I can feel her eyes on me as I carefully take a seat in the chair next to her bed. I know she is smiling before I even look up at her.

"You told me you were fine this morning before we left." I remember seeing her facial expression change suddenly and thinking something was wrong. Turns out I was right.

"I'm sorry," she replies. Her words are muffled slightly from the oxygen mask covering her mouth and nose. "I didn't think it was anything. My oxygen is just a little low, nothing to worry about."

I make a reminder to teach Layla how it is impossible to lie to a liar. I reach for her hand and hold it in mine before bringing it to my lips to leave a kiss.

With my other hand, I reach into my pocket for the note and pull it out. I hand it to her and she unfolds it, eyes scanning it.

"This fell out of your backpack and I looked at it. Hope you don't mind."

I watch her as she looks at it in silence. She must read it five different times before she closes her eyes, her long lashes brushing against the too-big oxygen mask. A single tear falls down her cheek and I don't hesitate to wipe it away.

"I wrote this last night after you fell asleep. That's probably why it's so crumpled..."

She hands the note back to me and I take it. "I looked up the verse."

She looks at me, eyes wide and lips quirked upwards. "You did?"

"Yeah." I nod my head. "I'm confused." I don't have any special words to explain the way I'm feeling, so I choose the simplest way possible. I try so hard not to, but there's a tug on my heart that is apparently pressing the button for the flood gates that is my tears ducts.

I want so badly to tell myself to man up, but this feels... unstoppable. Real. Raw.

I feel my eyes blur and I bow my head so Layla can't see me. I try to discreetly wipe a stupid tear off my face, but it doesn't go unnoticed. Layla puts a cold finger under my chin and lifts it, forcing me to look at her.

She scoots herself over on the bed and pats the new empty spot beside her. I climb up beside her, careful not to get wrapped up in any wires attached to her body. Once I'm situated, Layla rests her head on my shoulder and wraps her arm around my chest.

My chest rises and falls ruggedly. I lift my arm so that I can put it around Layla and pull her closer to me, not bothering to remember that her parents are just right outside the door.

I take a deep breath so I can speak. "How can you have such a deep-rooted faith in someone who lets this happen to you?"

She doesn't answer me at first. Her head is still where it lays on my chest, right above my heart.

She suddenly moves, leaning over to the bedside table on her side of the bed. She holds a purple Bible in her head, one that is the same color as the lady's nails from the hallway.

Layla removes her mask and lets it hang around her neck loosely. "I fully believe that whatever happens to me, I am taken care of. I'm... trying to be brave, and sometimes holding onto the faith of not having to go through this alone is what keeps me strong." She lays the Bible on my lap. "Here, I want you to take this for as long as you need it. Read the rest of Philippians, and maybe Romans... then the rest."

I pick it up and flip through its pages. Almost all of them are marked up with a highlighter and random scribbles in the margins on the side. There are sticky notes sticking out on some pages with notes written on them. This is Layla's Bible, but it feels like a piece of her soul.

"I know it seems overwhelming. There are a lot of words in here that threaten the peace that you think you have, but don't feel it." Layla takes my hands and I look at her as she gives me the most desperate and genuine look. "I promise that it is worth it. It's worth everything."

To my surprise, I smile. "You'd make a really great salesman, you know that?"

She shakes her head but still lets out a laugh. "Did I sell you on it?"

I nod my head. "I think you sold me the first time I met you." I lean over and let my head rest against hers before she decides to lie back on the pillows, my arm still around her. As she closes her eyes, I open the book in my hands to Philippians so I can find out what all this fuss is about.

After a while, Layla is asleep and curled into my side while my nose is stuck in the second chapter of Romans. It's interesting just how interesting something can be when it is relatable.

I hear a knock on the door and nearly jump. With one arm asleep from Layla's head laying on it and the other holding the Bible, I try to push myself up a little more when Abe walks in.

He looks at Layla's sleeping face and then at mine which undoubtedly looks afraid. I am laying in a bed with this man's daughter. But I'm also holding a Bible in my hand, so...

"Pretty good read, isn't it?" Abe asks, crossing his arms over his chest as he leans against the wall opposite the bed, a calm look on his face.

I nod my head. "Yeah, it is. I wouldn't be reading it if it wasn't for her." I sneak in a glance at her sleeping figure.

Abe smiles softly. "I know that she loves you being here. The last time this happened it didn't go well. She didn't handle it as well as this time, and I think it's because of you. Holly and I have you to thank for that."

Gently, I take my sleeping arm out from under Layla's head and pull the pillow down to rest her head on. I grab the Bible before I head over to Abe and follow him into the hallway.

"I don't know if this is too personal, but could you tell me exactly what's wrong with her?" I ask once we're outside her room.

"How much do you know?" Abe asks, concern rising on his face.

I shrug my shoulders. "She told me that there's an infection inside her heart. That's pretty much all I get from it. And from this, maybe her heart isn't working correctly? She said her oxygen was low."

Abe's expression changes into uncertainty. "She does have an infection in her heart. But it's slowly stopping her heart. She had problems when she was younger and eventually, she was diagnosed with Endocarditis and... it's done some damage. They are putting her on different antibiotics and we'll see where that takes us."

I can tell that telling me all this isn't easy for Abe. This is his only daughter, his little girl.

"Is she going to be okay?" I wasn't going to ask it, but I have to.

He nods his head. "We hope. We pray that God will heal this in her quickly. We're so exhausted from seeing her in pain."

"I'm sorry... I really am. This just... sucks."

Abe chuckles in the most stressful way, as odd as that sounds. "It's getting late. Won't your folks wonder where you are?"

"Probably. I guess I should get home." I look down at my phone and realize I forgot about Jordan... again. I add that to my list of things to worry about.

Before I can leave, I remember something that I need to do. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take Layla's camera and get it fixed. She dropped it when she fell and it's beaten up. Is that okay?"

Abe smiles. "I'm sure she'd love it."

Abe goes into the room and comes back out with Layla's backpack. He hands it to me and I set it down on a chair so I can dig her camera out. While I'm doing that, a doctor knocks on Layla's door.

Abe tells him to come in and they instantly begin a conversation. It doesn't take long for it to get serious, though.

"I've got some news, Abe. I know we said that we'd try new antibiotics, but... I'm fairly confident that surgery would work best for her. Her heart is so damaged from this, and I highly suggest we take these measures now so we can give her a longer and healthier life."

I try to focus on my hands. Surgery? That's dangerous... those don't always work.

I shake my head. Stop thinking like that.

I quickly grab Layla's camera and hurry out of the hospital.

It doesn't take me long to google a place around the city where I can take a camera to get fixed. Before I enter the small shop, I slip the SD card out of it for safe keeping. I don't want anything messing up the pictures Layla took.

Instead of going home though, I find a coffee shop that closes at eight – just enough time for me to look at Layla's SD card. I ask one of the waitresses if they have a computer I could borrow and one is nice enough to lend me her laptop. I sit at the counter where she can show me how to maneuver on the thing. It may be old, but it does have an SD slot.

The first picture is a blurry view of the floor, one that she must have accidentally snapped when she passed out. I skip to the next few which are creative shots of Madison and a few other students going about their business. I knew Layla had talent, but I think I underestimated her.

I flip through more of the pictures until I find ones of Moose, and then a few of Jordan. I realize that my family really has no idea where I am. I take the SD card out and put it in a safe place before shutting down the laptop and handing it back to the waitress.

I hurry as fast as I can to get home so no one worries any more than necessary. I am breathing harder than usual when I get to my front door. I can't bring myself to open the door yet and I rest my head against the door. My chest feels tight with the pain I've only felt a few times in my life; the time I was sitting in the hospital waiting for someone to tell me my best friend would be okay, and the time when I found out my mom wasn't coming home.

I was so angry when Mom didn't come home.

This is bringing back too many things that I didn't want to deal with then, and I don't want to deal with them now either.

Finally, I push open the door.

Dad is waiting for me at the kitchen table. When I walk in, I drop my phone and jacket on the table and look at the ground. I see my slightly bloody sleeve and drop it to my side.

Dad doesn't say a word until he walks over to me. "Jordan told me what happened at school today."

I look up at him, and I break.

________________________

The song is Tell Your Heart To Beat Agian by Danny Gokey!

Let me know your thoughts!!

Also, you can start to guess who the next book will be about! I'd love to hear who you think it will be!