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Ashlyn saw the scene spill before her.
It was too late to move head first into it all, although that would usually be the first thing she would do. She could only hope that it had already been seven hours. If it wasn’t, she feared what a few more moments in lingering death could do to a person in the real world.
No. Not really. Perhaps she wouldn’t be this scared for any person. She would still have half of her rationality. She would be able to move; to carry him despite being shaken; to tell everyone to get out before the building moved again.
But the fact that it was Aiden under the rubble made her draw a blank. Ashlyn wished so badly that what was happening wasn’t real that she felt herself lose grip on reality.
That scared her more.
–
When they woke up, Aiden saw Ashlyn cornered to the other end of the room. She lifted her hand for a second then halted by her side, uncharacteristically insecure of her next move.
Just moments ago, he felt the back of his neck break in half and his spine twist out of his skin and yet it felt more justified to reach out to her than to worry about anything else.
“Ash…?”
As soon as she crawled to him, her fingers wilted into his palm then traveled up to his head, cradling his face and burying it into her shoulder. Aiden was the first to tighten into the embrace, more so to stop her from shaking despite the fact that he couldn’t even feel his own breath. Ashlyn responded by clutching her grasp only to feel the heat of his body and convince herself it was real.
While the adrenaline rose from the bottom of his stomach up to his throat, Ashlyn’s trembling arms that enveloped him in a hug flooded his senses. With her every tremor, Aiden began to realize that this adrenaline wasn’t anything he was used to. It was neither excitement, curiosity, nor anger.
He had never been scared of losing his life. But flashes of Ashlyn slipping out of his reach from the rooftop, being dragged across the bus, and gashed with splattering blood continued to race through his mind.
And he knew—this was fear.
–
He didn’t care about the throbbing pain or the sensation of shattered bones recollecting themselves into fragile form once he woke up. Aiden didn’t know what to say, but he knew what Ashlyn needed to hear.
“I’m okay.”
If it would get her to stop shaking, that’s all that matters.