We don't get to her before she hits the ground and I'm forced to watch her body collapse, hitting the floor with a thud. People form a circle around her and as much as it bothers me, I don't say anything to them.

I kneel beside Madison and try to focus on what I should do. In a split second, a teacher races over to us. He starts to shout, and it takes me a second to actually listen and realize he's telling someone to call 911. Madison whips out her phone immediately and I see her frantically dialing those three numbers.

"Layla," I know I'm saying her name, but I can't hear myself. Everyone is quiet around me with only a few whispers here and there.

Layla's face is blank, a small scrape on her forehead from where she fell. I take the sleeve of my shirt and wipe the small amount of blood off of it. Laura might have words with me later about my white shirt, but that doesn't matter.

The teacher, Mr. Mohr, tells us not to move Layla. He gently holds his fingers against her chest as if he's waiting for her heart to beat. It dawns on me that he must know her condition, or maybe he's just really good at assuming things.

Layla's camera is still hanging around her neck and Mr. Mohr gently removes it. He mindlessly hands it to Madison who looks down at it with a broken look on her face. The camera is cracked in a few different places.

She catches me watching her and puts her hand out, the camera dangling from it.

"Take it. Bring it to her when she's better."

After a moment of hesitation, I take the broken camera and hold it against me.

The paramedics arrived soon after. I hurriedly grab Layla's backpack and her glasses that had fallen off her face before I go to follow the paramedics outside.

"Jonah!" Mr. Mohr calls. I spin around to face him. Madison isn't too far behind him.

"I have to go. I don't care if you have to give me detention or something. I'm going."

Behind him, Madison gives me an encouraging nod and I leave without giving Mr. Mohr a chance to say anything else. My grip tightens around her backpack strap with everything stuffed inside. The ambulance leaves and I have to hurry to catch a bus.

The doors shut as soon as I reach it and I have to bang on them to catch the bus driver's attention.

It feels like a year has passed by the time I reach the hospital. With Layla's backpack swung over my shoulders, I try to seem calm as I enter the hospital. After asking several times for her room number or where she could be, I realize that there's no way I'm getting in there without being related to her.

Feeling defeated, I walk out of the hospital and look around. I can't just leave – not with Layla in there somewhere holding onto her life.

Everyone around me is bustling around, going about their business. How can everything be so normal? How can the world just keep going like it is while Layla... isn't?

It's all too much. How did I fall into something like this? Why does God want me to feel this way? I don't know if I've ever hurt so much and felt so lost at the same time. And no one hears me – no one cares.

A breeze brushes through the air and a woman steps in front of me. I dodge her, scraping Layla's backpack against the brick wall of the hospital as I do. I look back to see that a paper fell out of the side pocket of her backpack and pick it up. As I unfold it, I find a bench to sit down on in a small courtyard beside the hospital entrance.

The paper is all but crumbled up instead of folded. She must have been in a hurry after she wrote whatever is on here. For all I know it's just a few notes from class.

To my surprise, there's something written on in Layla's semi-neat handwriting.

"Fear arises when we imagine 

that everything depends on us." - Elizabeth Elliot

I stare at it for a few moments and reread it multiple times. Layla told me last night how scared she actually was for her future. I didn't have the right words for her and I don't know how anyone would. But this one statement makes you think more than any bull crap answer.

Below the quote is a Bible verse; Philippians 4:6-7. I shakily pull my phone out of my pocket and go to the internet so I can look up this verse.

"Jonah." I hear my name and my head perks up immediately.

Standing in front of me is Layla's father, Abe. His wide shoulders are slumped and he looks exasperated like he just ran here. I stand up quickly and drop my phone into my pocket and Layla's note into my other one.

"Mr. Scott." I don't what else to say. He looks at the backpack I have on and closes his eyes, clenches his jaw. I step forward and try to say something, but no words come out.

Abe roughly drops his hand on my shoulder and practically pushes me along with him as we head into the hospital. The nurse doesn't question me tagging along this time and automatically addresses Abe by his first name. It takes me a second to realize that they've probably done this before.

Everyone knows what exactly is happening. Except for me.

We go up several floors, not speaking a word the entire way. After a few different turns down a few different hallways, we stop near the room the nurse had directed us to. Abe knocks on the door and a moment later Holly opens it slowly.

Instead of breaking down into tears like I would have imagined, she throws her arms around Abe and closes her eyes tightly. I can see the slightest bit into the room and catch a glimpse of someone lying on the hospital bed, legs covered by a white blanket.

Abe's hand on my shoulder draws my eyes away. "I found this guy outside with Layla's stuff."

Holly turns her gaze to me. Her smile is weighed down heavily, but it's still there. Just like Layla.

"Yeah, I was there when... it happened." The words feel like sandpaper.

Holly pulls me into a hug next. "Do you want to go see her?"

I shrug her backpack off my shoulders and hand it to Holly. "In a little bit. You guys should be there with her now. I can wait." But I can't. It's taking everything in me not to run in there and make sure she's okay.

Holly nods her head and offers me a smile. She takes Abe's hand and they walk into the room together. I see Layla's face for a moment. Suddenly I'm a smaller version of myself looking into the hospital room that my mother was in multiple times before she got help. Next, I'm a year in the past and looking at Travis lying in a bed and refusing to talk to anyone.

But now I see Layla and I can feel my heart breaking into a million pieces.

I have to walk away. I find an empty hallway and press my back against the wall, sliding down it until I hit the floor. I sprawl my legs across the hallway and try my hardest not to let myself get so worked up.

Remembering the note in my pocket, I pull it out and look up the verse on my phone. Once I find a version that I clearly understand, my breathing becomes ragged as my chest feels heavy.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Is this what I need to do? Do I have to put in a request for God to heal Layla? Shouldn't He already know and be on the case?

I don't get it. I'm confused and I'm angry. This God claims to be so loving and powerful, but my best friend is lying in a hospital bed right now with her heart literally giving up on her. How can I see goodness through all of that?

"Sir?" A woman's voice shakes me from my deadly thoughts. With tears in my eyes, I look up to see an old woman with a walker. She's bent over and her small, wrinkly hands and purple-painted fingernails are holding tightly to her walker. She looks from me to my legs and I get the point. I pull them to me so she can keep walking.

"Sorry," I murmur.

She stops in front of me. At first, I think it could be so she can catch her balance, but then I look up to see her staring down at me. Her curly gray hair and tan skin make her icy eyes pop. They catch my attention easily.

"He's listening to you, son."

I can't say anything before she's shuffling off again. I stand up and walk up beside her, gently putting my hand on her back to let her know that I'm there.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

She narrows her icy eyes as she looks at me, but then she smiles brightly. "Oh, hello! Have you seen my cousin? I've been looking all over for her."

I shake my head. "I don't know-"

"Mom!" Another woman shouts from the end of the hallway. With a frantic look on her face, she jogs over to us. "Where are you going?"

The old lady chuckles and pats the shoulder of who I assume to be her daughter. "Come on, Eloise. I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Mom, I'm Jennifer, remember?"

The two begin their walk down the rest of the hallway as they introduce themselves to each other.

I get the overwhelming feeling that this lady was my sign. The sign that nothing is perfect on this earth. There is sickness and disease in this tainted world, but it's hope that brings us back. That lady couldn't remember her own daughter, but she remembered God.

Is that a bad thing? Should God allow her to remember Him but not her own daughter?

I feel blind. Layla is my set of eyes when it comes to God. She would be able to point out the obvious that is hidden under my impurity. But I don't have her right now.

It's right now, in this dimly lit hospital hallway, that I fall down on my knees. I speak the words and hope that if He's there, that He's listening.

If you're there, tell me how to find You as Layla does. Tell me how to have faith, how to trust that You are good. Because in my world of darkness, Layla is my light, and You are hers. That must mean something, right?

I stand up, using the railing along the wall as my support. I walk slowly towards the direction of Layla's room and see Abe standing outside her door. He waves me over, and I go.

"She's asking for you, Jonah," he tells me. I nod my head, unable to show any emotion because, in all honesty, I'm feeling them all.

_________________

The song is God's Not Done With You by Tauren Wells! It's so beautiful!

Let me know what you thought about this chapter, and I also have an important question for you:

Who do you think the third and final installment in this series will be about? It's a spinoff, which means it won't be (directly) about Jonah. He will still be a character like Travis is in this one, but the main character will be one that you've already met! 

I want to hear your guesses!