It’s been two days since I found Melanie in the woods—two of the worst days of my life. She hasn’t opened up those beautiful eyes yet. The doctors aren’t sure she will.

When she arrived, she was in the final stages of hyperthermia on top of suffering from an extensive blow to the head. They think she must have hit a rock or something extremely hard on her way down.

I still can’t believe any of it’s real.

Seeing her lying in that hospital bed, tubes running all over the place, machine’s chiming and beeping all around her; it’s like a snippet from a nightmare. A nightmare I just can’t seem to wake up from.

“You doing alright, man?” I look up to see David standing in the doorway of Melanie’s room.

I rub my eyes with the back of my hands and sit up in the chair next to Mel’s bed. It’s a place I haven’t left since the moment they brought her here.

“I’m hanging in there I guess.” I shrug, knowing that’s a complete lie.

The longer she sleeps, the more I fall apart. On the outside I’m trying to act strong for everyone else; at least I think I am. But on the inside I’m a complete mess.

“Can I have a minute with her?” he asks, stepping further into the room.

I don’t want to, but I reluctantly stand and offer him my chair. David is the closest to Melanie out of all her brothers and was the first here the second he got the call. Even though they don’t speak as often as I know she’d like, I also know how much his sister means to him.

David clasps my shoulder as I pass him, halting my steps as he turns his face to meet my gaze.

“She’s always loved you, Cole. From the moment I was old enough to know what love was I could see that. She’s loved you every single day of the last six years, too. I’m glad to see you two are finally getting your heads out of your asses.” He tries to lighten the mood by joking.

“She’s my heart,” I respond plain and simple, glancing back at Melanie one last time before stepping into the hallway.

“Here.” I look up to find Joan standing directly in front of me the moment the door clasps shut, a cup of coffee in her hands. “I thought you could use it.” She extends the cup to me, and I gratefully accept it.

“Thank you,” I say, glancing back at the waiting room just feet from where we’re standing. “Where is everyone?” I point toward the near empty room.

“Kyle and Corrine left just a few minutes ago. She was exhausted and with the baby and everything.” She trails off. “Anyway, they’ll be back later.”

“Any word from John?” I ask about Melanie’s youngest brother that no one seems to be able to reach.

“David got a hold of him earlier. He’s in Europe right now and isn’t sure he can get here anytime soon.” This news sends anger seething through my veins.

“After everything she did for him. After everything she sacrificed, and he can’t get here to visit his sister who may never wake up again?” I growl, having half a mind to fly to wherever he is in Europe and beat the living shit out of that little fucker.

“Cole, you’re exhausted.” Joan cuts into my rant. “Why don’t you go home for a few hours and get some sleep. You’re not doing anyone any good by driving yourself into the ground.”

“I’m not leaving her,” I say, lifting the cup to my lips and taking a long pull of coffee before turning back toward Mel’s door.

There’s a long, rectangular window above the door knob offering the prefect view of Melanie’s bed when the curtain isn’t drawn. I watch David sitting next to her, holding her hand as he speaks.

I can’t imagine after losing his mom at such a young age, what losing Melanie would do to him. In a lot of ways she was like his mom. I shake away the thought, refusing to let myself go there.

While John may be too selfish to find his way back here, I’d bet my life David would sell a kidney to get here if he had to; that has to say something.

Her sacrifice wasn’t all for nothing.

“You need sleep.” Joan settles in next to me, sharing my view through the window.

“I’m not going home; it’s too far, and I don’t want to leave her.”

“Then stay at Melanie’s place,” she suggests.

Just the thought makes my stomach curl. I can’t imagine going there, being surrounded by her things and her scent, knowing that she’s not there with me.

I shake my head no, taking another drink of coffee.

“Listen to me, Cole.” Joan yanks on my arm, forcing me to turn and face her. “You can’t just sit here and watch her sleep. You’re driving yourself crazy.”

“I’m fine,” I insist.

I haven’t broken down since that first day, I refuse to. I need to stay strong for Mel, for all the people she loves who have filtered in and out of the hospital over the last couple of days.

“You’re not fine,” Joan snaps, pulling my gaze back to her. “You’re barely hanging on by a thread. You haven’t eaten or really slept in over forty-eight hours, and quite honestly, you look like shit.”

I almost spit out my coffee at the sound of her cursing.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she warns. “Your mom will be here tomorrow. Matt and Christy are flying in from Utah later this evening. David has barely gotten any time with his sister because you won’t leave her side for more than a couple minutes.”

“I don’t care,” I snap, instantly feeling bad for talking to Joan so harshly. “She’s all I care about. That’s my fucking heart in there. If you think I’m leaving, then you don’t know me very well.”

With that, I turn and stomp back into Melanie’s room without another word.

“Cole, honey.” My mom’s voice pulls me from sleep, and I lift my head from the side of Melanie’s bed just in time to see her slide into the dimly lit room.

She arrived early this morning. While it’s good to have her here, no one seems to understand that I just want to be with Melanie. Everyone keeps trying to make me eat, make me sleep, encouraging me to go home. I don’t know why they just don’t get it, I’m not going anywhere.

“Hey, Mom.” I clear my throat, pulling up a second chair for her to sit next to me.

“How are you holding up, honey?” she asks, her hand rubbing the top of my back the way she always used to do when she tried to comfort me as a child.

“I’m not holding up at all,” I grumble, feeling my emotion threatening to spill over.

“I didn’t expect so,” she says understandingly.

“I just want her to wake up. I need her to, Mom.” I choke, suddenly feeling like a ten-year-old boy all over again.

“I know you do, baby. I know. And she will. You just have to give her time. You know Melanie Anderson better than anyone. She’s not a quitter, she’s a fighter. She’ll beat this.” Her words don’t soothe me, but they do give me some sense of calm amongst the chaos raging inside me.

“She’s the strongest person I’ve ever met,” I admit, knowing how true my statement is.

“Hold onto that,” my mom says. “Hold onto the girl you know will fight. She will fight to live. She will fight for the ones she loves. She will fight for you.”

“Thanks, Mom.” I turn a teary gaze to her, seeing her wipe away her own tears as she turns back to Melanie.

“You’ve loved that girl for as long as I can remember. God, the way you looked at her, even at a young age. I expected you’d have her knocked up by sixteen, and you two would live in that little town forever.” She laughs through her tears.

“Sometimes I wish we had,” I admit. “Leaving her meant I appreciate her more now. I don’t ever want to take her for granted. I don’t ever want to love her less than she deserves. And, Mom, she deserves the moon and the stars. She deserves so much more than I will ever be able to give her.”

“She deserves you,” she says.

“She has me. She’s my heart.”

“And you are hers. So keep beating for her.” She smiles softly at me. “You need to take care of yourself for her, Cole. You keep going like this and you’ll end up in a hospital bed right next to her. Is that what you want her to see when wakes up?”

I shake my head without saying a word.

“Then you know what you need to do. Joan has offered to let you stay at her house, somewhere comfortable and familiar. You can shower, get a little sleep, and then come back here refreshed.”

“Mom.” I start to object.

“Please, Cole. For me. For Melanie. Just a couple hours.” She pleads. “That’s all I’m asking for.”

I know I can’t say no. As much as I don’t want to leave Mel, I know my mom is right. I don’t want Mel to wake up and find me sick with exhaustion.

“Okay,” I agree, reluctantly standing.

I can see the relief in my mother’s face, but she doesn’t say another word, probably afraid I’ll change my mind.

“Matt, you can head on in now,” my mom says as she leads me out of Melanie’s room with her hand pressed to the middle of my back like she’s afraid I might topple over.

Matt, Melanie’s oldest brother, just arrived last night from Utah. I haven’t seen him in years. The moment he stands in front of me, he wraps me in a tight hug, roughly patting my back.

“Thank you for taking care of my sister.” His voice wanes.

I want to tell him what a shit job I seem to be doing, but no words form.

He quickly releases me and without another word, disappears into Melanie’s room.

“Joan.” She approaches me slowly, keys extended.

“Don’t.” She stops me before I can apologize. “You don’t have to say a word. If anyone understands how you’re feeling, I do.” She gives me a sad smile and slides her keys into my hand.

“I’m so sorry.” I apologize anyway. “I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that. After Michael and now Melanie. God, Joan.”

“I would have reacted the same way if I were in your shoes.” She reassures me. “Don’t you fret on it. Just do us all a favor and take care of you. There’s plenty of food at the house; help yourself to whatever you need. You know where everything is.”

“You won’t leave her side?” I ask.

“You have my word.”

“You’ll call me if anything changes?”

“You’ll be the very first to know,” she promises.

“Thank you, Joan.” I wrap her in a quick hug.

“Come on”—my mom links her arm with mine the instant I release Joan— “I’ll drive you over; your car is still at Melanie’s.”

The silence is too much. My mom hasn’t been gone more than fifteen minutes and already I feel like the walls are closing in on me. My heart is too far away, and the pull is damn near ripping me apart.

I try to distract myself with a shower, but it doesn’t help. I try to eat a bowl of cereal but only get about half of it down before it threatens to come back up. I feel like I’m spiraling out of control, and there’s no way to stop it.

But just when I feel the downward pull sucking me under, I see it. Her face. Her smile. Her bright green, yellow eyes staring up at me in the form of an old picture.

It isn’t until that moment that I even see the stacks of photo albums still piled at the end of the table from weeks ago. Several individual pictures have been pulled from the books and are lying haphazardly in the middle of the table like they were just dropped there.

Hesitantly reaching out, I slide the pictures across the table to where I’m sitting, my heart hammering in my chest as I trace my finger across Melanie’s thirteen-year-old face.

God, even then she was stunning.

The most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

I flip to the next; it’s one of Mel and Michael at the creek. I can’t look at it without seeing her body lying lifeless in the creek bed. I quickly slam it face down and grab for another picture.

This one manages to bring a small smile to my lips. Melanie smashing pie in Dawn’s face at the county fair pie toss. I still remember Dawn screeching like a banshee as she wiped the whip topping out of her eyes. It was after Dawn and I had started dating, and I didn’t realize it then but now I’m wondering if maybe it was on purpose and not the accident Mel had claimed it to be. The thought almost makes me laugh. Almost.

I flip through picture after picture, letting our childhood replay in front of my eyes. I remember each and every photograph—where we were, how old we were, what we were doing. If I focus hard enough, I can almost hear the sounds, feel the sensations I felt back then.

The pull of the Gravitron, Melanie’s favorite fair ride. The smell of the pond water as we swam our summers away. The taste of strawberry ice cream, Mel’s first choice no matter where we went.

It’s all ingrained in me, deep into my core. She was a part of me before I think I even realized it.

She’s all I’ve ever seen, all I’ve ever wanted. I still don’t fully understand how I was able to walk away from her all those years ago.

Even as an eighteen-year-old kid with his whole life ahead of him, I would have given it all up had Melanie asked me to. NYU, my love of architecture, my need to be more than this little town. I would have given it all up and stayed here with her forever.

All she had to do was ask.

But that’s not Mel. She’s selfless, loves deeply, and is fiercely loyal. Even if she knew how much I loved her back then, she never would have asked me to stay. I know that with complete certainty.

I can’t change the past.

I can’t take back the six years I lost.

But I swear to God if I get the chance, I’m not going to waste another second of my time with Melanie.

Feeling inspired, I grab a picture, a pad of paper, and pen from the kitchen before making my way into the living room.

Dropping down on the couch, I set the notebook in my lap and hold the picture up close to my face. I want to study her. I want to remember her voice, the way she smells, the way she makes me feel.

I soak it up, all of it. The pain and the happiness. The good and the bad. The hopes and the fears. I take it all in, and then I press that pen to paper and let the words flow.

I don’t think about whether or not she’ll wake up. I know she will.

I don’t worry about our future because I know we’ll face it together.

For the first time in days I feel the warmth of life on my face. I feel it flowing through my veins. I feel it pouring out of my heart.

My heart is beating again—which means so is hers.