Give It Up

Chapter 20

*Hope's POV:

"Ma'am, are you okay? Are you dizzy? How many fingers am I holding up?" A nurse stood in front of me flooding me with a barage of questions. Her constant questions were giving me a headache. I closed my eyes and tried to tune her out.

The events from the past hour have been replaying over and over again on super fast forward.

DeMarco's twisted face as he wrapped his fingers around the trigger. His face was painted with pure evil. The bullet slowly soaring towards Xavi until it disappeared into his forehead. Blood and brain matter splattered across the room. Xavi's body, which was once so fufll of life, now sat there, a limp, dull and lifeless form, emptied out of any former signs of life.

The sound of hearing Brooklyn's voice for the first time in days made my heart go soaring through my chest.

"Hope!" she yelled out as she ran towards me. I just stood there, still paralyzed by the initial shock of the current situation.

"Oh my gosh, you're alive! You're alive! I can't believe you're alive!" she repeated those words over and over in my ears, still holding me tightly, as if she were to let go, I would disappear.

I hadn't even noticed that I started crying until the mascara started burning my eyes. I heard Brooklyn sniffling and assumed she was crying too. We just sat there for a few more minutes, weeping in each other's arms. Lord knows, I never thought I would have the chance to hear her voice again. Ever since two days ago, I thought our friendship was through. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that this girl would come looking for me. I thought I was through. I gave up all hope in life. I just wish the bullet had ended up in my head instead of Xavi's.

I broke away from the hug and looked over at the crowd of police and EMTs gathered in the empty lot outside the warehouse. I saw Monte and DeMarco being handcuffed and shoved in the back of two police cars. I was tempted to go over and drag DeMarco's body out the car so I could beat the living sh-t out of him, but my body was frozen in its spot.

He had no signs of remorse on his face. He sat relaxed in the back seat of the squad car. It was as if he didn't realize he had just murdered an innocent human being.

Monte had a cold, hard look on his face. He blankly stared ahead of him, not moving one muscle. I know he tried saving us, but I was still pissed at him too. Did he really kidnap both me and Xavi just because he didn't get the loud he wanted? Petty.

I turned to my left and saw three men with jackets that said CORONER on the back wrap up a body and place it on a stretcher. They then pushed the stretcher into the back on a black truck that read Fulton County Medical Examiner.

I stared at the truck for a long time until Brooklyn shook me and asked with an alarmed expression, "Who's body is that?"

I stared back at her through teary eyes. Swallowing the lump that was slowly forming in my throat, I softly whispered, "Xavi."

Brooklyn's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. She turned around then quickly snapped her head back at me. She pointed to the truck hysterically. A series of words spilled out of her mouth, all stacked on top of each other. She couldn't make full sentences. "Xa-xavi?" she stuttered. "Xavier? The boy that you have been going out with the past three weeks?" The sobs starting escaping from my throat until soon, I couldn't control it anymore. "THE Xavi? Hope! Stop playing with me right now! It's not funny! THE Xavi?! Dead?!"

I just nodded my head in response, tears rushing down my face. I was completely speechless at the moment.

"No. No. NO!" she continued. "You're lying! You HAVE to be! What do you mean he's DEAD?! He was just alive the other day!"