Page 182 of Beautiful Scars

Someone’s nudging my arm.

I open my eyes. No idea where I am.

Silver carpet in front of my eyes and mirrored furniture.

Sarah. Crouched down beside me.

“You fell asleep down here,” she says, her voice gentle. Quiet.

I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus.

Rubbing my eyes, I sit up and try to remember.

Maddie demanded a story but since I didn’t have a book I just told her about Goldilocks via memory. She refused to go to sleep alone because there was a pile of washing in the corner that looked like a monster, and no amount of moving it would satisfy her.

So I slept on the floor and remembered the time when I did this for her mum.

Slept? Huh.

Man, why is the sky blue?

I’m not sure. You need to go to sleep.

Okay. What’s your favorite color?

Green. What’s yours?

Blue. That’s easy because it’s blue. Granny says my eyes are blue, too but I think they’re silver. What are your eyes?

Closed.

I don’t sleep with my eyes closed.

Everyone sleeps with their eyes closed.

Nope. Not me. I just blink and then it’s morning.

Well try a blink now. A long one.

Okay.

Twenty seconds later…Man? You awake?

I’m not sure how long that went on for. At some point she must have drifted off, I guess.

She’s still zonked out now in the middle of Sarah’s double bed.

“We need to get her home,” I say to Sarah. “Where’s Cole?”

She swallows and looks down at the carpet. “He’s at the hospital.”

“You didn’t go with him?”

“Neither of us did. But I called when I woke up. They put him in a coma but said he’s stable.”

I almost laugh at that.Coleandstableare not words that should be in the same sentence.

“Will you come with me to drop her off? They might understand better if you’re there?”

She smiles at my white lie. Anne-Marie will understand regardless, but Sarah shouldn’t be left alone right now. It will help her to think that she’s helping.

“Sure.”