Seven Days to Goodbye (Irene and Stellan) novel Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Early the next morning, Stellan drove with Irene to the Denali base camp.

Then they changed into their climbing gear.

He watched as Irene wrapped herself up tightly, and with some amusement, pinched her cheek.

“If you walked with the penguins in Antarctica right now, even they wouldn’t suspect you weren’t one of them.”

Irene glared at him.

Stellan helped her adjust her goggles, the smile at the corner of his mouth slowly fading.

“Sorry.”

“We came in such a hurry this time, all the gear was bought at the foot of the mountain at the last minute. It’s not as well–prepared as what you had before.”

Irene tilted her head, her eyes curved in a smile: “Why have you been apologizing so much lately?”

Stellan did not explain, but pulled her up the mountain.

They followed the climbing team, roped together, their steps uneven and deep in the snow.

“Rene, can you keep going?”

Stellan kept glancing back at Irene, who was behind him.

Irene’s goggles were covered in snow, and she shook her head at him.

Stellan paused, remembering that the last time they went to Alaska, Irene had looked pale and even taken medicine for altitude sickness.

But later…

Suddenly, a dull pain struck his head, and he could not recall what happened after that.

Struggling to make it halfway, Stellan felt his breathing suddenly become heavy.

“Stellan!”

Stellan’s leg gave out, and he dropped to one knee, gasping for air.

He had never so clearly felt how difficult it was just to breathe; as the altitude increased, it only became harder.

Irene took off her goggles, her face full of worry as she tried to help him up.

“Stellan, are you alright?”

Stellan looked at her face, red from the cold and worry, and reached up to touch it.

“I’m fine, don’t worry.”

He forced himself to stand, his head spinning.

“Love, Stellan, I love you.”

She smiled, her eyes full of concern and love she could not hide.

Stellan felt a heaviness in his heart; Irene was smiling, saying she loved him, right in front of him.

Yet everything still felt so distant, like a dream.

Under the effects of altitude sickness, Stellan no longer wanted to climb.

He could not go on; he just wanted to let himself fall.

Stellan looked at the world, now all the same color, his strength gone, his eyes slowly closing.

In his fading consciousness, Irene’s anxious and angry voice reached him.

“Stellan, are you crazy? You’re suffering from altitude sickness, use the oxygen now!”

Stellan’s lips curled into a faint smile, as if he wanted to open his eyes, but he no longer had the strength.

He did not know how much time had passed, but when Stellan woke again, he was already in the hospital.

The smell of disinfectant stung his nerves again and again.

“Rene?”