Page 84 of Love Always

Bryce is yelling Mateus’s name, though I’m having trouble hearing. He says something to me, but I can’t answer. He pulls out his cell phone and makes a call, all the time searching Mateus’s body, pulling open his jacket, his shirt, tipping him forward. Then shifting the seat back and laying him down.

He’s checking for where all this blood is coming from.

“No,” I try to say, and point to the water bottle but I’m not really pointing at anything.

Mateus’s face is the color of ash, his eyes are open and his breathing is ragged, gurgling, and I start to cry. I don’t know what’s going on. I try to sit up to help, but my pants are pulled down. Bryce leans in, feels around the floor and finds a needle. Like a shot from the doctor’s. I struggle to sit up but he pushes me down, says something I can’t understand. I’m lying facing Mateus, his chest bare, his skin blue and mottled.

He’s dying.

Suddenly Mateus seizes, shaking, hard, head tilted back, and I try to help him, but I can’t. I can only lay and watch. He’s stiff, his arms shaking. Bryce is gone and I try to shout his name, to tell him to come back and then he’s here, ripping open a long slender package. He flips open a knife and cuts open Mateus’s pants just above his knee, then tears it with his hands, and with one hand pressing down on Mateus’s thigh, trying to keep that leg from shaking, plunges in a syringe. His own fingers shake.

In a moment, my brain clears even more. I’m able to sit up, but that wave of nausea rolls again and I turn, fumble the door, fling it open and vomit into the parking lot. Sirens wail in the background. My legs tremble. I turn and sit up, one arm supporting me.

Bryce puts an ear to Mateus’s chest, then grabs him from under the arms and pulls him out of the car and lays him on the ground. I try to coordinate arms, legs to crawl over the seat, watching a horror unfolding. Bryce lifts Mateus’s head, tilting it back, pinches Mateus’s nose and then blows into his mouth. He rubs his sternum hard with a knuckle and then breathes again for him. Sirens are loud. I am so dizzy I have to close my eyes.

Three vehicles suddenly arrive, lights and sirens blaring. I hear words like “OD,” “not users,” “unresponsive,” “accidental ingestion.” Someone takes the water bottle. A young woman shines lights in my eyes, and I try to tell them about the water. Not to drink it.

I look over to where there are four people working on Mateus. Bryce stands back, his face pale. Paddles press down on that beautiful chest, “Clear!” and then he convulses. They do it again. The woman tries to keep me from watching and I’m fighting with her. A mask is over his face and someone is squeezing a bag so he can breathe.

Mateus is dying.

There’s a roar in both ears and everything goes black.

΅

When I wake up, it’s sudden and not in stages like before. Chloe and Claire are in the hospital room with me. Other than having an IV stuck in my arm, and a machine that beeps quietly every several seconds, I feel almost normal. At least that horrible nausea is gone. It’s only when I try to move that the room spins. I sink back down.

“Devon’s with Cory, but she sends her love,” Claire says, and then looks guilty. I think Chloe wanted to offer that piece of information. Claire’s just used to being the stand-in big sister.

They lean down to hug me one at a time.

“Where’s Mateus,” is the first thing I manage to say. My lips are so dry.

“He’s in recovery. He’s still unconscious.”

“But he’ll be fine?”

Bryce walks through the door. “It’ll take more than that to do him in. That kid has nine lives.” He leans down and gives me a quick peck on the cheek.

I’m shocked.

“How’re you feeling?”

“Weird, definitely weird. Like out of body weird.”

“You’re going to feel like that for a few hours. We had the water left in the bottle tested, and it was laced, injected with fentanyl.”

“That’s why it leaked. It must have had a pinhole in it.” I close my eyes. “I didn’t taste anything.”

“You wouldn’t,” he explained. “It has no scent or flavor. Mateus had one dose of Narcan in the car. I had over a dozen, but that didn’t matter. By the time I got there, it was almost too late for him. You two are so lucky.”

“Lucky?” Claire eyes light up. She’s calm but controlled anger is sort of her thing. “Don’t you think this is because of this stupid ruse? She could have died.”

Chloe puts her arm around Bryce. “He saved her, remember?”

“No. Mateus saved her. Mateus saved her instead of saving himself.”

She glances at me and then puts a hand on my shoulder. “He made a decision to give you the Narcan, and not inject himself.”