When Stars Align || G. Lafayette

Chapter 15

I'm back, bitches

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That night, I didn't sleep.

I really can't imagine how I could've.

So, as one does in the middle of the night at a war camp when the person they love is dying, I went for a walk.

I stood from where I lay on the thin canvas of the tent, treading lightly as I stepped around Alex and Nael (he'd recently moved in with us due to limited space), and walked out, taking a deep breath of the fresh night air. It was a clear night, not a cloud as far as the horizon. I closed my eyes as I thought back to the countless sleepless nights back at the training grounds.

It was often that I though back to those nights. They were the best of times; they were the worst of times. But regardless, they were easier. They were before my life truly began unraveling.

But they were gone.

Regardless, I wasn't going to sleep. So I walked.

The only things that could be heard in camp that night were the incessant chirping of the crickets all around camp and the snapping of twigs underfoot. The silence was deafening.

Every moment when camp slept was a moment Lafayette wasn't getting help. And of course, everyone needed sleep, but god, I just couldn't understand their priorities.

Then again, they weren't me.

I couldn't take not knowing how he was doing; I couldn't take being without him. I couldn't.

So I didn't.

I bit my lip as I walked toward the medical tent, my steps slowing more the closer I came. My breathing was quickening; my palms were sweating. But swallowing hard, squeezing my eyes shut, I finally took the last few steps to where Lafayette lay.

It was only then that the stench hit me: something rotten, revolting, deathly. I nearly gagged as I turned away from the opening of the tent, taking a deep breath, and then turning back to where he lay. The scent hit again, and though I grimaced, that time it didn't hit as strong. I was ready for it.

I had to be.

So despite the pungent odor seeping out of the space, I walked in, trying not to gag as I sat down next to Lafayette. Or rather, his body.

Though they had the shoulder where he'd been shot wrapped, though the blood had clotted over the several hours he'd been laying there, I couldn't imagine how he could still be alive. His dark skin had lost much color, his cheeks were sunken, his full lips were turning blue. I couldn't so much as see the rise and fall of his chest.

Yet, as I took his hand in mine, as our wrists pressed together, I felt his slow, steady pulse, and I all but cried in relief. Tears pooled in my eyes, my vision blurring as I bit down on my bottom lip. He was alive.

"Hey," I murmured, "'Ey. You are alive. You are going to make it through. You 'ad better make it through, anyway. I 'ave come too far to lose you now."

I squeezed his hand lightly, examining his empty face. "I was looking at ze stars, and I 'ave been thinking of you. Taurus, you know, is very bright tonight. You would love to see it." I swallowed hard at the lack of a response, moving to lie down next to him, his cold hand still resting in mine.

"'Ey, remember zat night? Ze one before we left, when you taught me about constellations?" The memory evoked a light chuckle from me, mostly due to the word 'constellation'. "I zink about zat night very often. Every time I see a star, or look at ze night sky, or even go to sleep."