A Lockdown to Remember

Chapter Sixteen

The next day I got to Luke's house at seven-thirty in the morning. Luke was still sleeping, but Mr. Beckwick was sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper.

"Hello, Krystal," he said, looking above the rim of his glasses. "Happy birthday."

"Thank you, Mr. Beckwick," I said with a small wave. I couldn't believe he remembered. "What do you think Luke will be craving today?"

"I'm assuming waffles and bacon, with a side of orange juice. Is that not his favorite?"

"It is," I said. "I should have remembered. I think he told me about it once by the garden, the same day he told me about the play you made him be in. I still can't believe that he was a doorknob. I mean, who even casts people as doorknobs? The least they could do is have them be the door."

Mr. Beckwick smiled sadly, for what seemed like the millionth time since this corona thing had started. "You really love him, don't you?"

I nodded.

"Good," he said.

It was an odd conversation, but it made me happy. Mr. Beckwick approved of me. It was like having a teacher tell you how amazing your artwork is in front of the whole class. I wasn't prideful, but I was proud if that makes sense.

Luke walked into the room. "I thought I told you not to talk about the-" another cough, "the doorknob. I don't want to have to relive it again."

"Are you sure?" I teased. "I'm sure we could find a way to put the show back on again."

"No, thank you," said Luke. "Happy birthday, Kris." He kissed me on the cheek, picked me up from behind, and spun me around. Despite his current state, he was surprisingly strong.

"Do you need any help?" Asked Luke.

"You could get the orange juice out of the fridge if you want."

He smiled and opened the fridge to find the juice.

Then he went unconscious.

His body fell slowly, at least to me. It crumpled to the ground, and it was like the world stopped. 

I froze.

"Luke," shouted Mr. Beckwick, shaking him. "Wake up!"

Luke was still, barely breathing. After what was too long, I finally came to my senses and called 911.

When the ambulance arrived, they loaded him into the back as fast as they could.

"He's having trouble breathing," said one of the first responders, Maria Gray.

I asked the question I was most afraid of. "Is he going to die?"

"Not if we can help it," said another first responder, Elisabeth Miler.

I tried to smile in thanks, but it was more of a frown. Tears poured down my face, and my body was shaking uncontrollably. Mr. Beckwick got into the ambulance with them, but they wouldn't let me in. When they drove away, I went back inside the house.

It was weird being alone. Usually Luke or Mr. Beckwick was always here. And they weren't.

I laid down on the couch and cried. I cried until I could cry no more, and then some.

My Luke was in danger. The one person whom I had grown to love was going to die. The one person who saw the good in me. He was going to die.

I smelled something burning and found the kitchen full of smoke. The waffles. I opened the windows and tried to air out the room. The smoke burned my eyes, making me cry even more.

After the room seemed to be virtually smoke-free, I roamed around the house. I went into the rooms that I hadn't gone into before.

The first one was Mr. Beckwick's room. His bed was neatly made, and everything was clean and tidy. A lamp stood on the nightstand, along with a box of tissues and a glass of water. The only pictures on the walls were of flowers, which I realized were from the garden.

There were no pictures of Luke or Mrs. Beckwick, only one of the Holy Family in the corner of the room.

The air in the room felt lonely. Like the person living here was sad. It just had that look about it.

The next room I went into was Luke's room. It was basically how I imagined it. Unlike his father, Luke had many pictures of his family and his mom hung around the room. A desk stood in the corner of the room, an empty spot where his laptop would be. I looked in one of the drawers and, sure enough, there was his secret laptop. I smiled as I took it out and browsed through it.

A few random tabs were open, from school and things like that. Then there was one that surprised me.

Helenka's Jewelers - Engagement Rings

Why had he been looking at engagement rings? It wasn't like he was...

Oh.

OH.

I closed the laptop, feeling like I was very much invading his privacy. I sat on his bed, breathing in the scent of his room. It smelled like he did, to no surprise. Before leaving, I grabbed a hoodie from his closet and put it on.

I got into my car after shutting off all of the lights and locking the door. When I got home, my parents looked at me with sad eyes. They had heard about what happened to Luke.

I walked into my room and laid on my bed for a while. I thought about what Luke and I could have done in the future.

We could have gotten married

We could have bought a house

We could have had children

We could have had grandchildren

Just the thought of never having these things, of never having a future with him, made me start to cry again. I wasn't hungry that night, nor was I tired. 

I was sad.