They're taking him to the hospital for scans. I'll update you when I know more.
I read it three times. Try to breathe.
ME:Can I talk to him?
The reply comes fast.
KAT:Not yet. He's with doctors. I'll tell him you called.
I set the phone down. Stare at the TV. They're interviewing the winner now, some Italian guy I don't know, champagne spraying, crowd roaring.
The flat feels too small. Too quiet. The walls pressing in.
This was supposed to be our kingdom. Our escape.
Instead, it's just a cage.
Expensive. Fragile. And I'm the one who locked us both inside.
Chapter 16
Grounded
Playlist:
Rob Stewart: I’ll Stand By You
Oasis: Stop Crying Your Heart Out
Michelle Williams: Tightrope
Reiteralm, Austria, March 3
NICO
I wake up to pain.
Not the sharp kind that makes you gasp. The dull, grinding kind that's been there so long it feels like part of your body now. Like an extra bone you didn't ask for.
My knee is propped on a pillow, wrapped in a black brace that runs from mid-thigh to mid-calf. The Velcro straps dig into my skin. I've loosened them twice already, but they still feel too tight.
Crutches lean against the wall beside the couch. I hate them. Hate the sound they make on the floor, the way they turn every step into a production, the way they announce to everyone in a ten-meter radius that I'm broken.
The flat is too quiet.
No alarm. No early-morning rush to the gym or the hill. Just the radiator clanking in the corner and the faint hum of the fridge.
