Chapter Twenty-Nine

Jesse

Fading in and out, I was able to take some note of my surroundings as the hours passed. People came in and out of the room, mostly nurses, and it would wake me up for a moment before I went back to a dreamless sleep. Once I woke to see my brother Luke and Amber above me, talking quietly. Another time, Collin was in the room and Logan was in a corner on a chair, playing a video game on his phone. Collin made some comment about how bad he was at it, and they laughed. I tried to smile. Then, nothingness.

I slowly started to come to again, and for the first time, I could feel the soreness all over my body. Everything hurt like hell. My arms felt like hot rods had been stuck down my bones, and my legs were like jelly. I tried to clench my fingers and found that only one of them moved, my thumb on my right side. All the others were heavy as lead, and I gave up rather quickly.

The throbbing in the back of my head was almost unbearable. It felt like there was a giant hole in the center and pins and needles were sticking in it, then covered by a bandage. I was overheated too, and sweating. I wasn’t dehydrated anymore, but my throat was extremely dry, and my lips were stuck together. Not that I could open them anyway.

My eyes were heavy, but I forced them to stay open as long as I could. It must have been late at night, because the only people in the room I could see were asleep. Luke was curled up against the wall in one of the chairs, comically lanky and in an impossible position to be comfortable in. Owen was also in the room, though he was more traditionally sprawled out, his legs out in front of him and his head resting against the wall behind. Considering he was the physically biggest of all of us, he was probably the least comfortable.

Besides me, of course.

The door slid open quietly, and in walked Amber and another nurse. At first, they didn’t look directly at me, Amber coming in and checking on Luke and the other nurse going directly to the machine beside me and looking at my vitals. It was Amber who noticed my eyes were open.

“Jesse,” she whispered. “You’re safe. We’re taking good care of you. Just try to relax. Is your pillow comfortable? Just nod if you can.”

I tried to speak, but it came out as a garbled groan.

“Shhh,” Amber said. “Don’t try to talk. Are you thirsty? Here.”

She brought a cup close to me, pointing the straw toward my lips. I separated them as best I could, and the straw went inside. The relief of the room-temperature water going into my mouth and down my throat was immeasurable, and I immediately felt a lot more relaxed.

“How’s the vitals?” Amber asked.

The nurse said a series of things I didn’t quite understand, and Amber nodded. She looked back down at me and put on a sad smile. I must look like hell.

“We’re going to get you through this, Jesse. Don’t you worry. She will be here in a minute, okay? I know you want to see her.”

I didn’t know what she was talking about, and thought maybe the medicine was messing with my hearing. I sipped the last of my water before she took the cup away and tried to speak again, to ask her who it was that was coming. But I didn’t need to. The door slid open again, and Charlotte walked through.

She had a bag over her shoulder and tossed it down as soon as she was inside. She looked up at me and gasped and ran over, but Amber stopped her before she got too close. She took her to the side, and they spoke quietly for a long moment. Charlotte’s eyes kept floating back to me and then to Amber, increasingly worried.

Luke had shifted and now was awake, listening to Amber. He looked angry, and I knew that meant it was bad. Whatever injuries I’d sustained, it was enough that Luke looked like he was ready to create a posse and go to town. Charlotte just looked devastated, and I wondered how she’d gotten here.

She was supposed to be in Paris. I wasn’t supposed to see her again.

“We’re going to give you a little of the good stuff now, Jesse,” the other nurse said, close to my ear. “You won’t be feeling that wound in just a second.”

I didn’t want her to give me anything though. I wanted to talk to Charlotte. I wanted to tell her how wrong I had been to send her away. How I wished I had fought for her instead. How I’d rather walk through hell and back than have her go away again, and how just having her there made me feel like I might make it through this okay.

Seconds later, though, my eyes were closing. I was gone in a matter of moments.

I came in and out of consciousness over the next few hours, it seemed. Night turned into early morning, and I saw various people sleeping in odd positions in the chairs nearby. Luke came and went, as did Logan and Owen and Collin. One of them was always there. Amber came and went as well, though when Luke was gone, so was she. I assumed they went somewhere together to sleep, and then returned when she went back on shift. Tamara came in a few times, and once I saw Mr. and Mrs. Miller.

But every time I opened my eyes, there was one constant. Charlotte. She stayed by my side, either in a chair nearby or literally standing or sitting beside me, holding my hand. Every time my eyes opened, even slightly, she was there.

The curtains shut, blocking out the light, and the room went dark again. Charlotte scooted a chair all the way up to the bed and rested her head on the mattress beside my legs. With her hand over mine, she fell asleep, and I let myself drift off as well.

I didn’t know how much longer it was, but I woke up to find Charlotte across the room, scrolling through her phone and occasionally looking out of the window. She looked tired, big rings under her eyes and her hair slightly disheveled. She had changed into sweatpants and a T-shirt, and Tamara was asleep in a chair nearby. She must have brought her clothes.

Against all odds, I actually felt a lot better. I was still in tremendous pain, and the throbbing was still there in the back of my skull, but it was a lot more manageable now. A dull throb, and aches rather than outright searing pain. I tried to take that as a good thing, but the second I tried to move my head, the world got dizzy, and I had to close my eyes for a long moment before my stomach didn’t feel like it was doing flips anymore.

When everything settled again, I opened my eyes once more and watched as Tamara hugged Charlotte and left. It left Charlotte alone in the room with the exception of Collin in one corner, sound asleep. Poor guy. Usually, he was up with the sun, chipper and enjoying life. Today, he was out like a light in what had to be mid-morning judging by the thin sliver of sunlight that came through the center of the curtains and sliced across my bed, creating a yellow line across my stomach.

I shifted and must have made a little noise, because Charlotte spun around and saw me. Her eyes lit up, and she came over, kissing my forehead and settling into the chair beside me. I tried to smile, and wondered how terrible it must look. She smiled too, but there was so much sadness, so much worry behind it, that it didn’t feel the least bit joyful.

“Hey, you,” she said. “Welcome back.”