47. Kayla

Chapter 47

Kayla

Fifteen Winters Ago / Age Thirteen

This is the worst Christmas ever. Everything sucks, I hate it here, and I want to go home.

“What are you reading?” Ryan asks, flopping onto the sofa next to me. He is careful not to knock my leg, which is propped up on a pile of cushions, my ankle in an inflatable cast until we go home to Scotland.

“It’s about quantum theory. Someone left it on the bookshelf.” I’ve already read everything else in the house, including the ones that are definitely too grown up for me. If I’d known I was going to spend this winter sitting on the sofa, I would have brought a suitcase full of books from home.

“Boring,” he says, unwrapping the shiny foil from another gold chocolate coin.

“It’s not, actually. It’s this idea that there are many worlds, and in those worlds there are other versions of us, living totally different lives.”

“That’s creepy. What if one of the other versions of me is a serial killer or something?”

Trust Ryan to think of something so stupid right when I was feeling hopeful for the first time since my accident.

“It means there’s a world where I didn’t hurt my leg,” I tell him, lifting the book higher and hoping he’ll shut up. He has chocolate on his cheek, but I don’t tell him.

“Does it mean there’s a world where you’re a bunny, Bunny?”

“You could be skiing right now.”

Just because I can’t do anything, doesn’t mean he has to stay home with me all day. I’m perfectly capable of staying here on my own, but he’s insisted, and that’s annoyed me even more.

“I told you, if you can’t ski, then I won’t either. I got you something to cheer you up, though.”

I was expecting more chocolate, since he's brought some every day, but he digs in his pocket and hands me a small black box instead.

“What's this?” I ask. We don't normally get each other Christmas presents.

“Open it and see.”

I snap open the lid and find a silver necklace with a pretty snowflake pendant inside.

“Why did you do this?”

“Mum and I picked it out yesterday. So you'll always have a piece of snow with you, even when it's not winter.”