Return ↠ Argent [2]

13. Messengers of Death

1 Day Ago

"What is Lydia supposed to!" I hear Allison shout as I try to focus on her voice, holding onto life as it started to slip through my fingers. My eyes search for her face when I find Kali holding her hands behind her back as she fought against her to get to me. "He needs to go to a hospital!"

Deucalion looks frantic. "Where is she!"

I go to breathe when the metallic taste of blood returns in my mouth, causing another cough of black blood this time to escape my throat. Allison screams this time, not out of anger, but out of fear and despair. I hated that she was here to watch this; that she would be here to witness me die all over again.

"Oh my God, Corey?" I hear a small frail voice speak out, belonging to a certain strawberry blonde. Lydia gasps when she sees me, running to my side as her bare hands slapped the concrete below me. Her hands hover above the bloodied mess on my chest as they shake, tears filling her eyes. She turns away and back to Deucalion as she shouts. "Why are you just standing there!"

Deucalion nods back towards me. "Save him, Lydia. Before time runs out."

Lydia shakes her head, confused about all of this. She wasn't the only one. "What are you talking about? I can't save him-"

"Of course you can!" Deucalion shouts in her face as he kneels down. "You're a messenger of death, Lydia! You and Corey are linked in a way you can't possibly imagine! You're the only one who can save him."

Linked? My mind spins with Deucalion's words, but before I can think about it for too long, more blood finds it's way upwards as I cough and spit, causing Lydia to back away slightly. I knew that Deucalion wasn't lying; I was dying, and he didn't want that, so his words about Lydia must be true. He couldn't win this battle without me, even if I were to be on his side.

Lydia takes a deep breath as her eyes flick back and forth between my face and my chest. "I-I don't even know what to do."

I can feel my life slipping away faster with every second that passed. My eyelids were starting to grow heavy and my strength was diminishing fast. "Take a deep breath and place your hands on his chest; on the wound."

Lydia's eyes widen as she looks down at the blood. I can tell that she wanted to help save me, but she also had no idea what she was doing and needed encouragement. So with the last bit of strength I had left, I reach up and squeeze her hand just before she places it onto my chest, causing her eyes to focus on my own.

"Y-You can do this," I say before going into another fit of coughing and spitting. "Please, Lydia."

She licks her bottom lip slowly, something I noticed she did when she was nervous. I release my hand as it smacks back onto the concrete, but I didn't care. Lydia closes her eyes and takes another deep breath before placing her hands onto my chest, causing a wave of pain to shoot throughout me.

I hiss from the pain, causing Lydia to wince with fear, but Deucalion continues to walk her through. "Focus on the wound healing. Focus on the skin pulling back together and the blood disappearing. Focus on his life, Lydia."

Lydia's eyes look up to the celling as she focuses, trying not to cry. Her tears collect at the bottom of her eyelids before she blinks, causing them to fall down her cheeks and onto me. I waited for something to happen, anything, but instead of my wound healing, I just feel more blood flood into my lungs, making it harder to breathe.

"I-It's not working," Lydia breathes as she looks back down at me, the shaking from her hands making my chest hurt more. She looks back at Deucalion. "This isn't working!"

"Focus harder, Lydia!" he screams back at her, his eyes glowing red this time. "Do you really want to be the one to blame for killing him? Allison would never forgive you."