As She Fades(44)

“The truck you remember was because of a truck driver who had fallen asleep. The truck was coming at you, and Crawford turned the car to the right. In doing so, he saved your life.”

“We’ll call him. He’s fine. He just visited a few days ago. Right now, though, you need to calm down, baby.”

He visited a few days ago? That sounded odd. Not like Crawford at all. Where was he?

“I called Crawford.” Knox’s voice filled the room. “He’s at practice. I left him a message.”

Practice? I was confused. Practice where? For what?

Mom nodded as if that made sense, and she ran her hand over my head to soothe me. “It’s so good to see your eyes.”

Knox came up beside her. “Hey,” he said simply, and his eyes were instantly filled with tears.

“Hey,” I repeated, now worried about him. I had never seen Knox cry. Not even when he broke his collarbone in middle school.

“About time you woke up. First year of college starts soon. Can’t have you missing that. Not after all the planning and preparing you’ve done for it.”

College. I was going to college. I tried to remember more, but my head began to pound and I winced.

“Looks like that’s enough stimulation for now,” Dr. Charlie said.

“Let’s give her some quiet time to adjust and rest. The other family will be in here soon, I assume.”

Mom nodded but didn’t move from my side. “Is it safe for her to close her eyes so soon?” She sounded panicked.

“Yes. She’s awake now. The coma is over.”

Those words replayed in my head as I drifted off to sleep.





CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

VALE

THE NEXT TIME my eyes opened, my room was full. Dylan, my oldest brother, stood by the window looking out. Michea, the next oldest, was sitting on the edge of my bed with a remote control in his hand, watching TV. Jonah, who was supposed to be on active duty in the military, was here standing with his arms crossed over his chest, also watching TV. Knox was staring at his phone as he sat on the sofa beside my dad.

It was my mother who saw my eyes were open and stood from her chair to come to me. “Hey, honey,” she said gently.

Her face was so thin it worried me. She seemed to have aged ten years since my graduation. I wanted to ask her about it, but then I remembered.

“There she is,” Dylan said, walking over to stand on the other side of me. “You went back to sleep before I could get here and see those baby-blue eyes.” His hand covered mine and squeezed. He had dark circles under his eyes, too. I took in the room and the people I loved in it and saw tired faces. They had suffered. Because of me.

“How are the girls?” I asked, my throat raw again.

My mother reached down and pressed a button to sit me up more before bringing the ice water back to my mouth without my even asking.

“Both Maddy and Malyn miss you terribly. They know you’re awake, and they may drive Catherine crazy until we bring them here. I just didn’t think you were ready for all that excitement just yet.”

I wanted to see my nieces. And my sister-in-law, Catherine. “Tell her to bring them.”

Dylan nodded and bent down to kiss my head. “Never been so happy to see you awake in my life. Scared us, little girl.”

I managed to smile.

“Stop hogging her. Hell, I’ve been gone for six months. It’s my turn,” Jonah said, moving our older brother out of the way. The last time I had seen Jonah was Christmas, when he got to come home for two nights. His buzzed haircut was so hard to get used to. He’d always had a head full growing up. Wearing it to his shoulders most of the time.

“I missed you,” I told him.

His eyes seemed glassy, like he had unshed tears, and my heart hurt for him. For all of them. If one of them had been in the hospital, I would have felt the same way. We were all so close.

“Missed you, too,” he said as he squeezed my hand.

“Turns out they give you an excused leave when your baby sister is in a coma.”

Coma. That word seemed so foreign, yet familiar. I’d been in a coma.

“When was the wreck?” I asked.

Jonah looked up at our mother, who still stood on my other side.

“The night of graduation.” Her voice was soft.

I remembered that. “So it’s July now?” I asked.

“Not yet. June twenty-eighth,” my mother replied.

“Summer has sucked without you,” Knox said as he sat down on the end of my bed. “I come home for summer break, and you sleep through the whole first half.”

I smiled. That was Knox. Always trying to make a joke. He was the comedian of the family.

“I’m not sure that was funny,” Michea said, sounding concerned. Michea was the protector.

“It was,” I assured him, and Knox winked at me.

“Let’s get her some ice cream,” my father suggested, and Michea immediately offered to go get it.

“Grey’s Anatomy is on. Kind of appropriate. You up for an episode?” Knox asked, sitting back on the sofa as the show began.

I wasn’t sure. I felt lost. Like someone was missing, or I was missing. A life I thought I had was gone. Which I didn’t completely understand. But my family needed me to be okay. I would be okay for them. The stress and worry this had caused them was evident on all their faces. I was awake. I had survived. I owed it to them to be okay. Even if inside I wasn’t okay.