Me Without You

Me Without You

By Rona Go

Copyright 2012 Rona Go

Smashwords Edition

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Cover Image by: Michal
Marcol

Chapter 1

Forget Forever

Roaring Brook
Township
, PA

"X!" Jonah shouted at the top of her
lungs, her chilling voice reverberated throughout the mansion.
Horrified, she saw Xavier fell off the Mahogany-clad staircase.
Xavier first landed on the upper fourth tread, hit his head on the
steel balusters and rolled downward to the first
landing.

With one shoe missing, Jonah went after
him, taking two steps at a time. When she reached him, Xavier was
still able to stand up. He clung on to her for support. Then,
slightly pushing her and dragging his own body, they both headed
towards the direction of the front door.

"Go, get out!" Xavier commanded in his
orneriest tone. "Hurry!" On his first attempt to open the heavy oak
double-door, he was only able to budge it open a few inches before
it closed again. With his next try, he used one foot, planted his
two hands and put his weight to open it and let Jonah pass through
before he followed her.

Xavier stumbled face forward when he
and Jonah were out on the porch. "Ouch!" he cried out
painfully.

Jonah, who was a few steps away from
him, retraced her steps to help him up.

"No!" Xavier instructed, while he
rolled over on his back. "Go, get out of here. It is not safe for
you. Get help! Hurry!" He felt through his jean pockets and found
his phone. He thrust it towards her and added, "911!"

"You need help, too!" Jonah insisted.
With trembling hands, she dialed Xavier's home number. She was
thinking it would be faster for his family to arrive, being
neighbors. Tears began to trickle down her face. She sat by
Xavier's side while waiting for someone on the other end to pick up
her call.

Weakly, Xavier tried to push her up."No
time to waste, Jonah. Please, go!" he stammered.

"No— no, no! I am not going anywhere,"
Jonah said, her tears were already coming in torrents. She could
hardly speak in between laborious breathings. "Please stop pushing
me away! Don't push me away like you did. I won't leave you this
time!"

Xavier coughed out loud. He moved to
his side, facing her and began throwing up what looked like watery
saliva.

"Hello!" a male voice boomed through on
the other end of the line.

"Hello! This is Jonah Blood. X is badly
hurt. He fell off the stairs and hit his head. We're at our place.
Please help," Jonah croaked.

Xavier coughed violently again. Then,
he spat out blood. He reached out for her hand and held it softly.
"I won't be pushing you away if it weren't for your own good," he
uttered and mustered a little smile, his lips was all red with
blood.

Jonah cried even harder, feeling more
afraid. She had no idea what else to do. She dialed 911 and waited.
Waiting for help to come was killing her. She heard a busy
tone.

"X!" she whispered his name.

"Jonah! I hurt!" Xavier whispered back.
A tear started to run down his cheek. "But please don't do anything
stupid—promise me!"

Jonah knew quite well what Xavier
meant. She had just discovered that she was bestowed with her
mother's immense power to heal. But coupled with the gift of
healing was the curse of immortality. All she needed to do was seal
her fate by giving life to someone dying.

"We've talked about this," Xavier said,
breathing heavily.

Jonah and Xavier had discussed the
whole thing a thousandth time. Although, they haven't reached a
conclusion yet, it was so clear to her what she needed to do when
the time has finally arrived. It was one choice she will regret for
the rest of her life, but it will be a choice she will choose over
and over again.

Even if it meant—she can't be with
Xavier forever…because she can't be without him for now…or
tomorrow…or the next day.

"I can't let you go!" Jonah answered
him back in between sobs.

"We can't be together for long anyway.
Not in this lifetime," Xavier argued weakly.

"Still—" Jonah insisted.

"I'd rather lose you now and be with
you for eternity than have you and lose you forever," Xavier
mumbled. "A lifetime is so short to be together. This is not all
there is—believe me."

"Then, don't leave me!" Jonah said.
Tears were still welling up nonstop. "Don't fall asleep. Don't
blink an eye. Don't leave me."

"Rather dif—cult to stay 'wake now,"
Xavier said ruefully. "I hurt—my head— my body—'ven my
eyes."

"Please, X!" Jonah pleaded, sensing any
moment Xavier will lose consciousness. "Talk to me!"

"'Tis hard to talk! And think," Xavier
said in a soft voice which was barely a whisper. Then, he closed
his eyes. "One thing though—love you so much, Jonah!"

"X!!??" Jonah screamed. She was feeling
frantic. She touched his head and looked at his chest. There was
still the rhythmic movement of rising and falling, albeit
weak.

"Don't touch him!" a deep male voice
commanded from behind. It was Hugh.

"Hugh!" Jonah cried out, relief
flooding all over her.

Hugh immediately ran to Xavier's side.
He took off his jacket and placed it carefully underneath Xavier's
head and tilted it back a little. He inspected Xavier's breathing.
He looked towards Jonah and commanded her, "Call 911!"

Jonah dialed the number once again.
Just then, the Lively's car hastily turned up in the driveway. Dr.
Christopher Lively, together with his wife and Gilda Byrne followed
by the family driver, all came out of the car.

"Where's X?" Helen Lively hysterically
cried out. She was a matronly woman with light-colored hair. She
still had her pajamas underneath her black, cashmere summer jacket.
Upon seeing Xavier's motionless body, she backed away. "Xavier? No!
God, Hugh, what happened here?"

"He fell off the stairs," Jonah started
to explain.

Helen's eyes focused on Jonah. The
older woman took her by the arm and dragged her away from Xavier.
"I told you to stay away from X, didn't I?"

"Helen!" Dr. Lively said, looking
annoyed. He had already joined Hugh by Xavier's side and was
checking his pulse.

Gilda Byrne took Helen by the arm and
spoke up, "Not now, Helen!" Her face, although heavily made-up, was
turning white to match the color of her white hair. "This is not
the time!"

"911!" a voice coming from the phone
broke through.

Helen snatched the phone from Jonah's
hand and talked to the person on the other end of the
line.

"He was attacked and fell off the
stairs," Jonah supplied for Helen.

With trembling voice, Helen said,
"There appears to be an attack—by the forehead. Just a little
blood. He has a history of leukemia. Yes, please—. I don't know—
He's on a remission. No signs of convulsion. But he's unconscious."
There was a pause before she continued speaking, "My husband is a
doctor. He's here with us. Dr. Christopher Lively. Yes,
please—hurry." All the while Gilda was softly caressing her back to
comfort her.

"X!" Jonah whispered, looking at
Xavier's unconscious body right in front of her. She could clearly
see his pallid face with his bruised forehead, a little blood
oozing out of it.

"Who wants to live forever? Do you want
to live forever?" asked a very familiar voice in her head.
Although, there was no face which went along with the voice, it was
still very clear in Jonah's mind how Xavier asked her about living
forever as a healer.

She was once asked in a sorority party
after she vehemently refused to take some dope the same question
that nagged her at the moment.

"Yeah, but who wants to die young?" she
had retorted. Back then, she was quite proud and had even thought
she was wise about the way she handled the whole thing. She never
had the chance to answer Xavier then.

It was no time to be slick. Neither was
it time to be stupid. She only had a matter of nanoseconds to deal
with the reality and destiny to live forever or let Xavier die
young.

A split second…
in her own fearful voice, it entered her thoughts.
And the rest of her thoughts were a circle of nonsensical chatter,
she couldn't even make any sense out of them, yet heard them
audibly.
What do I do now?
Xavier doesn't have to know
.
He will understand if he knew later
on anyway.
I can't breathe. Yet I am
breathing…

She looked around her. Everybody was
moving in a flash, like a speed of light with so much grace and
certainty, it amazed her. They seemed to know exactly what they had
to do. It looked like they had rehearsed the whole scene and there
was no room for double takes.

She realized that even Gilda, who stood
by Helen's side like the two of them were the epitome of yin-yang,
just looking at the whole situation, knew exactly what they had to
do—to just look and be anxious.

What am I supposed to
do?
Another tug of voice jolted her
uncomfortably.
Am I not supposed to heal
him?

"Hugh, please—get away from our dear
boy, Xavier!" Gilda said. "You'll only make it worse!"

For a quick moment, Hugh stopped what
he was doing and stared hard at Gilda. He was about to challenge
her remark but chose to ignore her at the moment. Just then,
Xavier's eyes opened and he croaked trying to clear his throat.
Xavier limply reached for Hugh's arm and tugged at it.

Hugh bent forward, putting his ear near
Xavier's lips and listened. His hazel eyes briefly darted to where
Jonah was standing.

Sensing that Xavier has gained
consciousness, everybody stopped what they were doing in an
instant. It seemed as if everybody even forgot to breathe for
awhile. Even Helen's whimpering was suspended.

Then, Xavier began a round of irregular
gasps for breath and passed out again.

And what seemed like a rehearsed
routine became a frantic move about.

Dr. Lively, with his tousled dark brown
hair, impervious coffee-colored eyes and a stethoscope circling his
neck, roughly ordered, "No pulse—Hugh, we will need CPR!
Quick!"

Hugh looked up and directed his
attention towards Dr. Lively. With his blond hair, sticking to his
head, damp from his own sweat, he carefully completed removing
Xavier's shirt to expose an emaciated chest with a Port-a-Cath on
the upper right and went to assist the older man.

"One—two—three!" Dr. Lively counted,
pressing both hands through Xavier's chest. "Come on, X!" He
breathed through his mouth, once—twice—three times. Then, he
repeated the process of pressing through Xavier's chest.
"One—two—three!" He looked towards Hugh, who shook his head
lightly.

As if on cue, it was that nanosecond
which prompted Jonah what exactly she had to do…

This is
it
… She told herself.
No time to lose. No time to reason.

She took quick steps towards Xavier but
a hand stopped her.

"You will seal your fate forever.
There's no going back. You will have to live forever like the rest
of us," Gilda said, "even if Xavier will die and leave you—which he
eventually will. Are you sure?"

"No, I am not sure—" Jonah said, her
voice quivering. Tears were starting to fall from her eyes once
again. "But I can't wait until I'm sure. I can't let him go yet.
Not yet."

Gilda let go off her hand.

Jonah approached Xavier's body and Dr.
Lively stopped pumping at his son's chest.