Breathless.

That's what I felt at that moment. I wasn't able to make any movement as I took in the scenery in front. The dropping of the pistol with a crackling sound on the ground pulled me out of my trance.

Looking down, a pool of blood was already formed around my feet. I unwittingly gasped as I saw Alva laying on the floor with bullet wounds on her abdomen and sputtering blood from her mouth.

"Lauren, everyone is waiting- What the fuck?!" Orson screeched as he stood behind but I couldn't have focused my vision anywhere but Alva's bloody body. Orson quickly sat beside her and began to tremulously dial his phone.

"I didn't mean to do it." Lauren panicked and I jerked in her direction. Trepidation was apparent on her face as I strode to her fiercely.

Red was all that I was seeing at the moment. The screaming of Orson went all to vain as I clutched Lauren's throat as tightly as my hands allowed, pushing her against the wall. She wiggled and struggled, trying to free herself from my grip but I just had put more strength into it.

"You fucking psychotic bitch! I will kill you today." My voice roared across the room and her wiggling started to get slower as her eyes rolled back.

"Lilith! She is pregnant for fucking sake. You will kill her, please let her go. The ambulance and police will be here soon." Orson reasoned as he tried to pull me back but I didn't budge a bit. I couldn't let her go just like that, she dared to murder my best friend.

"I don't care if she is pregnant. A fucked up bitch never deserves to be a mother. It's better if the baby dies now only rather than becoming a living corpse because of a shitty mother." I seethed in contempt and Lauren looked like she would have passed out any moment as her face appeared to be a deep shade of red.

"Now is not the time for this. Alva needs us, her state is deteriorating." Orson implored and I finally let go of her, making her drop to the floor, and she coughed vigorously.

Turning around, I found Alva unconscious. My heart pinched tightly in pain seeing her in such a plight. I sat beside her, pulling her head to my lap with my hands shaking tremendously.

"I won't let anything happen to you. Just bear with this pain for a few minutes more okay?" I tried to console her, my voice cracking with each sentence while she struggled in my arms, breathing rigidly. I held back my tears as I discerned her state. She was barely conscious and her bleeding wasn't stopping. Please God, save her. I beg you, I prayed in my mind desperately with closed eyes as I clutched her tightly, not caring about bloodstain.

Opening my eyes, I found Orson hastily wrapping his coat around Alva's wound with a knot to stop the bleeding. Before I could have said anything, I heard the siren of both the ambulance and police, followed by the confused voices of people.

"What is going on here- Oh my God Alva?" Jerome yelped, entering the room, along with Lauren's family, and was about to step forward in incredulity when the paramedics shoved him aside, marching to Alva with a stretcher.

"We need you to let her go, Ms." They exclaimed to me, and I glanced at her as they snatch her away, pulling her to the stretcher, leaving her perished face inscribed in my mind forever. How was I going to live with the haunting memory of seeing this once exuberant girl being so desolate now?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ms. Lauren confessed to her crime. According to her, Ms Alva and she were having a contention. Out of the heat of the moment, Ms. Lauren took out her pistol and shot her. At the exact time, Ms. Valentine entered the room, right?" The officer interrogated but I paid him no mind as I monotonously kept staring at the way of ICU. It had been two hours since Alva was there.

The doctors claimed that her condition was critical as she internally bled a lot and saving her might be a prodigy currently.

Would I have been okay if she had died? Did my callous self allow me to grief over her death? Wasn't death an inevitable part of the world? Then why did my heart sting so much at the thought of her leaving for the inescapable reason? Why did not being able to see her jovial smile again frighten me so much?

So many questions were meandering in my mind as I struggled to keep myself rational. A hand hovered over mine and I glanced to find Orson offering me a look of condolence.

"Alva is tenacious, she will be made out of it alive. Don't worry, okay?" Orson solaced me softly. His eyes carried so much wariness and reverence, it almost made me just give in, scream and cry to him about how I was shit scared of losing her. But I knew I had to stay indifferent. I showed him enough of my shattered parts, I couldn't have afforded to do more.

"I don't care. Death is inevitable. Everyone has to die. It shouldn't affect others so much." I scoffed and Orson remained unfazed as if he knew what was the reality of my mind. But he didn't argue further and just held my hand tighter. I didn't bother to move it away either, a part of me still craved for comfort, a solace that only he could provide me.

"I have tried to contact Alva's parents but none of them picked up the call." Clavicus sighed, sitting on my left. I snorted hearing him, my lips twisted in a sneer as embittered rage filled my chest.

"When did they ever even had time for their daughter? I would have been surprised if they had received the call instead." I remarked. Alva's parents were the typical elite parents who thought their offspring and their majestic assets had no difference. Both of them were just to show off.

From her childhood, her parents were mostly absent in her life. That was why she might come off as a spoilt brat but deep down, she just yearned for the love of her parents, just like me.

It was amusing how fucked up parents could leave severe trauma in their children's lives. Some people cried day and night just to have a baby of their own and on the other side, some treated their child no less than a mere toy.

I discerned the doctor sauntering towards us. Getting up, we desperately waited for her to speak up as she stood in front of us. Removing her mask, the doctor had an expression of remorse.

"I am sorry to say but we couldn't save her." She bewailed and squeezed my shoulder in empathy while I felt numb. Stumbling back, I dropped to the bench. The cries around me went shut off in my ears. This couldn't have been the truth. I might have been having a nightmare yet again.

Alva left me, a part of my childhood was going to be buried with her. I wanted to cry, scream at the doctor for not trying enough, blame Jerome for felling love with that bitch and strangle Lauren for taking away my best friend, worst of all, I wanted to kill myself for letting my last words to Alva be filled with so much abhor.

AUTHOR 'S NOTE:
1264 WORDSSSSSSS!!!!  Damn, that was one heck of a small chapter but then again I haven't felt like writing much for the last few days. Also I had my birthday this week, so I was busy with that🌝 though I had a shitty birthday 🥲 and I am sorry if this chapter was boring. I really didn't know what else to write 😅

ALSO YOUR AUTHOR IS OFFICIALLY SIXTEEN!!!!!!! Ahhhh I can't believe how fast the time flies by. I remember when I was just 14, I started writing this book along with my first ever book "Delusional Love". Lilith was the first ever character I wrote and I am so proud of her. Now here am I, at age of 16 and being a better writer than before. If someone had told me before that my book will ever reach 8k, I would have laughed my ass off at them.

But now I am proud of my book and even the person I have become. I know both my book and me aren't perfect but still I love them dearly with all their flaws!

Anyways love y'all ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤎