Page 30 of Blood Loss (The Obscura Saga #2)

K YLO

7:34pm

Hey Euni, Lathan was taken to the hospital. I don’t want to be alone tonight, can you guys come over?

Not even fifteen minutes later, Eunice and Ellie are at his door with ice cream, overnight bags, and boxes of tissues—the soft kind, infused with lotion. The second they see his face, he’s surrounded by their warmth as he melts to the floor, sobbing out everything he was trying so hard to keep in for the past two hours.

While the night trumps as the single hardest in over a month, it also feels incredibly healing. Lathan is safe, getting the help he needs, and they both have a network of support surrounding them.

They’re not alone.

◆◆◆

“Hello?” Kylo groans into his phone.

Eunice rolls over with his voice, but Ellie stays motionless, still sleeping with her head resting on his legs. They made a nest on the living room floor, curled up together as a bubble of reinforcement to brace the long night.

“Hello, is this Kylo Garcia?”

A groggy, uncomfortable noise slips from his throat. The last time he heard these words, it was about the frequency attack. This time, he knows it isn’t that.

He sits up carefully, rolling out his shoulders. “Yeah, speaking.”

“Hi, Kylo, this is Dr. Brar calling from Ridley General Hospital. You were listed as the emergency contact for Lathan Park. Do you have a moment to talk?”

“ Yes ,” his voice jumps out, and then he says, “yes,” again, calmer. “Is he alright?”

Ellie’s eyes slowly blink open, but she stays put, keeping him warm.

“He’s stable.” The words dance around the question, but are answer enough. “When Lathan was admitted, he was in a catatonic state, something we call TIDE—a trauma-induced dissociative episode. Because of this, his brain did what it could to protect him and put him into a vampiric hibernation.”

Kylo blinks. “Hibernation?”

Eunice pulls her blanket up to her nose and pretends, poorly, that she isn’t watching him.

“Yes,” Dr. Brar says. “It’s rare, one of the ancient systems they mostly evolved away from, but does still happen in extreme circumstances. He likely hasn’t been sleeping much either to lead to this. It’s essentially a long-term rest to guarantee the body ample healing, both physically and mentally. Unfortunately, during this time he cannot have any visitors, to ensure the hibernation period isn’t interrupted before his body is ready. It can make matters worse.”

“I…can’t see him? For how long?”

“It likely won’t be more than a few days, but it varies with each individual. If anything changes, you will be notified. I know this sounds concerning, but he’s getting nutrients he needs intravenously, and we’re constantly monitoring him. He is in good hands.”

Kylo can’t tell when the phone call ends and when the embrace begins. His body curling over into the two women’s arms, phone clattering to the hardwood beside their blankets, tears sobbed into the still air.

It’s hard not to blame himself, but he knows better. He knows that blame and guilt and shame are the silent parasites that ate away at their psyches to begin with. Whittling them both down into skeletal versions of themselves, until they couldn’t hold onto each other any longer.

He’s safe.

Inhale for one, two, three, four.

He’s being looked after.

Exhale for one, two, three, four.

And I’m not alone.

◆◆◆

The past two days have been touch-and-go. Kylo called his parents after talking with the hospital and they flew in to show their support and be the strength he needs in this time of uncertainty.

During the day, he attends each class like normal, an unfortunate necessity for both a sense of normalcy—a routine needed for his own recovery—and to stay on track to graduate. In the evenings, he takes the shuttle to Ridley, where his folks are cozied up in a motel—paid for by their travel points. It’s been nice having them so close, spending a few hours after classes to decompress, eat takeout, and play board games like they did during ARC’s visitations. It’s helped pull his mind away from spiralling into unknowns and what-ifs.

At night, he returns to his apartment, where Eunice and Ellie have made themselves at home—holed up in the living room, which they’ve decorated with blankets, candles, string lights, and homey trinkets.

By the fourth day, it’s beginning to feel like the new normal.

That is, until he receives a call from the hospital in the middle of class.

The instant the nurse utters words about visitors, Kylo bails from school. Texting his support group to relay the small update he received, and where he’s going, he hops on the first shuttle available.

What if he isn’t ready to see me ?

It takes him an hour to arrive at the General, from getting a pass from Student Services to waiting for the bus, but he barely notices through a daze of nerves.

What if this is too hard and he never wants to see me again?

He barely even breathes, following the directions earned from the nurse at the psychiatric wing’s front desk to Lathan’s room on the third floor. A metal door— room 307 —with a small window he doesn’t dare peek through.

Or…

He spins the promise ring gently around his finger.

What if we get through this together?

Knock. Knock. Knock.