There was water everywhere, in my eyes, in my lungs, pressing upon my chest. My fingers were going numb at a disastrously fast rate.

I heard a voice from beneath me, "Simon."

"Who's there?" I called out.

"Simon, help me out of here," I heard the voice plead.

I could see a silhouette slowly becoming visible beneath my feet.

"Hold my hand!" I called out. The boy's fingertips were about to touch mine when a current of water disturbed the peace and forcefully threw him down. He hit the floor with a dull thud.

Admist the racket, I saw the blurry figure reach the floor in slow motion and my heart stopped beating; it was a face I knew very well.

"No!"

I sat up, hyperventilating, trembling head to toe, covered in sweat. Shit, shit, shit, I never had such a terrible nightmare before.

I dragged a shaking hand through my hair, trying to calm myself. It was just a nightmare. It was just a nightmare, Simon.

I had fallen asleep thinking about Alexander's deal. August might have done me wrong, but he had his reasons. He did not deserve to get kicked out of school.

All of these thoughts might have triggered the nightmare. Beside me, Casper stirred in his sleep, breaking my chain of thought.

I lay down in my bed again, snuggling in my blanket, trying to give myself some comfort. Suddenly, I heard a ping go off on my phone. I frowned. Who could be messaging me in the middle of the night?

I sat up and reached out for the phone.

I loved you, Simon

2:22am

I loved you so much, it hurt

2:23am

My face blanched.

...

It was 4 in the morning, and I was sitting outside the nurse's ward, my head buried in my hands. Felice put a consoling arm around me, "He is going to be fine, Simon, don't worry."

I took a shaky breath, "I thought I lost him." My voice cracked, "I thought I had lost him for good this time."

After reading his messages, I rushed outside and broke into his room. The bodyguard was not too happy about it and I almost had to put up a fight. Finally, he gave in.

As I entered, my heart dropped to the floor. Wilhelm's room was a complete disaster, everything was thrown askew and he lay on his bed, wavering between consciousness and death. An empty bottle of sleeping pills was toppled beside him.

We quickly escorted him to the doctor's room and I had been waiting outside ever since. Having no idea what to do, I called Felice and Sara. They came rushing and they had been consoling me ever since.

I was on the brink of another breakdown when the nurse walked out.

"How is he?" I asked immediately standing up.

"The Prince will be fine. He hadn't had too many of the pills yet, you found him just in time."

"Thank god. Thank god. Thank god," I murmured to myself, relief flooding me.

"We made him vomit out the pills, so he will be a little weak for a while."

"Can we see him?" Sara asked.

"Yes, he has regained consciousness now," the nurse replied.

We walked in and Wilhelm was sitting on the bed, his back propped up against a pillow. His face was so pale, it made my heart ache. Before saying anything else, I enveloped him in a bone crushing hug; not the best idea, but I couldn't help it.

"Oh, man," he groaned painfully.

"Thank god you are okay," I said, and before I could stop myself, I was tearing down, my face buried in his shoulder.

Wilhelm gently pulled me away and wiped off my tears with his thumbs. "Am I in heaven?" he asked out of the blue.

"What?" I responded, nonplussed.

"Are you an angel or something?" he asked, his face grave.

"Gosh, Wilhelm," I said punching his arm, "Dumbass."

Behind me Felice made a noise which I was not sure was a chuckle or a sniff.

Wilhelm smiled softly. "How long have I been out?" he asked.

"Umm, one and a half hours I guess?" Felice responded looking at her phone.

"And you all have been outside all this while?" he asked.

"Pretty much. We had no other choice, Simon would have drowned in his own tears if we had not been here," Sara joked.

"Shut up, Sara," I said, and then turned to look back at Wilhelm, a strand of hair had fallen in front of his eyes. I tucked it back beneath his ear, gently grazing his cheek in the process. Wilhelm leaned his head to my touch.

All I wanted to do at this moment was kiss this beautiful broken boy in front of me, but I held myself back.

"If you two are done, now it's my turn to give Wilhelm a hug so we can go to sleep," Felice said, and as if to prove her point, Sara yawned.

"Fine," I said and I watched as Sara and Felice gave him hugs.

"You guys are the best," he said. making me feel fuzzy inside.

"And so are you Wilhelm," Sara replied, melting my heart this time. "You two need to get some sleep as well," Felice added.

"Yeah, I'll leave in a while," I said. The door clicked shut.