Supernatural Boarding School #3 - A Brush of Death ✅

Chapter 19 - Eros

Eros' point of view

The moment the doctor carefully took out the small fragment of bone that had been inside of me all those years, I knew that it hadn't worked. I could still only feel Simon. No Demona. The light of my days, the love of my life, the joy of my being – she was still in a coma. Because of me.

"Mr. Slayer," the surgeon said, his voice tight. "Could you remain still?"

I had gotten local anesthesia for my ankle so I wouldn't feel getting cut open. It had taken half an hour for the surgeon to extract the piece of bone. No matter how small it was, it had been inside of me for so many years that it took some careful work to make sure my muscles wouldn't be damaged in the process. Not that I gave a shit. They could cut off my entire foot for all I cared.

After another twenty minutes of stitching me up and making sure everything still worked properly, the doctor got me a wheelchair so I wouldn't have to walk before the anesthesia wore off. He handed me the plastic zipper bag that contained the small sliver of bone.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" I asked, angry at him even though he hadn't done anything wrong. I had been counting on Demona jumping out of her bed the moment the bone was extracted from my body, even though I had known that was ridiculous.

It's difficult to crush your own hopes, even when you know they're ridiculous.

Simon was waiting for me in the hallway and before I could protest, he was already pushing my chair in the direction of Demona's room. I could tell from the way he was feeling that he was as dismayed as I was. No matter how many times he'd told me that she wouldn't wake up today, he had been secretly wishing he would.

"I'm sorry," I told him. I was so focused on myself these days that I sometimes forgot that Simon missed her too. That he'd lost his bondmate as well. His best friend. His first love.

The feeling of despair almost crushed me. Simon and Demona were meant for each other. She wasn't meant to be just his first love. If I hadn't been in the mix, she would have been his last. In fact, now that I was no longer tethered to her and the truth was out in the open, they might get back together if she ever woke up. Why would she stay with me when the guy she was destined to be with was right there?

Part me knew that I was being ridiculous, that Demona would yell at me until my ears bled if she could see me now. She was never going to drop me that easily. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that things were different now that we all knew. Now that we were all aware of the fact that the only reason Demona and I had always seemed like magnets was because her dad had made her a part of me. Literally.

"She loves you," Simon told me. He was very much aware of all the thoughts that were running through my head. Stupid bond. "She never cared about meant to be and she won't suddenly fall back in love with me when she wakes up. She sacrificed herself for you, Eros. Don't forget that."

I knew he meant for it to be a comfort, but the words hurt nonetheless. Like I would ever forget that I was the reason she was lying lifeless in a hospital bed right now.

Waiting for us in Demona's room was Ellen. I had expected her to be devastated, fuming even, but instead, she smiled at me when I came in. Rushed over to me. Knelt in front of my wheelchair.

"Oh, Eros," she said. "You must feel so rotten right now."

Her arms went around me and I couldn't help but cry. There were so few moments in my life when I had felt this kind of motherly comfort. She cried with me and I heard the others leave the room. Dylan, Simon, nurse Sara, Anne, Sheila. They had all been in here, but they decided to give us some space. A good thing too, since I hated being this weak. Hated people seeing me cry.