Before I can answer, she wraps her arms around me in a tight hug, the kind that knocks the air out of my lungs a little because I didn’t realize how much I needed it until it happened. I stand there stiff for a moment, still carrying the tension from outside, then I let myself exhale and hug her back, my shoulders finally dropping in a way they haven’t in days.
“I missed you, too,” I say, trying to sound normal even though my voice comes out softer than I expect. “Sorry I disappeared. Things were… complicated.”
She pulls back just enough to look at me, her hands still on my arms like she’s checking if I’m really standing in front of her. “Yeah. No kidding. You look like you haven’t slept in a month.”
“I’m fine,” I lie automatically. “Really.”
She doesn’t buy it—her eyebrows lift, and she gives me this look like she’s two seconds away from interrogating me right there in the hallway with patients walking past—but instead she grabs my wrist and pulls me toward a quieter corner near the supply room.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” she says, her voice dropping as she glances around. “Your brother was here. Two days ago.”
My whole body goes cold so fast it almost feels like the floor tilts. “What? Did he—did he say anything?”
She nods, reaching into her pocket. “He left this.”
She presses a folded note into my hand, and the second my fingers close around it, they start to shake. I swallow hard, my breath catching in my throat as I force myself to open it.
Kira,
I need to see you. Don’t tell anyone.
I’ll reach out again with a place and time.
Please.
—L
My breath catches. Lilly studies my face closely, worry rising in her eyes.
“Kira… what’s going on?”
And maybe it’s because she’s the only friend I have left, or because I’ve been carrying too much alone, or because everything in my life feels like it’s balancing on a knife’s edge—but I tell her everything.
By the time I finish, Lilly sinks down onto the nearest chair like her legs just stopped working, her eyes locked on me as if she’s trying to figure out whether I’m actually standing there or if she hallucinated the whole story.
“Kira… this is—this is insane.” Her voice cracks on the last word, and she presses a hand to her forehead like she’s trying to push the information back into place.
“I know.” I wrap my arms around myself, shifting my weight from one foot to the other, feeling exposed now that I’ve said it all out loud.
“What are you going to do?” she asks, leaning forward, elbows on her knees, worry tightening her whole face.
“I need to see him,” I whisper, staring down at my hands because it’s easier than looking her in the eyes. “I need to know he’s okay.”
“Kira, Artyom will kill him,” she says, her voice rising a little as she grabs my wrist, squeezing like she’s trying to anchor me to common sense.
I swallow hard, my throat tight, and nod. “I know.”
We both go quiet for a moment, the kind of silence that feels heavy and frantic at the same time. Then we start talking in low, rushed voices, putting together something that barely qualifiesas a plan—something stupid and dangerous, but it’s the only thing that makes sense to me in that moment.
By midday my phone buzzes while I’m stocking supplies in the medication room, and the second I see Lucas’s name on the screen my stomach drops hard. It’s a short message, nothing emotional, or reassuring—just a time and a place, both of them chosen with the kind of care that tells me he’s scared enough not to waste words. I stand there for a moment staring at the screen, feeling my pulse climb higher and higher until it’s all I can hear, because now it’s real, now there’s no turning back, even if every part of me is screaming to stop. I delete the message immediately, like muscle memory.
When the time comes, I sneak out early from work—something Ineverdo—telling the head nurse I’m not feeling well, keeping my face as neutral as possible so no one suspects anything. As soon as I step outside, the air cold against my skin, I pull out my phone and call Artyom.
“I got held up,” I tell him, trying to sound casual even though my voice feels too tight. “I’ll be home a bit later.”
“Held up by what?” I hear the surprise in his voice. “Are you okay?”
God, why does he need to know everything.
