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I wanted them to go.
To leave so I could break in peace.
Jack sensed my unravelling composure and clasped my shoulder. “Look, you’re being kept here overnight to monitor your concussion. You’ll be warm and dry and can get some rest.” He arched his chin at the duffel he’d tossed onto the bed. “I brought you a few clothes. They might be a little big, but they’ll do for now. When you’re discharged in the morning, get the hospital to call me.” Letting me go, he pulled out a card from his wallet. A crinkled, corner-curled card with the same whale tail that hung off Neri’s necklace. His name was stamped in blue along with a phone number and an address.
“Here. Keep this safe.” He pressed it into my greasy hand. “Once you’re feeling a bit better, we’ll talk and figure out where to go from here. Sound good?”
I fisted the card.
My eyes burned hotter.
“Is there anyone in Port Douglas we can call?” he asked. “Were you travelling to family already here?”
I choked on grief, barely managing to shake my head.
Jack was perceptive and merely nodded. “Enough questions for now. We’ve filled in all your paperwork as best we can, so you don’t need to do that tonight, but there is one thing they need to know.”
I raised my heavy head, sorrow swirling thickly. That damn whirlpool was back, sucking me down, down, down. “What?” I asked stiffly. “What do you need to know?”
“Your name,” Neri said quietly.
Her voice cut through my despair, ripping my gaze to hers.
I tripped over my badly stuttering heart. “My name?”
Didn’t I tell her?
I thought I told her.
“You said it means lion...in your language.”
Her parents shared a look I didn’t like. A look with raised eyebrows and suspicious curiosity. I ought to care what they thought.
But I was exhausted and lost and the only thing keeping me from being swept out to sea on a wave of tears was her.
“Aslan,” I whispered.
“Aslan?” She licked her lips, drawing all my attention.
My broken heart gave another strange kick.
“My name is Aslan Avci, and I owe you, Nerida, for every breath that I take. From this moment, until my last moment.”
Her cheeks pinked.
Her father wrote my name on the form.
Her mother gathered up the packages from our meal.
And then...in a vortex of darkness and misery, they gave me words of comfort and goodbyes before gathering up their daughter.
They left me on that bed.
All while Neri never took her eyes off me as they dragged her away.
I felt her eyes on me long after she’d gone.
I felt her watching as I tipped to my side, drew up my knees, and lost myself to grief.
