He smiled and sat on the edge of the bed. “Lewis is on his way.” Lewis. My heart leaped and stomach fluttered. He was coming here, now. “Err,” he said, frowning. “Do you want to see him?”
Do I? For the past seven and a half months, seeing him was the only thing I wanted to do; now it was possible I didn’t even know how I felt or what I wanted. Not if he was going to look at me like they all were. I didn’t want pity, especially not his. I wanted Rose, Poppy, and Violet. I wanted to feel safe. “Where are they?”
“Where are who?”
“Rose, Poppy, and Violet?”
“I don’t know, Sum. Lewis is on his way, though,” he repeated and looked at me as if I were crazy.
Mum sat down opposite Henry and grabbed my hand. I pulled away and played with my fingers. Her touch felt strange. “Honey?”
I chewed on my lip and tried to figure out what I wanted. Everything was so confusing and absolutely nothing made sense. My emotions were blank. “Can you all leave? Please.”
“What? What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Dad asked.
“Just go,” I whispered and covered my eyes with my hands. I wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep.
***
I was left alone for a grand total of twelve minutes. Henry still hadn’t come back in, but my parents sat on the chairs against the wall—about as much space as they were going to give me. They hadn’t said anything since they told me they weren’t going to leave me. It was almost as if they weren’t here. It wasn’t quite enough, though. I didn’t want them here. I felt guilty for being so confused whenever they looked at me with sadness and confusion in their eyes. At least Henry would make stupid small talk.
The door opened, and before I even looked up, I knew it was Lewis. Everything changed. The atmosphere spiked; my heart rate spiked. My parents both sat forward, and Henry marched in front of my bed and looked back to the door. What were they expecting? Did they think Lewis had the magic cure that would fix everything? I wished he did, but I wasn’t that na?ve anymore.
He’s here. My breath caught in my throat and everything stopped. I felt nervous, confused, and scared—not excited. I felt like the air had been sucked from the room. I could hardly breathe.
Neither of us said a word, and I still hadn’t looked up. It became painful to be in the same room. His footsteps grew louder as he approached. I felt the bed dip and, out of the corner of my eye, saw his leg. I gulped and looked up. The first thing I saw was my family standing just inside the door. We weren’t getting privacy for this, then.
I turned my head, and he came into view. I stopped breathing altogether. I had remembered his face perfectly, down to the faint little scar just under his eyebrow.
“Summer,” he whispered. I closed my eyes. The way he said my name was how I had imagined it so many times when I was in the cellar, how I pictured him saying it, how his eyes shone when he said it. My name suddenly didn’t feel as strange anymore.
His beautiful green eyes pierced into mine, and I felt weightless. He still looked at me the same way. How? Did he really wait for me? I wanted to believe it so badly, but seven and a half months was a long time. How long ago did he think I was dead? Had he started to move on? He was still searching for me, but did that mean he wanted me?
I had so many questions, and I didn’t feel that I could ask him any of them. He opened and closed his mouth a few times. I guess he couldn’t find the words either. He was just as lost. I always thought our reunion would be romantic—rescued girl jumps into guy’s arms and they kiss.
“Lily?” I leaped forward at the sound of Poppy’s voice. She looked around nervously, avoiding eye contact with everyone. I threw the thin blanket off my legs and got out of bed. My head swam as I stood up, and I stumbled trying to walk.
Lewis gasped. “Summer!” My mum started fussing, and I was ordered to get back to bed. I ignored my family’s demands and rushed into Poppy’s open arms. She started crying. I wanted to go home. Not to the cellar, but somewhere with Rose, Poppy, and Violet. I didn’t feel safe without them.
“Are you okay?” I asked, looking her up and down frantically. He’d stabbed her!
She nodded. “Fine. It wasn’t deep. Violet…” She let out a big sob. What?
“What about her? You’ve been with her. They told me you were with her. Is she okay?” Poppy sobbed harder on my shoulder and shook her head. No. “But…she can’t be…” Violet’s dead. Clover had killed her.
I collapsed against Poppy. My body started to shake. It hurt so much. After all of that, Violet died anyway. I burst into tears. Why couldn’t it just all be over? “Rose, where’s Rose?” I sobbed, my chest heaving. She would need us too.
“She’s in the hospital, but they won’t let me see her.”
Pulling back, I wiped my tears, but it was useless; fresh ones replaced them straight away. “I want to see her. We need to find someone.”