Imperfect

Chapter 20 - Crumbling

By the time I reached the surface I dragged Luke's heavier body onto the rocks along with me, realizing his lungs were filled with water. My lungs desperately gasped for air as much my chest raised up and down, rapidly. I laid Luke down on the warm rocks and glanced at his pale, almost grey face from the lack of oxygen getting to his brain. Instantly, I remembered how to do CPR from my job as a lifeguard last summer. I parted Luke's purple lips and supplied air to his lungs. I pressed my hands to his chest and pumped as hard as I could to get the water out of his lungs. I added more oxygen into him and pumped his chest continuously.

"C'mon Luke!" I cried, beyond worried that he wouldn't respond. The left side of Luke's ribcage was deep cut into from the dented in the car door. I could care less about what condition I was in. I continued to do CPR on him, hoping for some kind of response. I was on the edge of bursting into a sob coming on as my eyes swelled up from the ocean water and my salty tears mixed. I could feel the lump in my throat grow bigger, holding back a wall of tears. I pressed my two fingers to the pulse of Luke's neck to check for a heartbeat. Nothing. I felt nothing. I looked up the cliff to the sound of sirens and multiple vehicles.

"LUKE, PLEASE!" I supplied more oxygen for him as I could possibly get and pounded his chest harder. Before I could give up and realize the fact that Luke was dead I heard a rough cough coming from him. I hovered over Luke, still somewhat knocked out but he was throwing up water and desperately gasping for air. Luke left his eyes shut and groaned to his side as the people rushed down the cliff to get to us.

***

"PLEASE TELL ME HE'S GONNA BE OKAY!" I cried at the paramedic who was attaching Luke and I to multiple machines and whatnot. The paramedic wouldn't answer my questions, nor would make eye contact with me. I glanced over at Luke, laying silently beside me. His face had been scratched, bruised and marked from the car. He was still too weak to open his heavy eyelids. My heart pounded harder and harder as my breathing became hyperventilation.

"Please Luke, please!" My vision blurred from the breaking wall of tears building up in my worn out orbs. I knew Luke could be dying and or have severe brain issues.

"Ma'am! You need to calm down." The woman held me down as I kept turning my face away from the oxygen mask, just wanting to die instead.

"No!" The paramedic fought back, obviously having more strength than me at the moment and forced the oxygen mask onto my face. My eyes slowly began to flutter close. My world turned pitch black.

***

I woke up to the sound of beeping from the stupid machines I was hooked up to. I quickly sat up straight to the thought of Luke but got pushed down by a large, warm hand. My sobbed out orbs instantly shot open, shocked.

"Wha- who? Where? LUKE?!" I scanned the room searching for him.

"Danielle, Luke...Luke is fine." Calum choked up and weakly smiled. I narrowed my eyes up at him. I'm not an idiot. Why is he lying to me?

"Don't lie to me, Calum!" I spat. I unhooked myself from the machines and jumped to my feet.

"Dani! You need to rest." Calum placed me back onto the bed like I was nothing. We both sighed the same time and gave each other the look of frustration. I knew Luke wasn't okay. It pained me to even bare the thought of him suffering. My eyes landed on the waiting room to what seemed like Michael holding his face in his hands.

"Is that?-"

"Yeah..." Huffed Calum. I looked down at my lap. A tear slipped into the palm of my hand. My arm was covered in scars from the accident along with my legs. I couldn't imagine what my face looked like.

"I NEED to see Luke." I pushed myself off the hospital bed and made my way to the other rooms in the hall. Luke was most likely next door or not too far down the hall. Calum tried talking me out of seeing him, but nothing worked. Popping my head in each room I finally managed to find Luke sitting up with pillows pressed to his back and a white wrap wrapped around his head. Still, he had his eyes closed.

"Luke?" I sat in a chair beside him. I took his hand in mine, whispering things to him; hoping he'd awake. "Babe, can you hear me?" I pressed a kiss to his ear. He flinched, startling me. A groan escaped from his lips as his blue orbs fluttered open. A smile grew upon my face to finally seeing his sky blue orbs I absolutely adored. Luke glanced around the room, looking rather confused.

"How are you feeling?" I gently brushed his cheek with the back of my hand.

"What?" He mumbled. "Who are you?" Luke shifted his body away from me. My smile drastically turned into a frown. I could feel my heart sink to the pit of my stomach. This cannot be happening. I collapsed to my knees and face-planted into my lap, breaking into a loud; painful sob. As I sobbed louder and harder Calum and Michael rushed into the room. Calum picked me up and held me in his arms as I bawled into his chest.

"He forgets us too..." Michael looked down at me, pushing my hair back behind my ear. He mentioned Ashton leaving the building a while ago, not being able to handle the situation.

"How does Luke not rem-"

"Amnesia..." Calum tightened his grip around me as I broke down into his chest, crumbling one painful piece at a time.