20. SEVENTY-EIGHT STEPS

A/N: OKAYY SO, HEYYYYY??!! HEHEHE. I AM SO TERRIBLY SORRY FOR UPDATING AFTER A MONTH (OR MAYBE MORE IDK) BUT I PROMISE I HAVE A GENUINE REASON FOR IT. UNFORTUNATELY, I HAVE BEEN DEALING WITH SOME MAJOR HEALTH ISSUES. AS Y'ALL ARE WELL AWARE OF THE ONGOING GLOBAL CRISIS AND SO I HAVE BEEN TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 HENCE WHY I TOOK AGES TO UPDATE. I WAS DIAGNOSED ABOUT TWENTY DAYS AGO BUT I AM OUT OF SELF QUARANTINE NOW FINALLY AND I AM RECOVERING PRETTY WELL. MY ENERGY WAS SO LOW AND I FELT SO LETHARGIC ALL THE TIME THAT I DIDN'T EVEN FEEL LIKE LOOKING AT MY LAPTOP. PLUS THE ONLINE CLASSES ARE KILLING ME ESPECIALLY WITH THE APPROACHING FINALS UGHHHHHHHH!!! ANYWAYS, HERE'S A CHAPTER AND I WILL TRY MY BEST TO UPDATE THE NEXT ONE AS SOON AS I CAN.

"I love you, Liza!" Nick sings while walking beside me in the school hallway.

I smile looking down and shake my head.

"Damn, son!" Lilly exclaims from behind.

"He's whipped." Finn chimes in.

Nick flips him the bird over his shoulder and they all burst out laughing.

Ever since that night, Nick has seized every opportunity he could to express his love and confess his feelings for me. I haven't said it back but I know in my heart that I, too, love him a lot.

And I plan on telling him this tonight.

The way he had confessed his love for me that night made me feel special. I was not expecting for him to just up and say it out loud. I didn't see it coming. He was unpredictable but I have to give it to his timing; it is always impeccable.

Flashback

I blink up at him and open my mouth then close it and repeat the process thrice more until Nick eventually smiles and place his hand under my chin to shut my open mouth.

All signs of sugar rush and joyfulness vanishes in thin air as I actually register the meaning those three simple words carried.

"You resemble a fish." He comments.

I swallow and open my mouth once again, ignoring the zoo inside my stomach, "I-" I begin to say but he cuts me off by shaking his head.

"You don't have to say it back just yet. I am not going to pressure you into saying it back. I would never put you on spot like that, baby." He reassures.

I roll my bottom lip inside my mouth and conceal a knowing smile.

"Now what? You gonna stand here all night or are we going to say hi to the animals?" he asks smoothly switching the topic.

"Yeah, let's go." I smile up at him.

Present

"Nick, are you free tonight?" I ask as we walk out towards the parking lot.

"You asking me out, baby?" he teases.

"I can't?" I counter.

His lips twitch and he shakes his head while looking down at the ground with his hands shoved in the pocket of his black jeans, "You never have to ask, bambi. You command, I follow." He speaks softly.

We come to a halt just beside my car and I look up at him in awe, "YA lyublu vas." I whisper in Russian.

(I love you)

"What?" he looks at me in confusion and with a small smile on his face.

"I'll tell you later." I say and he leans down to peck my lips before saying goodbye.

I open the back door of the car and throw my bag inside before settling in the passenger seat and securing my seatbelt.

I switch on the radio and reverse my car out of the school parking. I see Nick's car at the exit waiting for me to leave the premises. I wave at him and press my foot on the gas.

I was only driving for a few seconds when I look back from the rearview mirror and find Nick finally moving his car in the opposite direction of mine. I shake my head with a small smile and begin to turn the volume of the radio up as the song 'Royals' by Lorde comes up.

My attention was on the volume button that appeared to be stuck when I hear a loud screech of tires skidding against the road followed by an equally loud crash. My foot, out of instinct, presses on the brake and my head shoots up to look through the rear mirror and see a black Ford Mustang rolling on the road.

My heart stops and I sit there in my seat in a rigid posture, peering at the disaster unblinkingly.

My lips part and only one name comes rushing out, "Nick."

With shaking hands and a racing pulse, I unhook my seat belt and open my car door, not caring that I have parked my car literally in the middle of the road. I wipe my clammy palms on my jeans and slam the door shut before I start walking in that direction.

A crowd was beginning to form a circle around the site of accident and my eyes found the familiar face of Anwyll whose face was as pale as a sheet.

I was only seventy eight steps away from the place of accident. Yes, I was counting as I lifted my left foot up to take the first step, a heavy load fell on my back.

I felt the world around me blending in a mix of cyan, blue and magenta. The sound of my heavy breathing reached my ears fading all the other sounds out. A bead of sweat formed near my hairline as I finally took the second step; my heart suddenly feeling heavier.

All the negativity of the world was attacking me from all four sides. I felt cornered as the burden of fear was joined by the heaviness of immense pain.

My eyes looked right and left as I spotted another car completely wrecked and slammed into a wall with smoke coming out of its hood.

I gulped as I saw an older man's face pressed flat against the window where a small crack was formed indicating how hard he had hit his head. The windshield was completely broken and small shards of glass were stuck to the man's face and neck. His face was covered in blood and his eyes, his eyes were wide open.

He was dead.

All the more reason to feel a drill working its way through my heart and intensifying the hollowness that matched the man's eyes.

His eyes were a haunting shade of blue. Nick's eyes were also a shade of midnight blue but they were beautiful so then why was I feeling strange as I stared directly in the dead man's eyes? Why, for the first time in my life, was I actually feeling the cold of the night even though it was still bright outside?

My mind somehow still managed to count the number of steps I was taking and as I took the seventy eighth step, I halted near a black car which laid upside down on the side of the road.

I saw two boys trying to pull a body out of the driver's seat.

Anwyll and Isaac.

A hand touched my shoulder and I blinked back into reality. The sounds of people constantly murmuring and someone crying reached my ears as I stared at the struggling boys who had successfully pulled a body out of the seat and onto the road.

Every image was now crystal clear, it was no longer painted in the shades of cyan, blue and magenta. My mind had eventually processed the unfortunate reality of Nick's accident.

"Liza?" I hear Lilly's voice but I keep my gaze fixed on Nick's wounded face and bloodied shirt.

"ELIZA?!" she shakes my arms roughly and I finally avert my eyes to look at her tear stricken face.

"Can you hear me Eliza? Finn is calling the ambulance, they'll be here any minute. He's going to be fine." She says.

I examine her anxiety ridden face trying to figure out whether she was trying to comfort me or convince herself.

I gulp and look over her shoulder to see Finn approaching us with a flushed face and wet eyes. He looks at me and his composure falters for a split second before he proceeds to walk towards us.

I look away from him and down at Nick whose eyes were closed. His hair were disheveled and lips were busted.

A corpse is what he resembled in that moment.

What had just happened in the blink of an eye? One minute, I was looking at his moving car and the next, it was rolling on the road.

I fell on my knees beside his unconscious body and took his limp hand in mine, "Nick." I whisper and slightly shake his hand.

I could feel Anwyll's gaze on the side of my head as I made a frail attempt to wake Nick up.

He wasn't moving.

He wasn't smiling at me anymore. He had smiled and waved at me not less than five minutes ago.

"Why isn't he moving?" I ask to no one in particular.

"Liza-"Anwyll begins to speak but the sound of sirens cuts him off.

The ambulance was here. I watch as two male nurses steps out with a stretcher and the crowd parts to make way for them as they approach us and pick Nick's feeble form up from the ground. His cold fingers slightly brushes the palm of my hand as his hand leaves mine, making me very aware of the happenings.

They were taking him away on a stretcher.

"Nick." I call out, unknowingly, waiting for a response.

My heart sinks deeper in my chest and I swallow the ball of emotions clogging up my throat. My vision blurs and the tears begin to fall freely when a hand encases my wrist and starts running in the direction of the ambulance.

I look to my left to see Anwyll.

We sit inside the ambulance as one of the nurse close the doors. The last thing I see is Lilly, Isaac and Finn getting in a car.

"Liza?" Anwyll calls my name.

I look to my side and see his worry stricken face, "He'll be fine." He tries to reassure.

I shake my head in negative, "He was fine fifteen minutes ago." I reply.

He gulps audibly and wraps his arm around my shoulder, "And he will be fine, have faith, princess. He is a fighter. He'll come back to you, to all of us."

"What happened, Anwyll?" I inquire while taking Nick's hand in mine once again.

"I don't know, honestly. All I saw was that the car swiveled out of nowhere and rammed straight into Nick's car before hitting the opposite wall. It all happened so fast, I.. we-" he stops shaking his head as if he still could not believe how had this all even happened.

"He's dead, the other driver." I say in a shaky voice.

Anwyll stays quiet for a moment and my eyes, once again, rest on Nick's bleached face.

"Nick will be fine." Anwyll whispers quietly.

Again, I was left thinking whether he was comforting me or convincing himself?