Page 41 of Promise Me Not

A hand settles on my shoulder, but I pull away.

I can’t feel. If I feel, the numbness will go away. If the numbness goes away, the worry will come and ruin everything. That’s what Mom always said to me, right? Worrying is a worthless emotion that does nothing but destroy and prevent. Be cold, and you’ll get further in life.

It’s probably bullshit, much like every other word that trips from her poisonous tongue.

At some point, we arrived at the hospital, though I have no recollection of getting out of the vehicle. All I know is I’m standing at the start of a short hallway, three giant, crimson letters painted onto a pair of double doors glaring back at me that read ICU.

We’ve been called to the intensive care unit.

I’m so stuck in my own head, I don’t realize I’ve yet to step from the elevator until the doors begin to hide the ominous acronym. Darting forward, I stop it with my shoe, then slip out, realizing the others are all huddled at the end, a woman with brown hair I’ve never met now with them.

My steps are slow, and with each one taken, the numbness begins to crumble. Little by little, my taut muscles reveal themselves, the ache between my shoulder blades deep and uncomfortable.

My body is rigid, my jaw clenched tight.

“Mom?” Ari shouts, and I jolt at the sudden sound.

Everyone turns to find two women running down the hall. They have to be someone’s mothers.

My thought is proven right when one wraps her arms around Nate, the other Ari, and that’s when their sobs reach me.

My arm shoots out, and I grip onto my brother’s wrist. In my periphery, I watch his head turn my way, but I couldn’t look away from the women if I tried.

This is off.

Something is wrong.

They’re crying, yes, but there’s a hint of something in their eyes.

Hope.

They have hope.

Kenra’s mom and aunt…have hope.

Nate pulls back and looks down at his mother. “Ma?”

Tears slip from her eyes, and she swallows. “They said they lost control of the car, flipped it into a ditch.”

“No,” Parker rasps, and warm liquid coats my nails where they’re pressed against his skin.

My brother starts to say something, but Nate cuts him off with a scream.

“Mom!” Nate shouts, scared for his sister. “Is Kenra okay?”

“Yes, sweetheart,” she whispers. “She’s okay.” She glances this way, toward Parker. “But we’re not in the clear yet. She’s unconscious. They’re running tests.”

Relief fills the hall, the others dropping against the wall and clutching their chests, but the woman’s words have the opposite effect on me.

Dread, cold and vivid, courses through me, and my limbs begin to shake.

“You!”

The shrill voice is one I could never mistake, and every vein in my body goes cold.

I can’t look, don’t dare to, and my heart pounds in unison with every click of heels against the floor.

Her shadow falls over me, and there’s suddenly no hiding. Her eyes stab at mine, the hatred within them hard to miss.

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