Anything but Ordinary(30)

Bryce let herself breathe shallow, openmouthed breaths, ignoring the image still painted on the back of her eyelids, the bright car full of laughter.



Dr. Warren’s office looked exactly the same, not a pen or paper out of place. She loomed behind her desk, gesturing to the Graham family to pull up chairs. Bryce preferred to stand.

The doctor ran her hands through her gray strands, then set them flat on the desk. Bryce heard them hit the wood with a dull slap. She shook the sound away.

“This is a difficult situation. The scan results are unclear. We’re going to try to see what we can salvage from them, but they’re…they’re confusing. I’m afraid we’re going to need to keep you here for observation, Bryce.”

“No!” Bryce cried. “No,” she said again. Her eyes darted toward the door. Something strange had happened to her, she knew that. It would keep happening. And she couldn’t let them find out. They would never let her leave.

Carter knocked, entering the office. “Still no clear results,” he said. He looked at Bryce, sensing tension in the room.

“See? This is pointless.” She threw up her hands.

But Dr. Warren wouldn’t give up. “I just wonder how much toll returning to the real world has had on your stress reflexes. I couldn’t get results, but I could tell you were in pain, Bryce. Perhaps your recovery time could be spent in a less stimulating environment. Maybe not here, but a retreat of some sort…”

The doctor looked at Bryce’s parents for approval.

Bryce stepped in between them. “I won’t. I’ll take more meds if you want.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant,” Dr. Warren said.

“I’ve had enough of this. I’m sorry. I’ve just—I’ve just had enough.” Bryce walked out of the office, bracing herself to push past anyone who would stop her. No one did.

On instinct, Bryce grabbed her phone from her pocket, her finger poised over Greg’s name. She couldn’t call him, could she? What had happened at the arboretum was a one-time thing. Just once, and it wasn’t going to happen again. She couldn’t let it happen again.

But then she pictured driving and driving until everything receded in the distance. Until her problems were far enough away to feel small and insignificant.

Can you come get me? she typed. Back entrance of hospital ASAP.

Immediately after she closed it, her phone vibrated.

c ya in 10.

She weaved through the halls, trying to lose herself in the hospital’s winding corridors. She walked and walked, but everything about the hallways was familiar—the fluorescent lights, the incessant beeping of machines, the cacophony of TVs mixing from different rooms, and then the sight of Carter standing beside a bed, silhouetted by the light.

Past him, a little boy with dark hair lay motionless. He looked peaceful, like he was taking a nap.

Carter looked up, meeting her gaze. “What are you doing here? No one knew where you went.”

Bryce gestured to the boy in the bed. “How long has he been here?”

“Too long,” he replied shortly.

“How?” Bryce asked. There was nothing else to say.

“Car accident,” he said flatly. “Head trauma.” His whole face twitched, as if the words hurt him physically.

Bryce looked closer at the boy. That dark hair. The high forehead. “Is that your brother?”

Carter nodded. “Sam,” he said. Their eyes met. There was a deep sadness in his voice. It all hit Bryce in a rush. Why Carter spent so much time in the neurology wing. Why he was so adamant she go easy on her family. You don’t know what it’s like to lose someone you love that way. It was true; she didn’t know. But he did.

Bryce felt ready to collapse. She was spent. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I have to go.”

She found the back entrance, near the Dumpsters where the nurses went on cigarette breaks, and folded up against the smoke-stained wall. She counted in her head to avoid thinking about what happened in the CAT scan machine, to avoid wondering what would happen now. 1, 2, 3, 4…At 14, Carter reappeared.

“Don’t worry.” He sat next to her. “I won’t tell anyone you’re here.”

She didn’t respond. 15, 16, 17.

“You really should go back to your parents, though. They’re still in the office, waiting for you.” He turned to her. “You know, Dr. Warren can’t force you to do anything. I don’t know why you go so crazy.”

The counting stopped. She couldn’t tell him about the visions, about the strange and beautiful way the world looked now. She couldn’t even tell herself about the visions. What they were. Why they came. Bryce sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay.” It was easy as that. “Do you want a ride home? I can tell them you want time alone.”

“Nah,” Bryce said. “Just tell them I’ll meet them back at the house later on.”

Carter leaned closer to her, as if he were about to whisper something in her ear. Then he wrapped his arms around her. Being close to him, Bryce felt the urge to dissolve, to crumble into pieces and float away, little by little. It was nothingness, but also relief.

“Hey,” called a voice. Greg. He’d pulled up across the street.

Carter let go, looking at her with his brow furrowed.