Learning to Live

Chapter 23

Hunter didn't come to school the following Monday.

Usually, I either found him next to my locker in the morning or he joined me there later. But first period passed with no sign of him, and when he didn't appear in Mr. Barcroft's class, I called him. It went to voice mail.

When lunch period came around, I sprinted to the parking lot. Hunter's car was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, did you see Hunter this morning?" I asked as soon as I joined the others at lunch. Everyone was there except for Liza.

"No," Lia replied as the others shook their heads. "Why? What's wrong?"

I chewed on my bottom lip and stared at the food on my tray. My stomach was all tied up in knots. The thought of eating made me queasy.

I couldn't take it. I pushed my tray towards Scott. "Not hungry. Eat this."

I rose. Lia threw me her car keys without saying a word. I loved this girl.

I was out of the cafeteria in a heartbeat. I just had to know what was wrong. Where could he be? Was he okay?

Alright, first, I should go to his place. I stopped dead in the hallway, people brushing past me to lunch. I didn't even know where he lived. But there must be someone who did.

My phone pinged in my hand. A message. From Hunter.

"Thank God," I mumbled, so relieved my hands shook. I leaned against the wall and read the text.

My relief didn't last. Heart in my throat, I sprinted to the parking lot, jumped in Lia's car, and drove to the hospital. Hunter's text flashed before my eyes the entire way.

Car accident. Hospital. Car accident. Car accident.

Images from my childhood burst to the surface, breaking through the chains of time.

My father driving. Flashes of bright headlights. A crash. Loud sirens and red lights. Blood and darkness. Then waking up in the hospital to Sam crying quietly next to me, my mother's wails. And the broken months to follow.

*

It took me a while to find Hunter. He was in a private room. The smell of the hospital tightened my guts. It brought back memories of my last time here after Jake had spiked my drink.

I stared at the closed white door, my heart racing. It was okay. He was fine. He'd said so in his text.

The fact that it was a car accident made all my childhood fears and present anxiety rush to the surface, squeezing a vise around my lungs.

I knocked. Hunter's deep voice called inside. I slipped in. The clouded sky spilled in gray light through the large window, dulling the white and blue colors of the room.

Hunter was alone, on the bed in the center of the room. His visible upper half was dressed in a pale blue hospital gown. My eyes immediately found his, so dark and intense and familiar, they made my knees shake.

"Hey," he said, sitting up with a wince. He leaned against his pillows and frowned. "Sapphire?"

A bandage covered half his forehead and his left forearm. His cheekbone was scratched. I stopped next to him. My vision blurred.

Hunter shifted forward, his warm hand touched my cheek. "Hey. I'm fine."

Warmth spilled on my cheeks. "You- you-"

I took a shuddering breath. A rock the size of Stefan's stubborn head lodged itself in my throat, constricting my lungs.

"I'm okay," he said, pulling my head against his shoulder. I breathed in his familiar scent. It cracked my composure and drew tears from my eyes. I hugged Hunter's neck and let them flow. Relief and gut-wrenching worry mingled in a toxic mess that made me feel like I was in a wild ocean, being flung around and swallowed by stormy waves.