Page 81 of Death, Interrupted

I couldn’t get myself to answer them that way, or even give them an annoyed look, but, luckily, I had Phoebe with me. She was the nurse who kept on checking on me all night, and when the cops came, I asked her to stay.

She continuously scrunched her nose at what the officers said, showing the annoyance I couldn’t.

“What a couple of losers,” she murmured once the cops were out of the room. “We’ve had many police officers show up at the ER, but never have I seen two so incompetent and disinterested.”

She wasn’t wrong. While the one looked bored with his job, the other seemed to only have been there to make a mockery out of this case.

“It’s fine,” I said, because it was over now. And knowing they were now on their way to arrest Joey lifted a weight off my shoulders.

“No, it’s actually not fine. The police is supposed to be invested in cases like these. Believe me…we’ve had about three more assault victims here in the past month, and every time they showed up, they looked like they weren’t taking it seriously. At all.”

Phoebe walked over to the table and poured me another glass of water before handing it to me.

“You know, I’m so sick of people acting so…nonchalant when it comes to women getting hurt. This is a serious matter, and you deserve all the attention and support.”

Her words made me smile, even for just a moment. “I’m just glad it’s over.”

She looked down at me with a worried frown. She didn’t know me, but she acted like we’ve been friends for years. That was nice.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Oh, don’t thank me. Unlike those cops, I care about how I do my job.”

I gave her a tight smile before taking a sip of my water.

“By the way. There’s someone outside who’d like to know how you’re doing.”

Sly…

My chest immediately tightened. I just wasn’t sure if it was happiness or pain. I looked down and swallowed hard.

“I’m not sure if I can face him. I hurt his feelings last night.” Because I told him he was the monster, when in reality, he wasn’t. He knew it. I knew it. But I still screamed at him.

“I promise you he’s not hurt. He spent all night out there.”

My chest clenched again, and this time, I knew it was a good feeling. I looked up at Phoebe and took a shaky breath. “Okay.”

“I’ll be right back,” she told me before leaving the room.

While I sat there alone, I thought about all the things I wanted to say to him. I wanted to apologize for screaming at him, for calling him a monster, and for not wanting him around. And I hoped he would understand that I didn’t do any of that on purpose.

Last night, when he walked into the room looking all broken, my mind couldn’t figure out what was real. I saw Joey instead of Sly, and everything spiraled out of control.

I held my breath when I heard the knock on my door, and I only dared to look up when it opened and closed.

Sly was standing there, keeping his distance while I played with my fingers to distract myself. He didn’t say anything at first. Just took me in and waited, giving me all the space that I needed.

That alone made me emotional. “Hi,” I finally said.

“Hey.” A small smile tugged at his lips. “How are you feeling?”

I shrugged. I didn’t think he wanted an actual answer because he could see the shape I was in. My left eye had shut almost completely, but I could still see through it well enough.

Hating how far away he stood, I patted the mattress next to me and said, “Come here.”

He hesitated. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”