Page 129 of Tell Me What You Want, Or Leave Me

Just as I’m about to hang up, she says, “Eric’s in the hospital.”

My breathing stops.

My world is shattered, but I manage to ask in the thinnest voice, “What...what happened?”

“A few nights ago, he drank too much and got into a fight. God...God...I knew something was going to happen. I had never heard him so angry.”

“But...but is he OK?” I babble.

“Yes, more or less. He has a broken leg and bruises all over his body. But...”

“What, Amanda?”

“He received a pretty severe blow to the head and has hemorrhages in both eyes.”

My world is spinning.

His eyes...

When I recover from the shock, I breathe with difficulty.

“I appreciate your call, Amanda. Thank you very much. Now please, tell me what hospital is he in?”

“At St. Thomas’ Hospital on Westminster Bridge Road, room 507.”

I jot it down on a piece of paper. My hand trembles, and I think I’m going to throw up.

Two minutes after hanging up, tears, my great companions in the last days, quickly overcome me. Desperate, I sit on the bed and cry for my love.

Why didn’t he call me? Why is he alone in a hospital? I want to see him.

I need to hug him and feel he’s OK.

My stomach warns me, and I run to the bathroom.

I pick up my cell and speed dial. I hear two rings.

“Björn, I need you,” I mutter when he picks up.

23

When Björn and I arrive at St. Thomas’ Hospital, I’m a mess. I threw up several times on the plane, and the poor man doesn’t know what to do to make me feel better. He attributes it to nerves and restlessness, and I don’t go out of my way to correct him.

“Are you any better?” Björn asks once we’re in the hospital lobby, holding me by the waist to reassure me.

I nod. It’s a lie, but I don’t want to say no.

“It’s OK. Everything’ll be fine; everything will be cleared up,” he says with a sad smile.

I say yes in my head and thank heaven for a friend like him. When I called him, he was at the house in less than twenty minutes, ready to help me with whatever I needed. Even after I told him what had happened, he put aside his fury toward Laila and his friend’s accusations and focused on comforting me and telling me everything was going to be all right.

I don’t call either Eric’s mother or sister. I want to see what I find first. But one thing I know for sure is that no one is going to touch his eyes without Marta knowing first.

I’m terrified when I think about his eyes. His beautiful eyes. How can something so precious always have so many problems?

When the elevator opens on the fifth floor, my heart beats faster.

Björn asks a nurse for Eric Zimmerman’s room.

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