Chapter 38 The smile before the fall

Chapter 38 The smile before the fall
Dane’s POV- hospital
The hospital smelled like disinfectant and old fear. 
Kael disappeared behind the emergency room doors without a word, just blood-soaked clothes and that stubborn look he always wore like armor. The doctors told us to wait outside, their voices calm in that practiced way that never actually calmed anyone. 

I dropped into one of the plastic chairs. It creaked under my weight, loud in the quiet hallway. “Damn thing’s older than me,” I muttered.
Evie sat beside me, close enough that I could feel the heat from her arm. Too close. I pretended not to notice. 
I rolled the tribal beads around my wrist, one by one, the way I always did when I needed to keep my hands busy. That’s when I felt it. 
Her hand, careful. Light.
Resting on my knee like she wasn’t sure it belonged there. “He’ll be fine,” Evie said softly. “Kael always pulls through. He’s… stubborn like that.” She smiled, but it wasn’t quite right. Crooked. Fragile. Like she had forgotten how to smile. It caught me off guard more than I’d like to admit. I reached down, gently took her hand, lifted it off my knee. “Evie－”

My phone rang. Saved by bad timing. I glanced at her once before answering. “Russ? I’m kinda busy－.”
“No time,” Russ snapped on the other end. Chaos roared behind his voice. “You need to get back here. Now.”
“What happened?”
“That kid again,” he said. “Ilyas. He’s got someone on the terrace of Building C. Looks like he’s gonna drop her.”
The line went dead. I exhaled hard through my nose. “Not again.” Evie looked up instantly. “What’s wrong?”
“Ilyas,” I said, already standing. “I’m heading back.”
“I’m coming with you.”

I stopped her with both hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her back into the chair. “No. You stay. Watch Kael. If he wakes up don’t let him do anything stupid.” She opened her mouth. “No arguments,” I said. “Not today.” I was already walking away.

The tires screamed when I pulled into the school. I didn’t bother parking right. Just slammed the door and ran. 
The noise hit me before I even saw it. Students. Too many. Phones raised. Voices buzzing like flies over rot. 

I shoved my way toward Building C, eyes scanning upward and there they were. Ilyas. Holding a girl by the collar at the edge of the terrace. My stomach dropped. 
She looked familiar. “Move,” I barked. “Get the hell outta my way.” The crowd parted like they knew better. Two kids rushed toward me; one male student I knew nothing about and Lila. Lila was crying hard, shaking like she might collapse. “Principal Dane,” she sobbed. “He’s gonna drop her－ Hazel, he’s gonna kill her!”

Hazel. 

That name hit me square in the chest. I looked up again. Ginger hair. Lidia’s daughter. Dangling over nothing. “Son of a btch,” I muttered. I’d promised Lidia I’d look after that girl. I rested a hand on Lila’s shoulder. “I got it. Breathe. Both of you.” Then I turned to the crowd and yelled, “SHUT THE FCK UP.”
Silence fell instantly. I stepped forward until I was right at the front, craning my neck upward. “Ilyas!” I shouted. “Don’t you drop her. Come down here. We’ll talk.”

He looked down at me and smiled. I felt something cold settle in my gut. “If you do it,” I said, voice low but carrying, “I swear on everything I’ve buried in this town, I will personally make sure you never see daylight again. I’ll kick you so hard you’ll break your damn spine.” The crowd held its breath.
“Put. Her. Down.”



Hazel’s POV
I don’t know how long I’d been hanging there. Minutes. Seconds. A lifetime. All I knew was that my fingers burned, my throat hurt from begging, and this guy－ this psycho still hadn’t let go.
I heard voices below me. Zeke. Lila. Principal Dane, threatening him in ways that should’ve worked on any sane human being. They didn’t. It was like he’d already decided. Like today was the day he’d kill someone and I just happened to draw the short straw. I grabbed his wrist with both hands. “Don’t do it,” I gasped. “Listen to him; the principal. I wasn’t trying to kill him. Kael－ you and him are friends, right? He wasn’t breathing, I was－”
His eyes snapped back to me. I froze. They were wrong in a way I couldn’t explain. Deadly. Empty. And then he grinned. My stomach clenched.
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “Please－ you wouldn’t－”
He let go. 

Instinct took over. I grabbed his scarf, fingers curling tight around the fabric at his neck－ but it slipped right off. Just fabric.
Nothing to hold onto. I saw his face clearly then. Burn scars ran down the side of his cheek to his neck, angry and uneven, like fire had kissed him and never apologized. It looked painful. Permanent. 
I didn’t have time to think about it. I was falling. Everything slowed. The crowd went quiet. Wind rushed past my ears. I was still staring at his face, at the scars, like my brain hadn’t accepted what was happening yet.

My life flashed before my eyes. I never got to tell my mom I was sorry for leaving. I never got to prove the benefactor board wrong. Never got to become the best ice skater.
Never got to show them they were wrong about me. I never got to see Ashton again. His face appeared so clearly－ his dazzling smile, the way he laughed like nothing in the world could touch him. I closed my eyes. The scarf was still in my hands. I guess it’s goodby－
I landed. Not hard.
Not painful. Soft. 

Someone grunted beneath me and collapsed to their knees. I blinked, stunned, my brain lagging behind reality.
Slowly, I opened my eyes. Principal Dane. He had caught me. His arm was locked around my back, his face tight with pain, but he smiled anyway. Weak. Relieved. “Okay,” he breathed. “Shit… you’re alive. Thank God.”

Before I could even process that sentence, I was gently lowered to the ground, and then Lila crashed into me. “You’re alive!” she sobbed, clinging to me like I might disappear if she let go. Zeke joined in immediately. Both of them wailing like toddlers who’d lost their favorite toy. I hissed. “Guys! Guys－ my hip－this is not a group-hug-friendly injury－”
A sharp reminder of pain shot through me as their combined weight pressed down. Some man I didn’t recognize started shooing the crowd away, snapping orders while holding a literal whip. I stared. “…Is that... a dungeon master?”
Principal Dane groaned as he stood, clutching his arm. “Alright, that’s enough. Give her some space. Let’s get her to the nurse’s office.”
Zeke and Lila helped me up. I winced but smiled anyway. It felt really good to be touching the ground again. Principal Dane suddenly went still, staring upward. I followed his gaze. He was still on the terrace. Watching us. I shuddered. Lila noticed too, grabbed my arm, and muttered, “C’mon. Let’s go.”