Saving Eli

Chapter 41||

'I'm sorry' - Sincerely Ali

I was aware that the moment my phone rang at two in the morning that something had gone wrong. My mind ran through ten million different possibilities as I fumbled for the buzzing device on my nightstand.

Elijah, was the first thing I thought.

I knew he'd gone on a job for his father last night and I'd fallen to sleep as I waited patiently for his call that never came.

I briefly wondered if this was the forthcoming call I'd been dreading from the minute Elijah had made that God forsaken deal with his father.

Was this the moment where someone called to tell me he'd been shot dead? That the boy I loved was no more?

My heart sank even further when I saw Elijah's mother's name flashing across the screen, indicating the incoming call was from her. I wasted no time in sitting up as my thumb swiped across the screen to accept the call.

"Anne?" I breathed out stressfully as I answered.

"Tessa, darling, you need to come down to the hospital, it's Elijah, he-"

My heart clenched.

"Oh my God," I groaned in disbelief as I scrambled to my feet, stumbling about in my dark bedroom for clothing. "What's wrong, is he okay?"

Anne briefly sniffled through the phone  and croaked out two words that filled me with more dread than I'd initially anticipated. "It's Emily."

"I'll be there in twenty minutes," I said, not bothering to pry for further details over the phone.

After bidding Anne a hasty goodbye, I clutched my car keys tightly as I hastily made my way down to my car, aware that my parents would most definitely give me shit for leaving the house withiut alerting them first.

I couldn't care less at the moment as my mind was on overdrive, clouded with worry.

The early morning air was chilly and the streets were unsurprisingly void of any cars bar a few lone vehicles that I breezed past. Although I'd promised to arrive in twenty minutes, I'd made it in twelve which could be attributed to my speeding and the lack of traffic.

I'd hazardously parked my car in the practically empty lot before sprinting into the hospital, pausing only brifely at the front desk for the grump woman to give me directions just in case Emily had been moved.

My rubber slippers slapped against the bleach wiped white tiles of the hospital as I made my way down the practically empty hallways, only coming to a pause when I heard all too familiar angry shouts. I came to a screeching halt as I watched the scene unfold.

Anne and Tommy were huddled closely together on a plastic chair while the source of the angry shouts was none other than Elijah himself who looked like he was about to attack the doctor who held a solemn expression on his face.

"You have to fucking do something!" Elijah shouted as he angrily pointed a finger at the doctor. "You can't just leave her there to die. Telling me you can make her fucking comfortable is bullshit!"

My heart clenched painfully at his outburst as I watched the scene unfold. I was all too familiar with Elijah's tendancy to hide his pain with anger.

"Is it money that you need?" Elijah asked as he fished out his bank card and offered it to the doctor. "I have money. Here, take it."

"Mr. Hastings, I know how hard this is for your family but there really anything else that can be done. We're sorry."

"Sorry doesn't fix anything!" Elijah shouted. I watched as Anne stood fraily from her chair and stepped over to Elijah. She placed a gentle hand on his arm and whispered a few words to him that I was unable to hear from where I stood.