mindset

presents

oliver turns seventeen in the hospital, shortly before they're going to be discharged, and it's a wonderful surprise. they pool their money and buy enough desserts from the cafeteria to equal a cake (which turns out to be good, because oliver tells them he doesn't like cake). it's a very sad excuse for a party, but they've all spent the better part of the last year unconscious, so they're in no position to complain.

their nurses watch from the sidelines, as if shocked that they're not all suffering from PTSD. eloise rolls her eyes, taking a piece of oliver's massive sugar pile. "do they think we're going to try to kill each other? jesus."

oliver smiles gratefully at her, as if to say thank you for diverting the attention, and eloise smiles back. she's gotten over her initial yearning to get back to her dreamspace. she's scared of this life but she's not entirely alone anymore.

caleb watches her pick apart a cupcake and tries not to acknowledge the pain wedging its way into his chest. he's never going to see her again. no, that's not true; he'll see her, but it won't be enough. after everything, nothing will be enough.

"caleb?" shae looks worried, her eyebrows furrowed. "is everything alright?"

"not really," he says, too tired to lie and fake it. "you know."

"yeah." shae looks and sounds so sad and he hates that he did that. "i do."

oliver, on shae's other side, catches caleb's eye and gives him a soft smile. "thanks for the present."

the words still sound warped and incorrect coming from his throat, but shae beams at him nonetheless, and so caleb can't help but smile as well. "no problem. consider it a thank you gift."

oliver looks confused. "what for?"

"for being so nice to me in the dreamspace." oliver had always been the best of them. "and being so good to my sister."

both shae and oliver smile then, hers big and his soft, and she slips her hand into his. "yeah, thanks for that. even though you couldn't get the damn tv to work."

all three of them laugh, the anxiety and hopelessness ebbing away from caleb for a bit, and he catches eloise's smile across the table.