As I Lay Dying Audiobook Novels & Stories

The mother and son pair reluctantly stepped aside but didn't leave. They merely stood at the door. At that moment, Rourke spoke from his hospital bed. "Let them in." I was furious at the command but followed Betsy’s cue. She had remained calm as she patted my hand and lowered her head to look at her phone. Once Samantha entered and closed the door, I could hear what seemed like crying from inside. Betsy and I exchanged glances. She scoffed, "So melodramatic!"

I persist, standing up, trying to control my irritation. He lowers his head, his hands tied in front of him politely. “He’s dead, Alpha Layla,” Eddie admits. My heart skips a beat. “Dead? How?” I ask, shocked. Eddie looks uneasy. “I’m afraid I can’t say much, but Alpha Quade gave the order-”

We stare at each other. For a moment, I see it. A flicker of the man from my earliest memories. Before he disappeared. Before the silence. Before the closed-door conversations my mother thought I didn’t hear. Pride. Not warmth, but pride. It makes me feel sick. “You’re dying,” he says quietly. “All three of you. The cascade is accelerating.” “I noticed.” “Without stabilization, organ failure begins inside weeks.” “Then you’d better hurry your villain monologue.” A corner of his mouth lifts. “You always perform when cornered.”

Dad's hand remained frozen in place for a very long time. He then slumped to the floor, bawling like a child. He cried as he spoke, his voice hoarse and nearly impossible to make out. "H-He's dead… Ash is actually dead… Ash is dead…" Eli was still standing in the doorway. His hand on the doorframe was shaking, while his whole body was trembling. He looked at Mom and Dad crying inside the storage room, then at the small, lifeless body in the corner.

On the day of my pyre, my body had been reassembled. The mortician was skilled. I looked… almost whole. For a moment, I studied the still figure laid out before the sacred flames. I had to admit— Death became me. I looked better than I had in years. No fear. No pain. No exhaustion carved into my bones. Just stillness. Peace. My parents came to see me off. Caden could not. Pack justice for killing Seraphina had been swift—and merciless.

“Patience, child. Truth takes time.” I couldn’t take it anymore. I pushed my chair back, moved to my knees, and reached for her hands across the table. They were cool, frail in mine, but her grip was stronger than I expected. “Please,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “Tell me the truth. Who was the person who died during the fire at Serenity Wellness Center?” Her gaze wavered, her lips pressing into a thin line. For a long moment, the only sound was the faint ticking of a clock on the wall. Then her shoulders slumped, as if laying down a burden she had carried too long.

" He doesn't reply, watching me take my last breath. I try not to feel disappointment as black spots fill my vision and my life begins to fade. “ Asger.“ That is the last thing I hear as I breathe my last. ~P-Lia~

Caroline sounded breathless on the phone. "I'm sorry Caroline, but you won't believe what happened last night," Dari said and went on to tell Caroline everything that happened last night, sparing no details, when she was done Caroline was laughing so hard at the other end of the line. "Oh my God, Dari, I think you stole a few pages from my book. I can't believe it," she said, laughing " You better believe it, Caroline. I mean, I don't even know his name, I can only remember his face and his body, and he was fully sculpted by a genius."

The crowd laughed as they shoved me back into the liquor again. The suffocation, the alcohol, and the seizure crashing together dragged my consciousness down rapidly. Just before I blacked out completely… The private room door slammed open. A voice exploded through the room, heavy with suppressed rage. "You people have a death wish!"

And far away, somewhere beyond the noise, a phone that had been forcefully hung up was about to ring again. White-hot pain tore through me. Blood flooded my mouth, metallic and choking. My body convulsed violently as oxygen vanished entirely. The world began to fade— sounds stretching, faces blurring, everything pulling away from me. Just as darkness was about to swallow me whole— A voice cut through the chaos like a gunshot. “Lay one more hand on my daughter,” she said slowly, “and none of you will ever leave this ship alive.”