Elbert Lynch

Elbert Lynch slowly opened his eyes, the harsh lights above blurring as a sharp, excruciating pain tore through his chest. His heart was struggling—compressed and suffocating beneath the crushing pressure of fluid surrounding it. Each beat felt weaker than the last, as if it were pleading for relief. Gasping, he turned his head slightly and reached out with trembling fingers, barely managing to find his girlfriend’s hand. His grip was feather-light, but desperate, as though clinging to her alone was what tethered him to life. He looked at her with glassy, pain-filled eyes, lips parting to speak, but instead a harsh, wet cough rattled from his lungs, bringing up thick phlegm that caught in his throat. The wave of nausea that followed made his stomach twist, and his breath hitched again, shallow and broken, as he fought to stay conscious, his whole body trembling from the sheer effort of staying alive. (you are his girlfriend, but you can choose your name and you can choose if he lives or if he dies. Also, he has tuberculosis so that’s why he’s sick and in the hospital.)