He nods and smiles at me. “You’re welcome.”
“No, I really mean it. Thank you for looking after Sam.”
He smiles a sweet smile and looks over at Sam with the same look on his face that she had. It makes my frozen heart thaw a little.
She clears her throat, breaking their connection. “The Doctor came to see you earlier but you must’ve fell asleep when I left. He said he’d come back after five so I guess that’s around now.”
They both give me a weak smile and I can tell Sam wants to say something but she bites her lip to stop herself from saying it.
“Spit it out,” I say, making Sam and Connor look at each other.
He gives a slight shake of his head but she narrows her eyes at him before turning to me.
“You… you were talking in your sleep.” I dip my head in embarrassment, who knows what they heard. “You kept saying ‘Hunter’ over and over again.”
My brow pulls down in confusion and a pain in my chest starts to spread upward. Hunter.
And just like that, everything starts flooding back to me. The second time my uncle forced himself on me and I lay there, emotionless.
My mom.
He killed my mom.
The knife, the blood, the life draining from his eyes.
I killed him.
“I killed him,” I say out loud.
Sam sits on the bed beside me and grabs my hand. “What do you mean?”
Her voice is precise and careful, like she’s speaking to a child.
“My Uncle, I killed him,” I say impassively.
She looks at Connor again with wide eyes and he nods and walks out the room. “Keeley, is he the one that hurt you?”
I flinch, hurt me? He damn well nearly broke me, but he got sloppy and misjudged me. I look up as there’s a knock on the door and two uniformed cops come in.
“Would it be alright to have a few minutes while you’re awake?” One of them says.
I nod slowly. “Sam, can you wait outside please.”
She squeezes my hand and I hear the gentle click of the door closing behind her.
“My name’s Sergeant Hernandez, and this is Sergeant Daniels.” Daniels smiles at me and I look from him back to Hernandez. “We were two of the six police officers first on the scene, we’re glad you’re looking better than a few days ago.”
A few days ago?
“I’m sorry, how long have I been here for?” I ask.
Daniels answers. “It’s been four days, ma’am.”
My breath hitches and I shiver, four days.
“Before we ask you any questions, we just wanted to let you know that there’s nothing for you to feel unsafe about. All the perpetrators have been apprehended. And you-”
“Why does everyone keep saying there were more than one? There was only my Uncle, and I killed him.”
They look at each other. “Ma’am, there was one dead on arrival, and two others. We took one out at the scene and the other was arrested shortly after.”
No, this isn’t happening! I gag and Daniels grabs a kidney shaped tray from beside my bed and I retch into it, feeling the burning in my stomach and throat as I do. They’ve both turned around to give me some privacy, but turn back as I clear my throat. “You’ve… you’ve got the wrong people, they were there helping me. They saved me. I killed my Uncle.”
“Just get her… help.”
My throat constricts and I choke out, “Hunter-” Then the sobs are for a completely different reason, he was trying to get me to safety. “You shot him.”
Hernandez steps forward. “We were just doing our duty, ma’am.”
“Stop with the ma’am!” They look at each other. “He was trying to get me help and you shot him.” I stare daggers at them both. “Get out!”
Daniels holds his hands up. “We still need to take your statement-”
“Fuck you and your statement, I’ll give it when I’m damn well ready.” My fists flex and the ache in my bones and muscles is more apparent with me being wound so tight. “Get. Out.”
Hernandez takes a card out of his chest pocket and places it on the nightstand. “Give us a call when you’re ready, we’re sorry for upsetting you.”
They both give a quick nod and walk out, leaving me in my misery. My body is screaming desperately to hear his voice again. My safety net.
I crawl under the covers on the tiny hospital bed and cry until I can’t cry anymore. I cry for what we had, and I cry for the person he used to be, the ghost of the memories we once shared playing through my head.
I wake up alone, just like every other birthday. Only today is my sixteenth birthday. I don’t know why I was expecting it to be any different from any other I’ve had, but I still can’t stop the disappointment from radiating through me.
I shower, get dressed and grab some coffee on the way out the door to school. I’m not looking where I’m going and hit a hard wall of muscle.
“You should watch where you’re going,” a deep voice says, making the butterflies in my stomach swarm.
I look up into his swirling brown eyes that are filled with humor. “Yeah? You shouldn’t stand in people’s way.”