Often [COMPLETED]

Day Three - Jesse

Crash

Breaths heavy, chest heaving up and down. Body shaking, eyes watering, hands gripping the floor. And a horrible, splitting pain.

Jesse tried. Using what little strength she had, attempting to pry herself off the cold tile. She couldn't. Her chest hurt, her head throbbed. A dispatched groan escaped her lips.

Lukas had fidgeted in his bed from the noise. She forced herself to quiet down. He didn't need to see-he didn't need to know her like this. Slowly dying.

And then, the door opened. A handful of nurses and doctors came to her aid.

Two reached for her arms and back, helping her off the ground.

Her vision blurred. One went over to Lukas' bed.

"Let's move him to another room-"

Someone turned on another set of lights, brightening the room. Jesse squinted. They were moving him. It'd probably be the last time she'd ever see him.

"I need-no, help me over here-"

"Jesse?" His voice rang suddenly in the business of the room. Everyone stopped, except for the two women who had finally hoisted Jesse back on the bed.

Something in her heart ached. Was he talking in his sleep? Was he awake? She couldn't tell. She swallowed her tears, keeping her voice straight.

Just let him go.

"Jesse?" He called again, confused, yearning.

"Lukas, don't-don't worry." She told him, holding her breath. "Don't worry p-please. I'm...I'm fine."

Jesse watched as he was carried out of the room, the last of his golden tufts of hair disappearing through the doorway.

*

"How much time?"

"Jesse, please-"

"Dammit just tell me how much time I have!" She screamed, voice raw and course. Her body was stringed by IVs and tubes. Upon seeing the nurse's stricken face, she let out a stream of air and relaxed herself. "How much time."

She felt like a puppet. Restricted. Held back. For once in her life she hated it. 

The nurse hesitated.

"Three hours."

Silence hung in the air as a thick fog. Jesse's eyes trailed down to her lap, hands clenching. It had all gone by so fast. She longed for more time.

"Do you...do you want to say goodbye?"

The thought struck her so suddenly she broke out of her hazed demeanor.

"Say...goodbye?"

"To Lukas."

As much as she wanted to, she knew she couldn't. It would only hurt more if she did. For both of them.

Something in her stomach churned. Her mind was muffled with endless thoughts, her breaths silent. Her heart ached.

Jesse wept. She wept through her smile.

Her tears grew dry on the crinkled letter.