In Real Life by Elisabeth Warner

Author:Elisabeth Warner [Warner, Elisabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-05-03T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Eight

The ruffling of my bedsheets startles me awake, and I touch my head to soothe its aching. A shadowy figure appears at the foot of the bed. “Dad?” I don’t believe it’s him this time. It’s a dream. Will he be silent again?

How did I get here? The last thing I remember is Ace and Susan leaving my cabin, and slowly fading onto the couch. Susan’s scar is etched in my mind forever.

But now Dad is standing next to me, again, with his arms extended. I wrap myself in the bedsheets. “Dad, if you want me to hug you, why don’t you come over here?”

“Because he wants you to come to him.”

Don? I look around my room, but he’s not there. “Where are you?”

“Right here, Lin. It’s okay. How are you feeling?”

My heart is racing as I clench the bedsheets up to my face. “Where are you?” I ask again, my muscles shaking. “Did you die too? Is that how Dad is visiting me?”

The darkness encompasses my vision, and I can feel my heart in my throat.

“Lin, this will all make sense in a few minutes. When you wake up, the person at your door will give you all the answers you need. Listen to her, okay?”

A knock on my door startles me awake. I look around and realize I never made it up from the couch. The sky is dark, so it must be early.

I open the door. “Nelle?”

She deeply inhales puffs of air, as if she was running. “Come quick. Tee’s about to give birth.”

Still shaken from the dream, I slip on my shoes and follow her to the clinic. What questions could she possibly answer?

“Are you sure you want me to come along after my episode yesterday?”

Nelle furrows her eyebrows. “Epi—oh, Lin! I’m so sorry I didn’t check on you. Tee wasn’t feeling well and needed to rest. I took her back to her cabin and stayed with her. I heard through the grapevine that Ace and Susan went to check on you.”

I stare at my feet as I walk. “I get it.”

An awkward beat of silence passes between us, the chirping of crickets filling in our gap in conversation. Nelle clears her throat. “So, do you want to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?”

“What happened yesterday.” She bites her lower lip. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you then, but I’m here for you now.”

“So, you can answer my questions?”

“Questions?”

I shake my head, opening the door to the clinic. “Never mind. It was a crazy dream I had.”

Nelle crosses her arms over her chest, her long, dark hair sweeping over her shoulders. “What answers do you think I have?”

“I don’t know. It was just a dream. My hacker. He told me when I wake up, you’d have answers for me.”

“Lin, I don’t—”

The sound of a woman screaming drowns out the rest of Nelle’s statement. We run to the back to find Tee sitting up in a hospital bed with June by her side.

Nelle puts her hands on the bed.

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