Inevitable Ever After

Part 18

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Beep. Beep. Beep.

What an annoying sound.

Beep. Beep. Beep – beep – beep.

I gasp awake. Flinch. Tremble. Groan. Everything hurts. When I try to lift my head I can't. It feels like it's not attached to my body. My bones don't exist anymore. Something heavy presses on my chest, making every breath a painful fight for air.

"She returns to the land of the living," I hear in a familiar voice. Jared's voice.

I hold my breath, going very still, while the simple words drill into my skull, more painful than the ache.

"Relax, that was a joke," Jared says. "Somewhat, anyway. Getting hit by another car while unparking is seldomly enough to kill people. But you bumped your head pretty hard."

"Ah," I croak. My throat is dry like I've never drank a drop of water in my life. A metallic taste clings to my tongue.

So I had a car accident. Slowly the situation starts to makes sense as recent memories resurface. I must have been too out of my mind to pay proper attention to the traffic. How idiotic.

I finally manage to force my head to move. Hiss with pain, but sit up anyway.

The hospital room comes into view. Yellow walls, worn white furniture, another bed, a window with flower-pattern curtains.

Jared.

He leans in a chair, head propped on his arm on the armrest. His shirt is open a button more than usual, the sleeves are rolled up. His hair is a mess, like he's been pulling it all sides repeatedly. And he looks tired, like I've never seen in all the years we've known each other.

"So, I didn't die?" I try to clarify. Because I feel like I have. There isn't a bone in my body that feels right. Every move of my head sends it spinning.

Jared grimaces. "Were you trying to? Is that it?"

"What? No!"

"I honestly can't tell anymore. You've been acting nothing but crazy lately." His voice is full of retort. Like he has every right to be mad at me. His eyes tell a different story, one full of concern. Fear. Pain.

"No!" I repeat. Stronger.

"Then what were you thinking?"

That I had to get away from Caroline. That I didn't want to die at work. That he was a dirty liar.

In hindsight, he isn't and I was being stupidly insecure again. His mere presence right now is proof enough I was jumping to conclusions again. I know damn well that Jared lies a lot – so do I, it comes with the fairy tale curse – but he never lies to me.

Maybe I can try some honesty too. "I – I was – scared."

Jared's face softens. Understanding and compassion warm his eyes.

He rises from the chair with a soft groan, like he hurt something too. Black feathers swirl to the floor as he moves across the room to grab a paper bag.

Raven feathers. He is growing his raven feathers. What means he is pretty upset, if I understood his curse situation correctly.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

He snorts.

Sitting back down on the chair he holds the paper bag in my face. "I've about run out of words to tell you. So this is my last resort."