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He opens his eyes at my question, nodding. “Yeah. You only woke up yesterday, Emma. You’ve been in and out of it all week. You’ve not spoken to anyone.”
I feel tears gather behind my eyes. “I’m so sorry,” I tell him, only imagining how scared he must have been.
“Never scare me like that again. I had to fight your mum and dad over medical guardianship over you.”
“What?” I wince at how loud I’m being, feeling Banner stir beneath me.
“Is everything okay?” he asks.
Mark meets his gaze, his eyes telling him everything. “I was just telling Emma her parents have been here.” My heart picks up, hoping they came to see how I was, but the look Mark gives me deflates any hope. “I had our grandparents come down. Your parents tried to get you committed into a psych ward after the doctors recommended it. Since you weren’t able to make any medical decisions, they had to call them.”
I look at the poster behind his head. “Thank you for not letting them,” I whisper.
“It’s the least I could do. Emma, please, never go off in that head of yours again. I thought we lost you. It was like you weren’t in your own body.”
A tear falls.
“I’m sorry.”
He squeezes my hand, letting me go. “Don’t be, baby. I’m so fucking glad you’re okay.”
“Am I okay?”
He nods, puzzled at my question. “Yes—apart from a few bruises, there was nothing physically wrong with you. They said you went into a mental state of shock and shut down. It’s a way for your mind to protect you from what happened.”
“I still can’t believe it happened.”
“I didn’t see him coming,” Banner whispers. “I couldn’t even help you.”
I look up at the sound of anguish in his voice. “You couldn’t have known he was there. I didn’t even get a chance to warn you. I froze, and then everything happened so quickly.”
“What happened after I fell into the water?”
I close my eyes at the memories, still feeling Mr. Flint’s hands on my biceps. When I open them, Mark sits forward, listening intently.
“He hit me, threw me into a tree, and said what he was going to do to me. I was going to fight, not let him win, but I believed what he said. When I couldn’t find a weapon, I gave up. I just gave up. I prepared myself to be killed—to die,” I croak out.
Banner squeezes me tighter. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
“I remember closing my eyes, thinking of you guys, already missing you, when I heard a scuffle. I couldn’t believe Darren was there, or that he stood in between me and Mr. Flint. He protected me from the beginning. I didn’t even know he had been stabbed, Banner. I watched as he bashed Mr. Flint over the head with so much strength I heard the impact. It was horrifying. Blood just poured from him, but I didn’t care. I was just happy he was dead.”
“And Darren?” Mark whispers.
“I shined the light on him, and he was bleeding from two wounds in his chest. I tried to help him. He said he followed Mr. Flint to us. Apparently, he saw him watching me from the trees at the university the day he came to talk to me. If it wasn’t for Darren, I’d be dead. Mr. Flint planned to rape me before he killed me, Banner.” I begin to cry, hiding my face in his chest.
“He died a hero, baby,” Banner whispers.
“He found redemption in death. Something he was probably looking for, for a long time,” Mark adds.
“I told him I forgave him,” I admit through sobs. “And I did. I forgave him, because the person I saw dying in my arms… he wasn’t the same person who attacked me all those years ago. Do you think he heard me?”
“Yes, baby, I do.”
It’s then I notice my arm. “Is that a new cast?”
Mark nods. “Yours was broken. You must have landed on it and didn’t feel it from the shock. They gave you another x-ray and found another fracture—only mild—then recast it. Does it hurt?”
“No,” I whisper, blinking at the pale cast. “I don’t remember them doing it.”