girls. All they care about, though, is Brielle. Their concerns are on the back burner as her breathing shallows. 

"She has a pulse, but it's fading," Julie says. Brielle's now laying on the floor, with Luke and Alex on one side and Reggie and Julie ont he other. Every single one of them is on the brink of crying at what might be her last breaths ever. Calling 911 isn't even a thought that passes through their minds. 

It was gone. 

She was gone. It didn't make sense. Brielle had so much to live for. And, yet, some stupid piece of twisted fate forced her to leave Earth before she'd made her legacy. How was any of this fair? 

Julie lifted her fingers from Brielle's neck, but that didn't change the fact that Brielle had passed away. Nothing could change that now. No doctor, no hospital, nothing. Her golden hair had spread out in a halo around her head, preserving the perfect memory they would all have of her. 

"Guys..." Julie started before the first sob wracked her body. Brielle didn't deserve this. She deserved the world and everything in it. They could all agree with that. 

Her tears were the first of many to be shed onto the young girl. The guys didn't want to admit it, but Julie could see their tears drip down and land on top of her fragile body. They all touched her, hoping one last wish would bring her back to life. Yet, nothing did. No amount of hoping could bring a dead girl back to life. Heaven knew their parents wished enough for them to come back to life in the two and a half decades since they died. 

"I'm sorry, Brielle." Luke's voice wasn't much above a whisper, but reverberated around the room nonetheless. "You deserved so much more than this." 

Julie, Reggie, and Alex, getting the idea that he wanted some alone time, stood up carefully, not wishing to disturb him. It was the first time he'd ever touched her. He'd never pet her silky blonde hair or touched her soft hands or kissed her pain-ridden bruises until they were gone. The only time he'd been able to was now, after she had died and wouldn't feel a single thing. Now, she would never know what it was like to have someone truly care for her. All because of Caleb and his horrid curse. 

That stupid stamp took everything from him. 

"Can I have some time alone with her?" Luke asks, and everyone respects his wishes. They all know she's about to die, and know the deep connection the two of them shared. "Brielle, we heard your voice begging us to come back. You're what made us realize we're stronger than the magic that tied us to that club. And we are never going back." Remembering a song he wrote a while ago, right when he realized he like-liked her. 

"I'm throwing out the page I found 
The memory 'bout you and I 
There's a time I dreamed about 
The place we'll go on a summer night" Luke can remember everything, from the first time they met to the last time their eyes locked together as he played onstage. It would take years and a miracle for him to forget her. 

"So take me to your deepest heart 
Now I really need proof to go on 
'Cause my life goes dark 
When I know that I can never be your love, oh-oh" If it can get any worse, he knows his love for her, whether or not they'd said the four letter word, will never die. Luke wishes he could know that his afterlife would mean something, but that's just not true. It means nothing now that she's gone. 

"Wish we never talked 
Wish we never saw 
But now I know you're just too far 
To catch you with my arms 
Wish I never met you 
Wish I never touched your hand 
On the day I really thought you are 
The only one that I could ever really love" Maybe, if he wishes long enough and hard enough, all of that will be true. A tear slips down his cheek as he closes his eyes, praying for nothing less than a miracle.