Broken (Broken #1) by A. E. Murphy Page B

Please
Miss,” the officer says in my ear, trying to get me to move. “I’m
so sorry.”
    “ There’s
nothing we can do, he’s gone.”
    “ No,” I fall
to my knees as they surround the bed. “No! Please. Don’t stop
trying. You can’t stop.”
    I can’t hear anything they say
after this. I see the men start to lift him.
    “ No,” I cry
and throw myself towards his body. “No you can’t take
him.”
    The tears that trickled begin
to cascade down my face I can’t stop them and I don’t want
to. 
    It’s not fair why him why?
There are others out there with less to live for why couldn’t they
have died instead.
    “ We’ll let
you have a few minutes sweetheart.” I don’t know who says this and
I don’t care.
    A few minutes? I was meant to
have a lifetime with this man, we were going to grow old
together.
    Everything is
so surreal and the fast erratic thoughts on why this is happening
soon slow and turn to an empty numbness. My whole world feels like
it has just collapsed. Nothing seems to matter apart from the fact
he has gone.
    Nothing.
    I’m left
looking over his body I have heard people describe a dead body as a
shell of the person they once knew, this isn’t even a shell of the
man I’ve lost. Gone is the warmth of his almost chocolate gaze and
the vibrancy this body once held. Even in his sleep he was
captivating, now all that essence has left, he’s left and I’m left
with nothing.

    I look at the most beautiful
man I’ve ever seen as he’s placed on a stretcher and covered with a
sheet. They cover his face. They can’t cover his face he’s not
dead. Why won’t they listen?
    They keep asking me questions.
Who my family and friends are, who his family and friends are? I
can’t answer. I can’t do anything but sob.
    “ Where are
they taking him?”
    I’m surrounded by people,
police officers and people I don’t know as I tear out of my house.
I have no sense of time or place, my eyes are on his lifeless
body.
    “ Stop!” I
scream but they keep going.
    Someone grabs me around the
waist and holds me tight. Tommy’s here, when did he get here?
    “ We should
sedate her,” someone says. “She’s pregnant, be careful.”
    “ Why are they
taking him? They need to help him!”
    “ Hey,” Tommy
says softly in my ear and pulls me towards an ambulance.
    I try to pull free but my
energy levels are non-existent. I’m non-existent. This isn’t
happening to me, it’s happening to somebody else.
    Twenty three year old males
just don’t die in their sleep the night before their wedding.
    “ What
happened, does anybody know?” Tommy asks whoever is
here.
    “ They think
it may have been a heart attack but they won’t know for sure until
they get him to the hospital.”
    Numb overcomes me, numb. I turn
in Tommy’s arms and cling to him, my body shaking like a leaf, my
mouth emitting noises I’ve never made before.
    He’s not gone. He’s not.
They’ll get him to the hospital and they’ll see.

    Everything goes black, I’m not
sure how or why, I just drift.

    I wake up in an unfamiliar bed.
I’m in the hospital. Why am I here?
    “ Hey you,”
Tommy says and I see Sasha beside him.
    I open my mouth but nothing
comes out. Tears spill and the sobs that plagued my body once
already, come back immediately. Sasha rushes to my side and
envelopes me in her arms. “I’m so sorry,” she whispers and I feel
her own tears fall onto my hair.
    No. “No. No. He’s not… they
were supposed to save him.”
    “ I know,” she
sniffs, still rocking me and stroking my hair. “They couldn’t do
anything. I’m sorry.”
    “ Why? What
happened?”
    Tommy and Sasha look at each
other, “They won’t tell us anything. His parents got here as
quickly as they could and they won’t permit you to know
anything.”
    “ I’m his
fiancée!” I shriek. “We’re getting married today.”
    “ The nurse
told us all she knows is that his heart failed and it couldn’t be
prevented.”
    “ I have