Chapter 57
When Grace finally emptied of tears, she found herself alone on the roof. No sonnimne. No Yuhwa.
She returned to the hospital. Her body moved on autopilot through the familiar halls. Even in a daze, she found her father, sensors and tubes attached to him.
She held his limp fingers in hers, dropping to her knees beside the bed. Letting her head drop to their joined hands.
That’s how Anna found her.
“Sweetie, what happened to you?”
“Huh?” Grace peered at Anna, dazed. The nurse looked worn out. Her scrubs were wrinkled, her hair completely fallen out of her signature ponytail, caught in the straps of the face mask that hung around her neck.
“You’re covered in blood, and you’re soaked! Did you fall?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I fell.”
“Come with me. I’ll patch you up.”
But when Anna tried to lead her to a patient room, she refused. It felt wrong, somehow, to take up a bed when the hospital was so full.
“Okay, sweetie, come on,” Anna said.
She let herself be led to the nurses’ station to treat her cuts.
Anna’s soft hands skimmed Grace’s bruised and battered skin, treating wounds and bandaging them.
If she noticed the distinctive bite marks, she said nothing.
Afterward, Anna led Grace to her father’s office and laid her down on the small couch like a child.
She refused the ibuprofen that Anna offered.
Instead, closing her eyes, she focused on the physical pain to block the emotional pain.
And though she thought sleep was beyond her, she eventually drifted off.
Grace didn’t know how long she slept, but when she woke again, the sun was out.
So bright that she had to shield her eyes.
She stood at the window, staring at it. Silently willing it to bring him back.
To return him to where he belonged. Which was here, with her. Not in the nothing that held him now.
There was a sticky note attached to a bottle of water, telling Grace that her father had been moved to a room and that she should get something to eat.
She ignored the order and took the elevator to the inpatient floor.
When she approached her father’s hospital room, Zoe was slumped on one of the waiting benches. They jumped up at seeing her.
Grace’s lips quivered at the sight of her friend.
Without a word, Zoe opened their arms, and Grace stepped into their comfort.
“I’m so sorry. I just heard. I would’ve been here sooner.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“It’s okay, I’m here. You’re not alone.”
Grace shook her head against her friend’s shoulder, holding tightly to the thin windbreaker Zoe wore. “Zo, about what you said at your show—”
“No, it’s okay. If you don’t want to talk about certain things, I understand.”
“That’s the thing, I want to, I just don’t know how.” She was trying to find the right words when Anna emerged from her father’s room, eyes wide and out of breath.
“Oh, Gracie, you’re here.”
“What is it, Anna?” Grace asked. “Is it my dad?”
“Gracie,” Anna started to say, but fear had Grace pushing into the room just as her dad rose from the bed, gripping the frame for support.
“Daddy?” Grace stopped short at the sight of him, not only awake, but up.
“Is it possible to get some water? Maybe a cup of red Jell-O?”
Grace ran to him, sobbing, and wrapped her arms around him. Relieved that she hadn’t lost everything. Not this time.