Everything flashed through Eirin's eyes. She froze as Ava let go of her hand and fell to the ground.
"Ava? Hey, Ava!"
Bright's voice echoed in Eirin's ears as she heard something ringing. Her heart was beating so fast, and she could feel the pulse on her wrist thumping loudly. Her eyes followed Bright as he sat on the ground, checking on the unconscious Ava.
"Eirin, we need to call an ambulance. Ava's not breathing."
Eirin blinked lots of times while staring at Bright, doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Doing that garnered the attention of the people passing by.
"Ava's in danger. You need to call the ambulance!"
As if woken from a trance, Eirin pulled her phone from her pocket. Her trembling hands dialed the number and she almost dropped her phone. She started biting her fingernails while waiting for the phone call to reach them.
Tears were falling out of her eyes as her voice trembled while talking to the emergency contact, telling them about the situation that even she could not understand. Eirin could not move from where she was standing as she only watched Bright and some good people trying to assess the situation. Her fingernails started bleeding as she kept biting on them, causing Bright to look at her.
"Eirin."
Despite Bright's attempt to catch Eirin's attention, the teenage girl had her mind floating away. Her fears showed on her face and it was obvious that she could not accept the situation.
'This isn't happening.'
Eirin continued to push the idea of Ava losing consciousness in front of her. When the ambulance arrived, Bright went inside the car while looking back at Eirin. Her pale face and empty expression made the young man worry.
"Ei," Bright called her by her nickname to catch her attention. "It will be fine. Calm down and follow us to the hospital. Call Ava's mother too, please?" His soft tone made Eirin gulp as he tried to smile at her, assuring her that everything will be fine. The ambulance took off, leaving Eirin alone on the side of the street. The people that helped them stared at Eirin with pity in their eyes as Eirin lost her strength in her knees.
"Young lad? Are you alright?"
Her face was a mess, and her head was blank. Eirin could not hear anything else but the sound of her heavy breathing and the loud beating of her heart. The surrounding people kept checking her condition, afraid that she might also pass out in the middle of the street.
'Get it together,' Eirin told herself as she picked up the phone that she dropped with her still trembling hands. Cracks formed on the phone's screen, but she could still open it. Tears kept falling out of her eyes as she dialed the number of Ava's mother. She could feel cold sweat breaking out of her temples, and her head feeling all fuzzy.
"Eirin? Is Ava on her way home now?"
Eirin heard the voice of Ava's mother, but she could not speak well as her mouth trembled.
"Eirin? Is there something wrong? Why aren't you speaking?"
The sound of a truck honking caused Eirin's eyes to land on the opposite side of the road. She squinted and saw three people standing in a row and staring at her. 'T-Those people,' Eirin thought as she realized that they were Shade, Link, and Cali. Their eyes were glued on her, making Eirin stand up and back away. 'This can't be.'
"A-Ava… they brought her to the hospital." Her mouth was dry and she could taste the blood coming from her fingernails that she kept biting. "She lost consciousness." She could not withstand saying those words without sobbing. Ava's mother hung up the phone after hearing all the details she needed to know.
"I need to go too," she whispered to herself, but her feet would not move. "Please," Eirin begged herself as she closed her eyes, letting her tears fall even further. Her legs were wobbly as if going to break if she took a step forward.
The loud sound coming from the cars that passed snatched Eirin's attention, and after the cars passed by, Shade and the others disappeared completely. 'I-I need to go,' Eirin thought in fear of what was going to happen next.
"Are you okay, miss?" One of the passersby that helped Bright before asked Eirin as he tried to help her due to how unstable she looked.
"T-Taxi."
The man in his mid-30s helped Eirin to call a taxi. She could not thank the man for his good deeds due to how distracted she was. Fear and anxiety made her unable to stop biting her fingernails as she waited to arrive at the hospital.
'It was my fault. I should have told her to go to the hospital instead of celebrating my birthday,' Eirin thought with her eyes closed and palms clasped. 'Please, don't take her away from me.'
As soon as the taxi arrived in front of the hospital, Eirin rushed out after paying and ran with all her might. Her heart felt like it was about to burst out and she could not even breathe properly. The people's voices surrounding her caused her to feel dizzy as she looked around while dragging her feet on the ground. She stopped the moment her eyes landed on a familiar person standing in front of the emergency room, it was Bright.
"Eirin."
Bright called the teenage girl's name and sadness brimmed in his eyes. The teenage girl approached him while catching her breath, her eyes were out of focus and her footsteps were heavy.
"Where's Ava? Is she fine?"
Bright did not answer as he pulled Eirin into a hug. He couldn't say anything as he stayed like that with Eirin.
"What's with you? You're making me nervous."
Eirin's voice cracked as she tried to push Bright away, but the young man did not let her out of his arms.
"There's no way Ava would leave me, right?"
Eirin tried to sound optimistic, but Bright could only hear the pain in her voice.
"Ava! My sweetheart, where are you?"
Eirin froze and her heart dropped after hearing Ava's mother's voice behind her. Bright moved away, letting Eirin see her best friend's mother frantically searching for her daughter.
"Eirin, dear, where is Ava?"
Eirin's former teacher who always looked sophisticated and elegant appeared to be in a mess with her brown wavy hair loose, wearing a ragged shirt and mismatched slippers.
"I need to know where my daughter is."
The teenage girl could not mutter any words seeing how Ava's mother had become. Teary eyes and a stuffy nose, Eirin moved closer to Bright in fear of facing Ava's mother. Any further than that would make her unable to suppress her tears from falling. It was unbearable.
"She's–"
The doctor in the emergency room came out exactly before Bright could finish what he was trying to say.
"Doctor! Is Ava inside? Ava Winston, she's my daughter. Did she get hurt? What happened to her? Please, tell me."
Ava's mother approached the male doctor that came out who had his forehead creased as he removed the mask he was wearing and faced Ava's mother. "I apologize, but it was something even I could not explain easily."
Eirin gulped and started to breathe heavily. Bright noticed this and he held Eirin's hand.
"I'm afraid but I must ask something. Does the patient have an underlying illness? Or any medical conditions? Any records?"
Ava's mother could not answer immediately. "She… my daughter became sickly when she reached middle school. Hospitals already did a thorough check, but they could not find anything wrong with her. She only needed to rest and take a break to bring back her energy. That's how it has always been."
The doctor removed his glasses and sighed, "I apologize but the patient could not last long despite how much we tried to keep her breathing." Ava's mother lost the strength in her legs as she bawled her eyes out after hearing those words. Eirin who was standing beside her almost fell to the floor if it wasn't for Bright who quickly caught her. "The cause of death is unknown. It was not a cardiac arrest or anything at all. The patient simply stopped breathing. She looked like she's been losing energy for a long time now and there were no nutrients in her body. Has she been skipping meals?"
"T-That's not possible," Eirin said. "She was just eating before this happened. This isn't real."
The doctor started questioning Eirin before what happened, but the teenage girl could not collect her thoughts, so Bright decided to answer in her stead. "It was sudden and unpredictable. Ava was still laughing while talking about how happy she was… and then she suddenly fell unconscious."
Ava's mother could not contain her tears after hearing that. "I want to see my daughter," she said as she stood from the floor. "I need to see her."
That's when the door from the emergency room opened and the staff inside brought out a hospital stretcher with a body on it covered with a white cloth. Ava's body was transferred to the mortuary, and the three of them followed. Bright held Eirin's hand, supporting her so that she would not fall. As they walked through the hospital halls, Eirin's hand grew colder as she heard the cries of people around them. The white walls surrounding them caused Eirin's vision to spin. When they reached the door to the hospital's mortuary, Eirin stopped and couldn't enter.
"Ei?"
Bright glanced at the girl and she was only staring at Ava's mother as she entered the room. Minutes later, they could hear her wailing inside. The sound of her cry terrified Eirin. It was the first time she heard her dignified teacher let out her cries like that.
"Eirin, let's go inside."
Bright tried to persuade Eirin, but her head was empty and she could not move at all. Seeing her best friend lying on the stainless steel for deceased people will be the end of her sanity.
"This isn't real."
Eirin looked Bright in the eyes. Tears were looming to fall again, but a smile formed on Eirin's face. "That's not Ava. M-Maybe she went back to our house to get some more food." The teenage girl let out a chuckle as she turned her back on the door and tried to walk away, but Bright got ahold of her arm.
"Ei… we need to say goodbye to Ava."
Eirin slapped Bright's hand away and screamed, "Goodbye!? Why would I say goodbye to her? Are you crazy? You're making it sound like I'll never be able to see Ava again. Stop joking around and let's get out of this suffocating place. Ava's waiting. There's no way she'll leave me like that. No way."