Page 14 of Pretty Thing

“You barely know me.”

“That doesn’t matter, Eden. I’m here, and I want to be.”

“Does it hurt?”

“My foot?”

“Yeah.”

“Mildly, but I’ll be fine. I’m not going to leave you, if that’s what you’re thinking,” he says, and I soak up the warmth from his hand when he touches my shoulder.

“Okay.”

I glance up at him, realizing that he is no longer wearing an ugly, bare-your-ass gown.

“How did you score the scrubs?”

He smirks, then chuckles, but doesn’t answer. Is he protecting a secret?

“More importantly, can you smuggle me some?”

“Who says I haven’t?”

That makes me smile.

We must look like such a pair. Felix with his cast, limping along as he pushes me in a wheelchair.

As we pass the nurses’ station, the television hanging on the wall catches my attention. I freeze.

Footage from the crash fills the screen. My heart jumps as the helicopter flies overhead, showing the scene from above. A snow-covered road. Twisted metal. Emergency lights flashing violently against the dark. There are so many cars and trucks that I lose count. I suck in a shuddering breath.

“There,” I whisper and point.

Felix follows my gaze.

The camera zooms in on a silver sedan, barely recognizable, but I know it instantly.

“That’s their car,” I say, my voice breaking. “That’s my parents’ car.”

The world caves in around me.

I sob and the sound tears out of my chest like something ripped loose. Felix is suddenly holding me, and I lean into his arms.

“I saw them,” I cry. “I tried to wake them. I tried⁠—”

“I know,” he says, hugging me tighter. “I know. I’m going to take you back to the room.”

I’m too lost in my grief to care about anything, including the stabbing pain in my chest. The sobs wrack my body, as hands help me back to bed. This is not the kind of agony that fades. It is the kind that settles into your bones and stays forever.

I close my eyes, but the images don’t stop.

There is cruelty in remembering.

The way joy returns only to remind you of everything it took with it when it left.

four

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