𝐀 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝

Chapter Nineteen

After a week of uncertainty, we were finally allowed to visit Penny in the hospital. She wasn't awake yet, but the doctors had assured us that she was going to be okay.

Felicity and I slowly walked towards the right room-which we could recognize by the officers guiding her door-our hands clamped together. I wasn't sure about what we were going to see, and maybe some part of me wasn't ready, but we wanted to be there for our friend, even though shethey might not have known that we were.

Felicity took a deep breath before entering and I followed her inside.

Penny was hooked up to a bunch of machines and a duvet was pulled up to her shoulders. I swallowed at the bandage around her neck, noticing the smallest drop of blood just seeping through.

Her face was still pale but seemed to have a little bit more color, and her eyes closed, giving off the illusion that she was sleeping. A cut was healing on her lip and a few bruises were already fading, but Felicity slapped her hand in front of her mouth and ran out of the room the minute she lay eyes on her friend.

I let her be, slowly approaching Penny and placing my hand on hers, careful not to mess with her drip. The way her chest moved in a steady motion settled my nerves instantly, and though I felt horrible for my friend, I was relieved to see her alive.

"You really scared us, Penny," I whispered before I grabbed the chair that stood next to the bed and sat down, caressing my thumb over the back of her hand.

I wondered if she could hear me. Or if she even wanted to hear me.

I opened my mouth to speak but I closed it again when I heard something move behind me.

My neck nearly snapped with how quickly I turned around, and I frowned when I saw a sleeping Hayden in a large chair. He had his arms crossed and laid back against the wall with a pillow behind his head, his dark hair messy in a way that told me he had been here for a long time.

But why?

I wasn't aware that Penny and Hayden were anything more than acquaintances? Then again, I didn't know the two very well to begin with.

"God, I'm sorry," Felicity said as she walked back in, running a hand through her blonde locks.

It seemed to wake up Penny's guard dog, and I took a step back when the guy jumped from his seat, his eyes hooded and barely open. "Whoa, what are you doing here?"

I looked from Felicity to Hayden, raising my brows. "Visiting our friend. What are you doing here?"

He shifted uncomfortably on his feet and rubbed his eyes, before quickly grabbing his coat and covering up his inked arms. He cleared his throat. "I didn't...just checking."

He left without saying anything else and I watched him walk away with my brows still raised.

"That was weird, but okay." Felicity walked past me and let out a sharp breath when she came closer to her friend. I followed her, standing on the opposite side of the bed so Felicity could take the chair.

"She looks so...still," Felicity mumbled, studying the wires and tubes attached to Penny.

I nodded, placing my hand over Felicity's and giving it a gentle squeeze. "But she's safe now."

We just sat there for about an hour, talking to her and discussing unimportant gossip Penny had missed until it was time to go back to campus. There was no way we wanted to leave Penny here all alone, but we didn't really have a choice. TheThat curfew was probably going to get a lot stricter this time around.

Besides, I had another tutoring session scheduledplanned, and even though the semester was coming to an end and I was all caught up, I was looking forward to spending some time with Mr. Davis.