A fractured fairytale

83

༻ Rose's POV༺

"I hear you're going home today," my nurse, Amelia, said to me with a kind smile. "You must be happy."

I couldn't muster the energy to offer her a smile in return, let alone a response. She thought I'd be happy with the news that my recovery was successful, that the concussion was temporary and the doctors are confident I have no long-term injuries. She believes I must be relieved to be able to go home, to return to normal life.

Because she has no idea that there is no such thing as normal life when I leave this hospital. Nothing about the next phase of my life will be normal. And I sure as hell don't have a home to return to. I have an empty apartment still stained with my blood and all the memories I so desperately want to forget.

I don't say any of that, though. I don't say a word. And I haven't since I told Matt to leave. Amelia has been kind to me, chatting to me as she does her rounds. But I never bother to say anything back. I listen as she tells me about her day and talks animatedly about her kids and how they drive her mad, but with the kind of loving tone that tells me she's a wonderful mother.

I listened to everything she said, and once or twice, she even caused a smile to twitch across my lips. But I didn't say anything. My mother had been discharged a few days ago. Her wounds had been tended to and she had been referred to a therapist to talk to. She had stayed in my room ever since, sleeping on the chair beside my bed the first night and after that, the nurses made up a second bed for her.

She doesn't speak much either. Both of us are too lost in our own heads, caught up in our own thoughts and worries. The one that screams the loudest in my mind though, is, what the hell do we do now?

I wasn't happy with my life, not even close. But I was familiar with it. I knew who my father was, what he was like, and the course of events that led him there. I knew my mother; I knew her fear and desire to shrink into the background was a mirror image of my own. I knew her lack of strength because I'd often fallen victim to it, just like I had my father's. I knew my life, my family and my future.

And now, I knew nothing.

Amelia lingered for a moment, just in case I decided to respond, but when I didn't, she offered me a soft, understanding nod and left me to the silence. My mom had gone to get herself a coffee and the doctors weren't returning until they'd sorted my paperwork, which left me with a rare bit of time to myself.

I wasn't sure if I was glad about that or not. I was sick of being monitored and stared at like an animal in a zoo. It felt like everyone was waiting for me to break. But I was already broken and I had been for a while now. Sending Matt away shattered the final fragment of whatever I had left to give. But the silence was deafening. The emptiness enveloped me, burrowing beneath my skin and seeping into every one of my veins until every breath ached with loneliness.

I was alone.

And I always would be.

A tear rolled down my cheek as the door to my room opened. I quickly swiped it away when my mother stepped inside. I couldn't read her expression, but her eyes were a little too wide and her lips were parted, as if she was about to speak, but she didn't. And only half a second later, I realised why.

He filled the entire doorway, casting a shadow into the small hospital room as he stepped inside. I swallowed, cheeks flushing and heart suddenly pounding in my chest. I didn't have the strength to face him. I wasn't ready. But Logan Sternato stepped into the room regardless, eyes immediately falling on where I lay in my bed.

"Hi sweetheart," he said, his voice deceptively soft. When he was like this, it was impossible to begin to imagine him as threatening and violent. I knew it was there, just beneath the surface, but he hid it so well.