Page 17 of Bleeding Hearts

“Hey, Lally girl.” He grins, bubbles coming from his mouth as he floats level with me.

“Tommy.” My sobs choke me, even as water fills my lungs.

“I know, Lally. It’s okay,” he murmurs, catching my hand. His palm is rough, just like I remember, and still stained with paint.

“Lally, it’s time to wake up. You can’t keep going on like this,” he murmurs.

“I’ve missed you so much,” I cry, gripping his hand like a lifeline.

“Lally, it’s time to wake up,” he repeats, his expression turning stern. “Wake up.”

“Tommy, please?—”

“Wake up!” His appearance changes, his eyes bloodshot and lips blue, and there’s a hole in his chest. It’s exactly how he looked when he died, and I scream.

I jerk upright, sweat dripping down my body as I glare at my darkened bedroom.

It was just a dream.

Collapsing back, I cover my face with my hands, and the sobs break free.

It wasn’t real.

He’s gone, and I’m all alone again.

While the world outside carries on, I lie here, trapped in the past.

How can life just go on after him?

It can’t.

That’s what it comes down to.

There is no me without him. There is no future without him in it. We were going to grow old together in a hippie commune, saving animals, painting, and playing. We weren’t in love, but we were each other’s forever, and we knew it.

I lost my soulmate, and with it, I lost my soul.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Ican’t believe I have to act like nothing happened, sitting through classes like I didn’t see someone die last night. Nobody helped. I didn’t help either. I’m no better than them. People ran as soon as they realized what was going on, but some stayed to help me get the body to the beach, and then someone called the cops. Before they got there, though, I was dragged away.

We all know the rules, and I hate it, but I can’t break them.

I need to be in the game for Lally, so I lost my morals, and now I can’t even think of everything moving on around me as I remember the way the person’s eyes were frozen endlessly in terror.

They died afraid, surrounded by people, but nobody helped.

Sometimes I wonder if this world is worth saving. Do we deserve it? Lally does, she deserves to be saved, so I fight for her. My only consolation is that she didn’t see it.

Sitting on the bench outside after class, I startle as lights on a police car flash. I turn my head to see two officers walking down the path from the library, each holding the arm of a student as they guide him toward the cruiser that just pulled up.

Standing with everyone else, I stare as they draw closer, and when they pass, my eyes widen further as I realize I saw this man last night. He was the one who turned back after almost drowning.

“Did you hear?” someone whispers to their friends nearby.

“Apparently his internet history was splashed everywhere this morning. He was reported to the school and the police.”

“What do you mean?”