Page 37 of Insidious

You said you dream of me …

My eyes close. She saw the message before I deleted it.

When I open my eyes, I know I cannot let her do this to me.

I type for the last time.

I did. I shouldn’t have.

Lose my number.

I block her before she can reply.

***

Someone let work know. Or maybe I did.

I don’t know.

I don’t care.

None of it matters except—

Please.

I sit here, elbows on my knees, hands clasped so tightly they hurt. It has been three days … Luna is breathing on her own. But she still has not opened her eyes.

I am praying again.

Let her be alright.

Please.

Just let her be alright.

Chapter 9

Isaac

They have moved her to High Dependency on day four.

A “step-down”, they call it. It means she is getting better, they say. But she still isn’t awake. How much longer?

I know Amelie shouldn’t be here.

Hospitals aren’t for babies. There are all kinds of bugs around, and she is so small and vulnerable. But that desperate, irrational part of me keeps thinking, Maybe if Luna heard her cry …

Maybe that would bring her back faster.

But Amelie’s safety must always come first. She is home with her grandma. I came in with Lily when they let us into the HDU.

Mum has been quiet since … everything.

I spoke to Dad briefly, not everything, just that I didn’t want any contact with Chloe anymore. When you are used to giving in all your life, standing up for what is right feels uncomfortable.

Dad just sighed and said, “Your mum doesn’t know when to stop. Sometimes, you have to put your foot down.”

And that was it.