Page 68 of Breaking Point (IceHawks #1)

Bella

CHARLOTTE CARSON

she woke up for a small period, asking for you

she’s unconscious again

they’ve set up pain medication through an IV

M y feet are moving, my arms are swinging lightly by my sides, my heart is beating…but my mind? My mind has gone far away.

I’ve been trying to prepare myself, trying to come up with goodbye speeches and answers to questions I know I’ll want when I’m older.

There is still so much I want to hear from my mom, so many events I want her there for, so many conversations I want to have, and yet here I am, running through the hospital trying to get to her before she dies.

Charlotte has been sending updates through text messages but every time I tried to look at my phone my vision blurred and nothing made sense anymore.

How can it be?

How did she slip so quickly?

Just yesterday morning we were hugging, her smile bright as she urged me to live my life.

Grayson’s hand lands on my lower back after asking a nurse for directions and he’s urging me, his steps quick as we rush down the sterile white hallways.

Hospitals feel so daunting during the day, but at night they’re worse.

Their fluorescent lights make you feel like you’re in a cage under surveillance.

Our steps are incessant, my mind spinning endlessly until we round a corner.

Charlotte steps out of a room, her skin ashen, her body swaying so much that she has to hold onto the wall for support. And her face…

The look on her face tells me everything I need to know.

“ No. ”

The word is ripped from my chest. Grayson wraps an arm around me to try and stop me but I’m flooded with adrenaline.

With strength I didn’t know I possessed, I’m pushing him away from me, dodging the nurse that tries to grab a hold of me too.

I even side-swipe Charlotte, my heart galloping painfully at her tear-stained cheeks.

“No!” I scream more forcefully.

Pushing my way through, my hand lands on the door handle and with one swift push, it’s opening, revealing my mom, lying motionless, her chest still as a nurse calls time of death and places a white blanket over her body.

Time of death: 8:53 a.m.

Deceased three minutes ago.

Three minutes.

180 seconds.

If I had run faster…

Someone begins to scream, and it takes an ungodly amount of time for me to realize the scream is coming from me.

This is what heartbreak is.

Not my father abandoning me.

Not the fear of Grayson leaving me.

Not losing my job.

Not Layla moving across the country.

This.

A permanent abandonment .

This is my greatest fear and heartbreak come to life.

I didn’t get to say goodbye…by three minutes.

My world goes black.