Page 103 of Dark Roads

Beth shuffled into Hailey’s room, dragging the IV pole alongside her. She’d adjusted her hospital gown to cover up as much of her bruises as possible—underneath the thin fabric she looked like she’d rolled in purple and blue paint. At least she hadn’t broken any bones. Nothersanyway. Vaughn was a different story.

Hailey sat propped up against pillows, arms crossed over her chest. She frowned as Beth came in. “I’m too tired to talk. The nurses keep waking me up.” They’d been in the hospital for two days, and from what Beth had overheard, Hailey fought the nurses about everything, wouldn’t take her medications, and refused to see her aunt. The latter had surprised Beth. After a year, why didn’t she want to connect with her family?

“I just wanted to know if you’ve spoken to Thompson.”

“He’s been here every day. It’s annoying.” Hailey was looking at her with her chin up, like she was daring Beth to say different.

“They arrested Vaughn.” Beth paused. “But I guess Thompson already told you.”

“Yeah.”

Beth didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t want to go back to her lonely room. She glanced around Hailey’s. It was the same size, but Hailey had more flowers, bunches of bouquets. Maybe they were from Jonny.

He’d texted Beth once since she’d been in the hospital.I can’t believe you ran over Vaughn. You’re my hero.Then, moments later, in another bubble, as if he’d had to think about it first, he’d written,If you need anything, let me know.

Like Beth was a neighbor who wanted him to water herplants while she was on a little vacay at the hospital. She didn’t text back.

Hailey’s bag was on the chair. Beth wondered where the clothes had come from and realized Jonny must have gotten them. She remembered how he had done that for her.

Wait. Was Hailey’s bag halfunpacked, or half packed? Beth glanced at Hailey and caught the wary expression in her eyes. Now Beth got it. It wasn’t that Hailey was unhappy to seeher, she was unhappy about Beth being in this room.

Beth looked around again, slower. Hailey’s IV dangled loosely from its pole—her hand resting over her wrist. Her dinner tray was empty. The pudding cup sat on top of her duffel bag. Beth moved over and quickly dug around—forks, knives, a juice box, a hunk of bread.

“Hey! Get out of my stuff.” Hailey was off the bed now, pushing her away.

“Are you trying to leave?”

Hailey yanked the bread out of Beth’s hand. “That’s none of your business.”

“You’re running away again.”

“I’m not running anywhere. I’m going home.”

“The doctors haven’t cleared you, have they?”

Hailey rolled her eyes. “I’ll be fine. They fixed what needed to be fixed.”

“What about Wolf?”

“He’s recovering with Jonny.”

“So now you’re going to walk out on everything? What about the court case?”

“They have enough evidence. They don’t need me.”

“You sure about that?”

“I have to get out of here. I can’t breathe with all the noise. Nurses coming in and out. Visitors.”

“You mean people?”

“Yeah, fuckingpeople.” Hailey was sliding on her jeans, turning around to remove her hospital gown and tug a shirt over her head. “We’re not the same—you and me. You have a family to go back to. You still have your parents.”

Was that the problem? Hailey couldn’t see a future for herself?

“You can’t go back to the miner’s cabin. Everyone knows that’s where you were living. They won’t leave you alone. They’ll want to take pictures of you, with you. You’ll hate it.”

Hailey wasn’t listening, just grabbing at things—the blanket from the bed, rolled into a ball. Now she was studying the electric cords like she was thinking about how to use them.