Chapter 143: Before Everything Went Dark

**Chapter 143: Before Everything Went Dark**

ELLIE

*No.*

*It was still real.*

For a second, I thought it had been a nightmare. Then I heard the low voices around me, and everything came rushing back. The pain in my chest, the shortness of breath, the dizziness, the nausea, and finally, the tears.

“I think we should take her to the hospital,” Anna said, her voice laden with concern as her fingers gently stroked my hair.

I had fainted in her lap.

“I’m fine,” I murmured, feeling the tears overflow.

“Here, drink this,” Zoe said, approaching to offer me a glass of water once I managed to gather the strength to sit up.

But it was as if she wasn’t even there. Everything around me still felt unreal.

Perhaps because I refused to believe it.

It had to be a nightmare.

“It’s going to be okay,” Anna said, squeezing my hand between hers. “I know they’ll find him.”

“Please, tell me this isn’t real,” I pleaded, closing my eyes tightly.

But when I opened them, I was still sitting on the couch, with Zoe in front of me and Anna seated beside me.

“I know he’s okay,” Zoe said, sitting on my left side. “But you need to stay calm, okay? For the baby.”

*The baby…*

*Our baby.*

*His message.*

*His last message…*

The memory made the tears come even harder, in a way that I could barely breathe. The pain in my chest was crushing.

I couldn’t do this without Ethan. I needed him. Because without him, none of this made sense. Nothing else mattered.

*Please, God… He has to be okay.*

“El…” Will called, making me open my eyes. “Are you okay?” he asked, but something in his gaze made me feel even worse.

“Please, Will… Tell me he’s okay,” I begged, breaking down once more.

My body trembled amidst the sobs and incessant tears. The pain was suffocating, making me gasp with each painful attempt to breathe.

“Hey…” I felt his arms wrap around me, pulling me against his chest. “It’s going to be alright. They’ve already started the search. Now it’s just a matter of time until they find him. But you need to be strong. For the three of you.”

I blinked through the tears, absorbing his words. They were searching. They were looking for him. Where? I needed to know.

“Where’s Bennett?” I asked, realizing that Zoe had also disappeared and that Will had taken her place.

“He’s in the bedroom, watching the news,” Will said.

News? On TV? I needed to see.

“I’m going…”

“It’s not a good idea, Ellie,” Anna said, stopping me before I could get up. “You can’t get more stressed.”

“I don’t care.”

“She’s right, El. But I promise we’ll tell you as soon as we have new information, okay?” Will assured me.

“Come on, let’s go to the bedroom; you’ll be more comfortable there.” Anna stood up, compelling me to follow her.

I knew they were only worried that my condition could affect the pregnancy, and for that reason, and that reason alone, I gave in.

But the truth was, nothing else mattered to me, only knowing where Ethan was and that he was okay.

I wished I could do something, but I knew I couldn’t. And that was what hurt the most. The feeling of helplessness. The idea that he was so far away… lost…

*Alive. He’s alive. I know he is.*

I repeated to myself, preventing my thoughts from going to the worst.

“Do you want me to bring you something? Tea?” Anna asked, making me sit on the bed in her guest room.

I shook my head.

“Do you want to be alone?” she asked, seeming to read my thoughts.

I nodded, waiting only for her to close the door behind her to break down once more, curling up on the bed.

I couldn’t take it anymore. The uncertainty and the possibility that I had truly lost him were killing me slowly. I was so scared. Afraid that the truth would be the worst of all.

And that fear only grew with each passing second, making me dread that someone would walk through the door at any moment to tell me what I knew would truly make me wish I were dead.

But I needed to believe. I had to, because if I didn’t… I would have nothing left.

*We still had so many plans… The wedding, the baby…*

I couldn’t do it without him.

Damn. I could barely breathe. The tears were blinding and suffocating me as I remembered every moment of the last week. How excited he seemed about the idea of becoming a father…

After everything we’d been through, it couldn’t end like this.

No. It couldn’t.

Wiping away the tears and taking a deep breath, I sat up on the bed, reaching for my cell phone that Anna had left on the nightstand.

I couldn’t give up.

Staring at his last message on the screen once more, I felt my heart shatter into the tiniest pieces.

*“See you in a few hours.*

*Love you.*

*Or rather, love both of you.”*

The words kept echoing in my head until they started to feel like a final goodbye, leaving me terrified and desperate.

Then, I simply started typing, one message after another. Begging, as tears dripped onto the words on the screen:

*“Please come back to me.”*

*“I need you.”*

*“Please—I can’t do this without you.”*

*“Please… answer me.”*

And then, I called. Again and again, nonstop—for minutes, maybe hours. Pleading with God as I heard the same message repeat on the other end of the line. Whimpering, sobbing, trembling, and sweating, lying on the bed, feeling a pain that seemed to have left my chest and taken over my entire body, until my phone finally shut off.

At some point, when my tears finally seemed to have dried up, leaving only the pain amid the dry and desolate silence of the room, I heard someone shout Bennett’s name.

Feeling almost powerless, I forced my body to get up, practically dragging myself to the living room.

I arrived just in time to see Zoe leaving through the door, which remained open—probably going after him.

Then, I focused my attention on the TV, discovering what must have triggered Bennett’s reaction.

The journalist was muted, but the letters scrolled at the bottom of the screen. Something about wreckage found in the North Atlantic. Followed by the words that made my world collapse:

*No confirmation of survivors.*

I felt my heart stop for a second. The room seemed to spin, making me seek support on the wall, and once again, I completely lost my breath.

And that was the only thing that kept me from screaming.

From screaming his name.

Pain.

There was only pain.

An excruciating pain.

“Oh my God, Ellie!” Anna screamed, startled, running toward me.

It was the shock in her eyes—and in Will’s, right behind her—that made me look at myself.

*Blood.*

It was the last thing I saw before everything went dark.