Page 65 of I Could Have Missed This
“But I need to stay in case?—”
“They’ll phone you if anything happens. But you need something to eat and some sleep,” he says, wiping my tears.
Demi and Harry enter the waiting room. Harry looks stone cold while Demi is a sobbing mess, kinda like me.
“Oh, honey, are you okay?” Demi asks me before I launch at her for a hug.
“No, not really,” I cry as I grip onto her. She holds me tight as we cry into each other’s shoulders.
“Everything will be fine. He’ll get through this,” she tells me through tears. I’m not sure if she’s trying to comfort me or herself. “You need to go home, honey and clean up. You can’t sit in the hospital all day. We’ll be here if anything happens.”
“But what if?—”
“No buts, go home Noah. It’s okay,” she tells me before we let go of each other. “Look after him, okay?” she asks Teddy, who simply nods.
After our goodbyes, he leads me out by the hand. I don’t want to leave, but they’re right. I should be at home waiting instead of waiting at the hospital.
I’m clingingto Teddy’s body while we lie in bed. My face is wet from the million tears I’ve spilt since we got in.
I can’t get the image of Kai’s bloody body out of my mind. I also can’t stop thinking about the Bronze Family driving away and threatening us.
What if they hurt someone else?
What if they hurt Teddy?
I’m losing control of everything.
“What are you thinking about?” Teddy asks, cupping my cheek with his fingertips. I sigh, not knowing how to put it into words.
“Just stuff, my brain’s going a billion miles a second,” I tell him. He kisses me on the forehead.
“Anything you want to talk about?” He asks. I glance up at him from his chest. Then look back down.
“I’m just… I’m worried they’ll hurt someone else. They’ve already killed my mum, and now that I’m back in town, they want to hurt me even more,” I say, my eyes threatening to spill again. Teddy continues playing with my hair.
“We’ll fix this, Noah. I promise. I don’t know how yet, but we’ll fix ittogether, okay?”
“Okay,” I say softly. I grip him tighter as my eyes fill with water.
“I can’t help but feel like it’s all my fault. None of this would have happened if I had just stayed away,” I cry. Teddy grips me tighter and kisses my cheek. He starts wiping my tears.
“None of this is your fault, baby. I promise.” I sit up and face him now, my glassy eyes reflected in his.
“But the threats are for me. They’re telling me to leave,” I tell him, thinking back to the bloody messages left for me. Maybe if I weren’t here, they would leave everyone alone.
The thought scares me. I worked so hard to get past that day on the roof, I don’t want to put myself through that again. I’ve learned that life is golden and should be cherished. I don’t want to hurt myself again.
But it’s true, if I weren’t here, the Bronze family would leave everyone alone. No one else would get hurt.
“But you’re not going anywhere. You’re here now, and we’re in this together, okay? Don’t you dare leave now,” Teddy tells me, pulling me into a deeper hug.
I cry on his shoulder for a while, my mind still running away from me. My heart beats quickly in my chest.
We may be in this together.
But what if it’s not enough?
The nighttime air stings like ice on my skin. The sun inches closer to the horizon line past the sea. I make my way to Mum’s bench. I’ve been so busy with life that I haven’t paid her a visit in a while. She would be happy for me, I’m sure, even if things with the bronze family have been rough, and Kai’s still stuck in a coma. I rub my angel necklace as I navigate through small sand dunes and tall grass to reach the bench. I told Teddy I just needed some alone time. He reluctantly agreed, but made me promise I wouldn’t do anything silly. I think he’s worried about me after our conversation yesterday. I think about him and his ocean eyes. I think about his smile and the way the lines of his face change when he’s happy. I smile and chuckle to myself in the darkness of night.
