We need to talk.
I wish she’d sent me that on the Jinx phone, but since last night, my Jinx phone has been strangely silent.
We need to talk.
There are two problems with those words—the first is that I’m not ready to talk to Kelly because I’m about forty-eight percent sure she’s an imposter and thirty percent sure she’s mentally unstable.
The second reason is that Kelly has access to this hospital. She can spring on me at any moment because my entirelifeis inside these four walls.
The only people who have ever carried me away from this place are Gran and Finn.
One of those people is dead.
The other wants me dead.
So, I don’t have many options in terms of hideaways. But even if I did, I’m bound to come back to the hospital anyway. My heart isn’t good enough for me to survive on the outside.
Kelly was relentlessly calling Jinx. She’s going to find me anyway. I need to figure out what I’m going to do about her.
Footsteps pound in the hallway, and I whip my head up, anticipating Kelly’s face peering through the window.
But it’s Dr. Kenji.
He walks in, looking sober and tired. His hair is sticking up all over his head, which is how it normally looks after a surgery, and his lab coat is wrinkled.
“Hey, Doc.” I greet him distractedly. “Did you sleep in the ward again?”
“J, we need to talk about your lab work.”
There are those four awful words again.
Ping!
I scramble to the edge of my bed when I see the notification.
“What’s wrong?” Dr. Kenji’s eyes shift from sleepy to alert, and he immediately looks over his shoulder as if he anticipates someone barging in and raining gunfire on us both.
Courtney, Kelly’s high school friend, answered my DM.
COURTNEY:Are you from Netflix?
My eyebrows scrunch together.Netflix?Why would she ask that?
“J, this is very important. In your test results?—”
“Yeah. Yeah. I know what it says, Doc. I have a bad heart.” I scoot out of bed and push my feet into my comfortable Crocs. “Sorry. Can we talk another time? I have to check something.”
I grab my jacket and purse and fast-walk to the door.
“Where are you going?” Dr. Kenji asks, keeping up with me. “You’re not well enough to leave the hospital.”
I try to move faster than him, but it’s wasted effort, and I end up huffing and puffing loudly.
This is embarrassing.
“I’ll be fine,” I grumble, eyes on the door. “I won’t overdo it, Doc. I swear. I just have to do one quick errand, and I’ll come back, and you can tell me all about what’s wrong with my results then.”
Dr. Kenji shakes his head, making his eyeglasses slide a little down his nose. “J, this isn’t something you can brush off. Your heart is?—”
