Chapter 5: Happier
By the time visiting hours ended, Nina looked way more relaxed than when I had first woken up. The worry lines around her eyes had mostly disappeared, and she wasn’t fidgeting with her hands anymore.
"I’ll come back tomorrow after school," she said, gathering up her stuff. "Unless you don’t want me to. I don’t want to bother you if you need to rest."
"You’re not bothering me," I said. "It’s actually nice having someone to talk to."
She smiled at that. "Okay, good. I’ll see you tomorrow then."
After she left, the room felt way too quiet. I had gotten used to having her there, which was weird considering I usually preferred being alone.
’When’s the last time I actually wanted someone to stick around?’ I thought.
I couldn’t remember. Usually when people tried to hang out with me, I’d find excuses to leave or just wait for them to get bored and go away.
But Nina was different somehow. Talking to her didn’t feel like work.
I reached for my phone on the bedside table. The nurses had brought it from the crash scene along with my backpack. Surprisingly, it was completely fine. The case had done its job.
I opened up the school group chat first, scrolling through the messages from the past two days. People were talking about homework, complaining about teachers, sharing memes. The usual stuff.
Nothing about me.