The Missing by Kiersten Modglin (essential books to read txt) 📕

I cried, my hands shaking as I hovered them over his body. His eyes fluttered open and closed, but he gave no real indication that he had heard me.

He groaned.

“Don’t touch him,” Noah warned, bending down on his knees next to me. “You could make it worse.”

“Harry,” I cried, snot and tears pouring down my face. I shoved my hair back out of my eyes, but it was no use. It fell back into my eyes as I hovered over him. “Please wake up. Please.”

“He’s not bleeding,” Noah said, but his tone wasn’t hopeful. In fact, it almost sounded worse. “Harry, can you hear us?”

Again, his eyes fluttered, and he expelled a ragged breath, but he didn’t move. I ran a hand gently over his legs, then his arms, feeling for anything out of place. “What do we do?” I demanded of Noah, though I knew from the blank look in his eyes that he had no idea.

“I…I don’t…I don’t know. Harry would know,” he said, his voice cracking at the mention of his name.

I choked back a sob, rubbing my palms over my eyes. “We have to get him back to the camp. Can we carry him together?”

“If his back’s broken, that could hurt him more,” Noah said, shaking his head feverishly. “We have to leave him here.”

“We can’t just leave him here. We have to go and get Ava and James. We need their help. We have to carry him to that house. Whether they’re good or bad, we have to take our chances. It’s Harry’s only hope. We can’t give up. We have to do something.”

He chewed his bottom lip, pressing his fingers to his temple. “We need to make something flat to carry him. Maybe we could find a hollowed-out log or something. Wait here, I’m going to go look.” With that, he was off in a flash. I should’ve asked where he was going or when he planned to be back, but I could think of nothing else.

“Harry,” I cried, letting my head rest on the dirt next to him. “Why aren’t you waking up? Please, please, Harry.” I clutched his hand, wiping my eyes with the back of my arm. “It’s all my fault… This is all my fault. This wasn’t supposed to happen. We can’t make it without you.” I sobbed, my cries echoing throughout the forest.

Suddenly, I felt his grip tighten on my hand. I looked up, seeing that his eyes were open. He was staring at me strangely, his eyes glassy.

“Harry?”

He coughed, his body convulsing, and I saw the blood. A small drop trailed just under his nose, the remnants of the splatter that had come out onto his shirt. When he opened his mouth, his teeth were painted crimson.

My body hurt watching it happen, the grief gripping at my organs with its cold, spindly fingers. I held his hand, using the other to dab up the blood with his shirt. As I lifted the bottom of his shirt up, my body went cold. His stomach, once creamy white, was quickly turning a deep shade of purple, like ink dots spilling onto a canvas.

No. No. No. No.

I shook my head, wanting to dry the blood, to stop the bleeding, but unable to reach the wound. He was bleeding internally, nearly gone already if the blank stare was any indication. I couldn’t let him go like that. I couldn’t let him die. We needed him. His family needed him. Daisy needed him.

“What do I do, Harry? What do I do? You’re the only one who would know; Noah’s right. You probably know the herb to give to stop the bleeding or the right position to lay you in…” I choked back sobs, talking because there was nothing else I could do. “You can’t leave us like this. You can’t leave Daisy. Do you hear me? You have to stay with me. You have to fight. You have to fight for us. For her.”

I tried to catch my breath, my lungs burning from lack of oxygen. “What did you do?” I screamed into the forest, no longer caring if anyone heard me. “Why did you do this? He didn’t deserve this. We didn’t deserve this.” I wailed a painful, furious cry into the air, then let my face fall to the ground, breathing in the dirt and grass beneath me. I couldn’t force myself to get up. I couldn’t move. I never wanted to move again.

I felt his fingers move slightly, twisting themselves through my hair, and I looked up. His eyes were still in a far-off place, his gaze pointed toward the sky. Tears blurred my vision as I watched a small smile form on his lips.

As he released a breath, almost a shudder, his words were a whisper. I knew in an instant they would be his last. “Daisy…be…safe.” His head flopped sideways, blood dripping to the ground from his nose and mouth, and he never took another breath.

No. No. No.

When I lifted his shirt again, his entire torso was nearly black. I didn’t know what was broken or what I should’ve done differently, but it all hurt just the same. Everything felt lost. Rage built up in my chest, a swelling bubble of heat ready to combust.

I pounded my fists on the ground, releasing a guttural scream as my tears mixed with the dirt until it had become mud beneath my face. It wasn’t fair. It shouldn’t have happened.

One minute, he was alive and fine, and the next, he was just gone.

No warning, no goodbye, and I was the only person there to hear his last words. It should’ve been Daisy. No, there shouldn’t have been any last words. He should’ve been home with his family. We all should’ve, instead of dying here alone on this island.

I looked up, slowly lifting my hands to his eyes and closing the lids.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, the guilt over what I’d done overwhelming me. If I hadn’t lost my footing, he wouldn’t