I try to open my eyes, but it feels like they’re sewn shut. I move my hands around, feeling for something to tell me where I am, but the movement makes me tired, and darkness takes over before I even realize I was awake in the first place.
“I shouldn’t have left that day.” The soft voice lures me from sleep. I try to open my eyes, but it’s still too hard, so I keep them shut as I listen. “You were right. Going to see Jett was stupid, and now look what happened.”
Ava.
She’s crying. I hate when she cries, and I want to reach for her. I try, but it’s like my body won’t listen. Then, I feel her hand wrap around mine. I try to hold hers back, but I can’t. “I’m so sorry, Rumi.”
I want to open my eyes and tell her that it’s not her fault.
But I don’t even know what she’s apologizing for.
Where am I?
Where’s Evee?
But before I can remember what got me here, sleep takes over once again.
“Rumi?” I hear the voice, low, gruff, and instantly familiar. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I need you to be okay.” Jack’s words are strained, emotion heavy in his tone, and I feel his hand wrap around mine, his lips pressing against my skin.
I’m okay, I want to tell him, but just trying to open my eyes feels like the toughest feat right now. I want to squeeze his hand, let him know I’m here, but it’s like my body isn’t connected to my mind.
“Ava and I have been taking turns with Evee at my house,” Jack continues. I wish I could see him—his dark, wavy hair, his green eyes, his tan skin, his smile that always goes to one side of his face. “And whoever isn’t with her is here.”
How long have I been out?
“My mom and Emerson have been helping out too, visiting you or Evee as much as they can.”
His voice cracks, and I wish I could make the pain I hear in his voice go away. “I miss you, pretty girl.” He presses his forehead to where he holds my hand in both of his. “Come back to me,” he whispers. “Please.”
The events that lead me here come rushing back—Trevor, the fire, getting me and Evee out. I remember it all, even the moment that Jack found us. I heard the sirens, knew he would come, knew he would save us, and that’s when I finally closed my eyes, only for them to be impossible for me to open now.
It takes all my strength, but I finally see the bright lights of the hospital room, my eyes slowly adjusting after being closedfor who knows how long. Then, I use whatever’s left to squeeze Jack’s hand, his head shooting up to look at me, his green eyes glossy.
More memories begin to flood my brain.
But not from the fire.
Sirens.
Lights.
Voices.
Then just one.
“She needs to be okay.”
Jade green eyes looking down on me.
Ones I’ve never seen before.
“She needs to be okay.”
A gasp escapes my lips, remembering the few moments I woke up after my accident last year, just before I was loaded into the ambulance.
“Rumi baby,” he says in disbelief before sitting up to wrap his arms around me, gently pulling me close to him.
“It was you,” I manage to say though the pain in my throat, my voice cracked and soft.
