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“But you could get fired for this,” I stupidly say. Why am I questioning her?
She sighs and looks me in the eyes. “I used to love someone so much that I’d do anything for them, and I can see just by looking at you that you feel that kind of love for this girl. We’ll be careful, we won’t get caught as long as you don’t stay long.”
“I’ll try not to.”
“You have five minutes and that’s it. I’m doing you a favor, but like you said: I’m also putting my job on the line.”
I nod my understanding and she opens the door. “She’s in room seven, it’s the farthest room on the right. I’ll distract the nurses and you get your ass down there without raising suspicion. I was never here, okay?”
And with that, she’s gone and I’m left in the doorway wondering if she meant to go now or not.
I risk it and step forward, the nurses’ station looming to the left of me, but the nurse that let me in laughs loudly and gains all the nurses’ attentions as I skirt past them all, thankful for the cover of the hallway as I take a brisk walk down to room seven.
I open the door seeing Amelia looking weak and helpless, hooked up to beeping machines. Shutting the door behind me and walking over to her, I perch on the seat beside the bed and gingerly lift her hand.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” I whisper while kissing her knuckles, choked with tears at the vacant look in her sleeping face. “You should’ve let me protect you." I lay my forehead against her hand in frustration. "I’m supposed to protect you."
"She loves you, she didn't tell you because of that,” a voice says from behind me and I jolt out of the seat, seeing Carl standing in the doorway.
“Are you going to tell them I’m in here?” He stares at me for a second before shaking his head tiredly and shutting the door behind him. He sits in a chair at the other side of her and takes her hand before I sit back down and do the same. “I tried to get her to let me in, to help her, but she’s so incredibly stubborn and strong willed.”
“Just like her mother,” he comments, a small chuckle escaping before he looks at her willfully.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to stop this from happening,” I add quietly, but to whom I don’t know. My brow furrows as I stare down at her hand, brushing my thumb over the top in a soothing motion. “If I had just pushed a little more then—”
“She wouldn’t have let you. There's nothing you could've done to change her mind about that,” he interrupts. “She was trying to protect you.” I lift my head up, staring into the same eyes as Amelia’s. “You’re her second family. She told us about you all when she came home: how much you all mean to her.”
“I’m going to sound like an arrogant asshole here, but I don’t need protecting. We would’ve worked something out and helped her because like you said, we’re family.”
The whole notion of being a family has my belly flipping and I squeeze her hand, making her a silent promise that when this is all over, there’s going to be no more secrets and doing things alone.
His lip quirks up. “I have no doubt about that, but when Bet—Amelia gets an idea, there’s no swaying her.” His eyes glaze over, seeming to go inside his own head before he shakes his thoughts away, his mouth turning into a grim line. “I tried to protect her, I should’ve made her wait to come back with me.” His head bows as he whispers, “I can’t believe this has happened to my baby girl.”
I’d like to reassure him that she’s going to be okay, but the harrowing fact is she might not be. And that thought guts me. “I—”
“I’m going to leave you alone for five minutes, I have to call my wife. She’s going out of her mind.”
“Thank you,” I say sincerely before turning back to Amelia. I hear the door click shut and I kiss her knuckles again before saying, “When you’re awake and recovering, you and I are going to have a—”
Her hand twitches and my gaze flicks from her hand to her face. Her eyelids slowly opening is like torture to me and my heart beats out of my chest as I wait for her to wake up in her own time.
I become aware of my breaths as they stutter in and out of my body. My eyes feel like they’re stuck together so I leave them closed as I use my other senses to take everything in around me.
Bleach; beeping of several machines; feet shuffling; a door closing, and then murmuring outside.
Where am I? What happe—
It all comes rushing back like a bad car accident, watching it in slow motion from the outside in. Phoebe; the fire escape balcony; falling; the sound of my body as it hit the ground; the crack of bone.
Am I alive? Did I manage to escape what fate had in store for me?
I wiggle my fingers on my right hand before trying the same with my left. Only this one won’t move because it’s covered with something warm.
I manage to pry my eyes open but immediately slam them shut against the harsh lights.
I try to talk but my throat burns and I croak out babble that makes no sense before a straw is brought to my lips and a deep voice says, “Drink slowly.”
I do as they say and when my throat isn’t as parched, I open my eyes again, staring into green orbs that I saw in my mind just before I hit the hard asphalt in the alleyway.
