" Shay," Philip's voice drags me out of my commiserations and Shay appears on Mason's chest. In a flash of light, we both get transported into the infirmary. And I find that I have trouble seeing clearly. I blink away the haze in my vision and try to focus on the task at hand.
" Hitching a ride with Shay has its perks but also has some side effects. It's not as fun as I make out to be," I nod and push myself off the floor while Phillip appears through the infirmary door. Heath and Emmeline are on his heels.
I briefly wonder who is Mason to them, but it's not the best time to ask those questions.
" I need to clean the blood, so I can have a better look at his condition. For now, he seems stable," Phillip says as he walks around to the other side with Emmeline and lowers themselves on their heels.
" Whenever you're ready. Lift on three," Philips says and I realise that Mason is still on the floor. I have a hard time processing everything, and my brain seems to lag.
Graham and I, lower ourselves to our heels while Philip begins to count.
We all groan in unison, as we lift Mason off the floor. He's dead weight. And we all stumble the few paces we have to take to make it to the bed.
In one single swing, Mason is placed on the bed rather harshly, because the bed creaks, clangs, and shifts a bit on the floor.
" Even skin and bones he weighs more than I and Shay combined," Graham whines, and grabs a sheet to clean his bloodied hands. I look down at myself. I'm covered head to toe in it and so is Philip and Emmeline.
Graham appears with a few bowls of water, and cloths, handing me one, and giving the rest to Emmeline and Philip.
" I'll wash him," I say under my breath and take my eyes off Mason for a few moments to look at the others. For a few moments, they all look at me, confused.
" Oh," Graham is the first to react, " Oh, Oh," His voice pitches higher the moment it dawns on him.
" What ?" Emmeline asks, with furrowed brows, and I busy myself with cloth, dipping it in water and wringing it out.
" You'll get it. Soon enough," Graham amusedly says and places the cloth on the edge of the bowl, " Come let's get cleaned up," He says as he begins to walk away from the bed and I focus on wiping the thick layer of blood on Mason's forehead.
Philips stays and examines every inch of skin that I uncover. He doesn't intrude, and I can't take my eyes off his sallow skin and hallowed eyes. His face is covered in tiny hairline cuts, and I can't stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks.
" Stay with me," I whisper, and try to contain my tears but no matter how much I try there is no stopping it.
After a while, Philip picks up a cloth and begins to wash the side of Mason's neck, edging around the wound he'd patched up, and I focus on the other side of him with trembling hands. I feel powerless, helpless. I want to do something to stop the life from draining out of him.
Philips hooks a few more bags onto Mason's arms and I want to crawl out of my skin. Give something I never wanted to give to anyone. Time. Days out of my life. I never knew it was possible to love someone to that extent.
I press a gentle kiss to his lips, and I say the words that I was afraid, for so long to speak out loud, to him, to myself, " I sought for you in everything around me. You plagued my every thought and every minute since the moment fate decided to bring us together. I hated you and loved you, with everything that I am. If you can hear me. I'm begging you. Stay with me, "
" Lily," He breathes my name onto my lips, labored. Pressing my forehead onto his, I sob because that is all I want to do. I want to lose myself in his arms and stay there for an eternity. My heart is fighting to escape my ribcage and join his dying one.
I can barely feel his breath on my lips, and I know he is close to giving his last one. And I can't stop the deluge of tears.
" No, " I refuse to lose him. I refuse to live without him. I refuse to exist in a world where we are not together. When you know, you know. Love is hope. And I loved Mason more than anything.
His head rolls to the side and breathes one last time, and I can feel the desperation rising in me like a tidal wave.
" No," I breathe and wrap myself around his still body. I close my eyes and think of all those moments when we were in each other's arms. The times we spent together cooking dinner, his last words of mine before the universe ripped us into pieces. The feel of his soft lips on my cheek. And the immense warmth that glowed inside me in his mere presence.
And I knew that he was my beginning and my end. A reason to live and a reason to die.
When I opened my eyes, everything was being swallowed by the darkness around us. The room slowly began to disintegrate, tearing itself apart piece by piece. The bed we both lay on stayed intact as I watched the world rearrange itself before my eyes.
It was a symphony of colours, and lights dancing in unison around. Soon the bed began to disintegrate, on a white cloud slowly drifting beyond, pooling in the colourful primordial soup that furiously swirled around us. While Mason and I remained in the same positions, suspended in the void.
The blood that he was covered in, began unclotting on his skin and floated around us in a macabre display of powers unknown to me.
" Lily," His voice made me push myself off him, while the world around us began putting itself back together.