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He left, and he wasn’t coming back.
Maybe it was better this way. At least one person won’t watch me go through hell.
At least one person will be spared the suffering.
No matter how much I need him to be here.
“Thanks, Gracie.”
“I mean it.” She brushes a strand of my hair behind my ear. “We’ll get you through this.”
I can only hope that she’s right.
CHAPTERTWELVE
PRESCOTT
“You should have gone on the trip,” Gabriel says, his eyes focused on the cards in front of him.
“I didn’t want to go on the trip,” I shrug nonchalantly.
“Liar,” he throws back without missing a beat as he places a draw-four card on the pile. “Red.”
“Am not.” Rolling my eyes at him, I draw the cards, spreading them wide in my hands so I can see all my options before adding one to the pile. “School trips are boring, anyway.”
“Says you. I’d loved to have gone.” Gabriel hums as he places a card on top of mine. “What do you think they’re doing?”
Of course, he would. Gabriel would love the field trip our teacher, well,myteacher, has organized. He’d be the loudest on the bus, the first to ask all the silly questions nobody dares to ask in order to avoid sounding stupid. Because if you ask Gabriel, there are no stupid questions, just people too stupid not to ask them.
“I don’t know,” I shrug. “Who cares? At least I don’t have to be in school, and we can spend the day together.”
“You better remember that when…”
“When?” I prompt, dropping my card on the table.
There is a crooked smile on Gabriel’s lips as he drops not one, not two, but three plus-two cards.
“Are you shitting me? How?”
My brother smirks. “Luck, I guess?”
The strong vibrating of the phone wakes me out of my dreams. My head snaps up, pain shooting through my neck. I rub the back of it, looking around as I try to figure out where I am.
My room.
Not the hospital.
I’m in my room.
Soft light is peeking through the drawn curtains, signaling that I’d fallen asleep at some point during the night while I was studying. The little lamp is shining dim light over the desk, books and papers are scattered around, and my laptop has long gone to sleep.
The screen of my phone lights up once again as it continues buzzing. I grab it, hitting the answer button as I rub my hand over my face.
“Yeah?” I croak, my voice hoarse from sleep.
“I should have figured you’d still be asleep,” Dad booms from the other side of the line.
Letting out a sigh, I lean back in my chair. “Good morning to you, too, Father.”
