O2

2

"I don't know what to tell you, Miss Seaver. All I can tell you is that he didn't suffocate as most people do. Since you asked, though, there were traces of oxygen in his lungs, too much for him have suffocated on the air around us.  Beyond that, there's nothing more I know." The doctor looked down at his paperwork, sighing.

Nym nodded silently. Her eyes scanned the papers before searching around the small cramped office. "Do you know what killed him?" she asked in a thin voice.

"Well, I can tell you that he took in a lot of carbon monoxide. That's probably what did the job. Do you remember what time you woke up and found him?"

Shaking her head, Nym looked back at the doctor while nervously picking at the skin around her nails. "No," she said.

He nodded and looked back down at his paperwork. "I'm sorry I can't give you any better answers than that. This was probably just an accident. I know it's hard to hear...but it happens," he said and got up, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You'll need to have your parents contact me for funeral arrangements."

Nym nodded, eyes fixed hollowly on the desk. She swallowed hard and the doctor pulled his hand away from her shoulder.

"If it's any consolation, Miss, you're not the first person to lose someone to this. Mrs. Pryor died of the same thing a few days ago. If anything, maybe someone will finally come down here and fix all this old rusty equipment up. Just be careful, alright? If your parents have questions, direct them to me."

"Okay," Nym answered.

The doctor nodded and left the office. 

Nym hugged her knees to her chest as best she could in the small chair before she let herself breakdown in tears again. Cormac had been her little brother, albeit only a year younger, but still her little brother. How could this happen? He'd been fine the night before. Then suddenly he wasn't and there had been nothing she could do. Nothing except watch as her little brother suffocated to death in her arms. If only she'd gotten there sooner. How was she going to tell her parents that her younger brother died and she was to blame? 

I never should've snapped at him to leave me alone. If I'd just let him stay...maybe this would be different, she thought, sniffling. It was her fault he'd gone to bed so early. She'd sent him off and now he was dead. 

Hiding her face in her arms, Nym started sobbing louder, wishing her parents were there. She knew they'd be mad she failed to save Cormac, but at least then she wouldn't be alone. 

What do I tell them? They need to come home to plan a funeral for their only son?

She bit her lip and quieted down as her heart sank into her stomach. Mom would call that night. She'd want to know how everything was going like she did every day. Nym couldn't lie. She couldn't live with that added guilt, but how was she supposed to break the news of Cormac's death to them? 

She'd break her poor mother's heart, and her father's too. How could she ever face them, let alone live with them after this? I'd be a living reminder they lost their son...

Hiding her face in her arms, Nym started sobbing all over again. She could hear the tears dripping against her oxygen mask as she gasped and gulped down air. She wanted to scream but no noise could get past the knot in her throat which only tightened when she tried.

I should've gotten there sooner. I could've saved him and avoided all of this...Shaking, she pulled her arms over her head and raked her fingers through her tangled ginger hair. She screwed her eyes shut and screamed soundlessly as the painful knot constricted her chest.