Chapter4
912 Words
By the time I reach the hospital, my hands are shaking so badly I can barely open the car door.
The metal handle feels wrong , like it doesn’t belong in my grip anymore.
I try again, forcing my fingers to work properly but they keep slipping.
“Zara, slow down,” Aisha says behind me.
I don’t answer because if I do I might stop and stopping feels dangerous.
The hospital doors slide open too smoothly like nothing bad has ever happened here before.
Inside everything is too white and bright but it can’t erase the voice still stuck in my head.
“There’s been an accident.”
I keep moving.
“Adrian Cole.” I say at the reception desk with my voice sounding flat and detached.
The nurse looks up immediately. “Relation?”
The question hangs there longer than it should because I do not have an answer that makes sense.
“Where is he?” I ask instead
She studies me for a second longer than necessary then points. “Emergency wing. Second floor.”
I’m already moving before she finishes the sentence with Aisha following closely behind me.
“You don’t even know the state he is in right now,” she says.
“I’ll find out.” I say to her
“That’s not how hospitals work.” She says.
I stop walking for half a second, turn slightly and said matter of fact; “then I’ll make it work.”
And I keep going.
____
The second floor is quieter and that’s the first thing that feels wrong.
Quiet should mean peace but in a hospital it could mean that something has already happened.
Aisha grabs my wrist.
“Zara.” I don’t look at her. “If you walk in there like this…”
“I don’t care.” I interrupt and she releases me not because she agrees but because she knows I’m not listening.
We find the emergency ward and the doors are half open.
I see him immediately and he is too still with bandage wrapped around his head, there’s dried blood on his sleeve and for a second, I can’t tell if he is breathing then his chest rises.
A nurse steps in front of me.
“Family only.” She says.
“I just need to….” I said
“Wait outside,” she interrupts.
Aisha pulls me back gently but I don’t move away from door because something in my chest refuses to accept that this is real.
Adrian cannot end up like this but before i could process it fully, the doctor comes out.
“We stabilized him,” she says.
The words don’t land properly at first then they do.
“Is he…?” Aisha begins
“Conscious,” the doctor answers. “He has a concussion, two broken ribs but he is conscious.”
The word hits harder than anything else because it means he knows what happened and I don’t know if that’s worse than not knowing.
“Can I see him?” I ask.
The doctor hesitates then nods. “Briefly.”
The room smelled like antiseptic and silence and Adrian looks smaller than he did yesterday not weak just human in a way I wasn’t prepared for.
His eyes open when I step inside and they find me instantly like I’ve been expected.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he says.
His voice is rough and strained.
I step closer. “Everyone keeps saying that.
There’s a faint shift in his expression not amusement but something sharper.
“You read the warning,” I say.
His face hardens slightly. “You shouldn’t have followed it.”
“I didn’t follow anything,” I say quickly. “You went anyway.”
“I had to.” He says.
That stops me.
“Had to??” I asked.
His fingers twitch against the blanket like he’s resisting something.
“If I hadn’t gone,” he says quietly m, “someone else would have.”
“What does that mean?” I ask
He exhales slowly and for the first time since i met him, he looks unsure and careful.
“Zara,” he says.
Hearing my name in his voice feels wrong in a way I can’t explain.
He continued, “This didn’t start with Lily.”
My stomach tightens. “What didn’t?”
He hesitates then; “people have been receiving letters for years.”
The room shifts and the energy is subtle but real.
“Who?” I whisper.
“People like us.” He says
“That’s not an answer.” I said
“It’s the only one you get.”
Silence stretches between us then u ask the question I don’t want to ask. “Was Lily part of it?”
His silence answers me and something inside me changes because this stops being about one girl and I’m standing inside it.
———
Night comes without a warning and I don’t leave the hospital but Aisha does eventually .
She tells me to call her and I nod but I know I won’t call.
The waiting room hums with white bright light and exhaustion.
My phone vibrates but it’s an unknown number.
I answer and a single image loads instantly, a photograph taken inside the hospital OF ME.
Standing outside Adrian's room, my hands tighten around the phone because I have not moved from that spot yet.
- Writer
