Page 77 of Don’t Open Your Eyes

Annabelle

She hadn’t seen Chase since he’d stopped by last week, and Annabelle realized she missed him. She went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror, pinching her cheeks to put some color into them. She had to admit she looked pretty grim. When she came out, she touched Scarlett’s arm lightly to see if she’d rouse, but she merely moaned and turned to her side. Annabelle leaned down and kissed her cheek. She sat and picked up the magazine she’d been reading, trying to distract herself from her racing thoughts. Finally, her phone pinged, and she saw that Chase was there.

“I’ll be right back, honey,” she said as she left the room.

Chase was waiting in the visitor parking lot. Annabelle’s spirits lifted when she walked toward his car, and he smiled at her. He opened the car door and got out, embracing her in a hug.

“How’s she doing?”

“She’s out of the coma. Resting now. She started to talk to us but fell back asleep.”

“She hasn’t told you what happened yet?”

“Not yet. But the police think they’ve identified the house where the messages came from. They’re close to finding out who’s behind this. So what’s going on? You said it was important.”

He looked down at the ground. “I have to talk to you about something. Do you think we could go for a quick drive? I need to show you something.”

“I can’t leave. Scarlett could wake up—”

“I promise we’ll be quick. But it’s really important.”

“Just tell me, Chase. What is it?”

He blew out a breath. “It’s about your son.”

She went cold. “What are you talking about?” The blood began to pound in her ears, and her whole body felt like it was going numb. “What about my son?”

“He’s not dead.”

Scarlett

Scarlett opened her eyes and looked around the room. She wondered where everyone had gone. She turned toward the window and noticed it was beginning to get dark. She was about to call for a nurse when her father and Olivia walked in. Holding a teddy bear, Olivia ran over to Scarlett.

“You’re awake!” She reached out to hug her sister, but their dad’s voice stopped her.

“Easy, honey. Your sister’s still hooked up to an IV.”

“A what?” Olivia asked.

Her dad walked over and pointed to the tube coming out of her arm. He looked at Scarlett tenderly. “You had us really worried, kiddo. How are you feeling?”

“Okay, I think. Still pretty tired, but I’m glad I can talk. I could hear you guys, but I couldn’t move. It was really scary.”

He took her hand in his. “I’m so sorry. Do you feel up to talking now? Do you know how you ended up in the hospital?”

She shook her head.

James sat down in the chair next to the bed and patted the one next to him for Olivia. “Someone hit you while you were on your bike. What were you doing downtown? Do you remember?”

She did, but she was afraid he would get mad if she told him. But she needed to warn her mother about the man. Her father must have sensed her hesitation.

“Honey, you’re not in trouble. We already know you were texting someone. We just want to find out what happened. Please.”

Tears came to Scarlett’s eyes as she recalled her humiliation at finding out that all this time, she’d been texting someone only pretending to be Ben. She couldn’t tell her dad everything yet, though. She needed to talk to her mom first. “Ben was supposed to meet me, but a man came instead.”

“What man? Had you ever seen him before?”

“I don’t know. Where’s Mom?”