That little hint of the girl we love.
My eyes travel to her arm, noticing the cannula stuck just below the crook. Her voice breaks my stare. “You both haven’t changed. Your hair is a bit longer.”
She takes her hand from mine, reaching out to glide a strand between her fingers.
“Neither have you.” I smile at her. Despite what she’s been through, she looks and sounds exactly the same.
Dark hair and eyes, a melodic voice that feels comforting. The only difference is the spark that once flared behind her eyes.
It was once full of mischief, full of life; now it’s dulled and holding pain.
“Yeah, not on the outside anyway,” she whispers.
We’re silent for a minute, letting Jenna lead the way. There’s no doubt Regina and I want to ask her a million questions, but this is our first encounter.
The last thing we want is to upset her progress.
“The doctor said you guys rescued me? Saint and…Rex too.” The way her voice lowers around Rex’s name, I just know she still has feelings there for him.
“That’s right,” Regina answers her.
“How?” She looks between the both of us. Fuck, where do we even begin with that?
“That might be a lot for one day. We don’t want to overload you,” I say softly, watching her for any changes in her behaviour.
She drops back against her fluffed-up pillows, leaning over to take a drink of water. “Give me it please, I’m either bored to tears in here or…tears over everything else.”
I nervously glance over at Regina, and she nods.
Deciding to take the lead, I tell her everything that happened when we left her house. How I left to find Saint, searched the entire city for him.
Then, I move on to when Regina got the call, how we raced to her house and found the body, thinking we’d found our best friend murdered at her own front door.
When I get to the part about how we both broke into the archives and decided to be vigilante killers, her eyes widen, but she doesn’t freak out the way I would expect her to.
Certainly taking it better than Saint did when I told him.
Her mouth pops off the straw from her water. “You know, if you told me that six years ago, I’d have definitely thought I’d been drugged,” she laughs, and it’s light as it fills the room, “and now I’m worried I might be hallucinating again.”
Regina shuffles on the bed. “We promise you aren’t. We’ve all maybe gone into another dimension after that night, but it’s all true, Jenna.”
Jenna rubs her hands down her face, and for a moment, I’m worried we maybe did go a little overboard.
Anxiety trickles through me, until she reveals her face, a smile etching her lips. “Jesus Christ. You two? Hitwomen?” She swings both index fingers between the two of us. “That’s actually quite…badass. I’m jealous I didn’t make the trio.” She pouts at the end, and the expression relaxes the strain in my shoulders.
Hiking my shoulders up, I try my best at wrangling a face of innocence. “We try, and once you’re better we can help you learn the ropes.”
“I could be wrong, but I bet the doctor would say that’s very unethical advice, Indie,” Regina scolds, but each of us breaks into laughter, and God does it feel good.
Even though we’re only at the beginning of the marathon, my spirits feel high. Hope doesn’t seem like such a negative emotion anymore.
Jenna’s face softens. “And you did this…because of me?”
“One of the main reasons, besides what happened. They weren’t getting away with hurting anyone else,” I answer, and she wraps her arms around herself, biting her lip as she looks heavenward, a sob breaking free.
“Do you need us to leave?” Regina asks, and Jenna’s eyes flare.
“No! Please stay, my chest just gets a little tight, that’s all.” She rubs her hand across it, sleeve tucked over in a fist.
