“Hey. Look at me.” Matt reached out his other hand and touched the side of my face. “What’s wrong?”
The last time an ambulance had pulled up, it was the beginning of the end. I knew that wasn’t what was happening here. But I felt frozen. Like I was stuck in the past. I could see it all so clearly. I could feel that same terrible fear that had gripped my heart. I had thought she was already dead. I couldn’t find her pulse.
Mr. Hill cleared his throat. “Class has started. Everyone take their seats. Now.”
Matt didn’t move. Even though our classmates started to come back from the window, his hand stayed on my cheek. Everyone could see us together. “It’s okay,” he said. “You’re okay.”
I would have nodded, but I was afraid his hand would fall. I didn’t want him to move. Not because he was finally showing that he cared for me in front of everyone. But because his hand was warm. My mom’s had been so cold.
Mr. Hill cleared his throat again. I was positive he was about to yell at me, even though Matt was the one turned around. But when he said my name, it sounded too loud. Too distant.
I looked up and Mr. Hill was staring at the speaker system.
“Brooklyn Sanders.” My name came over the loudspeaker again. “Brooklyn Sanders, please come to the principal’s office immediately.” The voice sounded frantic.
I was scared to breathe. I was scared that my past was repeating. What if the voice on the loudspeaker sounded frantic for a reason? What if the ambulance was here for my uncle? But I was imagining it. I had to be imagining it. It was just a nightmare.
“Brooklyn Sanders, please come to the principal’s office immediately,” the voice repeated.
I heard it again. Not the speaker. But that clock ticking down in my head. The same one that had been ticking down as my mom slipped away. The same one I’d heard my whole life. Like I’d always been running out of time. But it should have stopped. My mom was already gone. Why hadn’t it stopped?
“Brooklyn.” Matt’s voice broke through my thoughts. The only thing that sounded real in the past minute. A pen dropped. The lights continued to flash outside.
“I’m going to take you to the principal’s office, okay?” Matt stood up and reached for my hand.
The warmth from his touch faded from my face. And I’d never been so cold. I didn’t take his hand. Because I was already on my feet, running toward the door. Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.
“Miss Sanders, you need a hall pass!” Mr. Hill yelled as I sprinted out of the room.
Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.
I knew this fear. I knew this pain. But for the first time in my life, it wasn’t my mom I was terrified of losing. It was my uncle.
Untouchable - Chapter 30
Monday
I ran through the hallway, racing toward the principal’s office. Part of me expected to find my uncle being carted away on a stretcher toward the ambulance. Or unconscious on the floor. Cold. Not breathing. Just like my mom.
But the hallways were empty. All the students and faculty members were in class. I picked up my pace.They’re just calling me in to talk about detention again. Maybe Isabella tried to blame something awful on me. Maybe James planted drugs in my locker for revenge. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.
But the clock in my head just kept ticking down. And I knew it in my gut. All those maybes weren’t real. Something had happened to my uncle.Please don’t let me lose him too.I yanked open the door to the front office.
The school receptionist looked up. Her mascara was smeared, like she’d hastily wiped away tears after calling me to the office.
“Am I in trouble?” I asked.Please let me be in trouble. Let me be expelled. Anything but this.
She shook her head. “There’s been an incident with your uncle.”
For a second we both just stared at each other. Wishing this wasn’t happening. An incident could mean anything. Maybe he was getting fired. But she wouldn’t be hiding tears if that was the case. She wouldn’t be barely holding on.
No. No, no, no.“Where is he?” My voice cracked. “I need to see him. Is he here? Is he here?” I could feel myself growing more hysterical by the second, but she just stared at me. With pity. With all the pity in the world.Stop looking at me like that. Stop.I grabbed the corner of her desk, preventing my knees from buckling as the tears ran down my cheeks.
“Dear.” The school receptionist put her hand on her chest. “The ambulance just left. His number was the only emergency contact in your file, so we called a car to come pick you up to take you the hospital with him. It’ll be here any minute. Why don’t you sit down and wait.”
I couldn’t move. “What happened?”
“He started coughing up blood.” She shook her head. “I don’t know. He couldn’t breathe.”
