That Night √

18» that fate

Grace's POV
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"How is she?" I asked Fraser the moment he came out of the hospital room.

He seemed momentarily surprised when he looked over at me. Maybe because he hadn't really been expecting me to talk to him in such a normal way. Anytime soon, that is.

"She's doing just fine." He smiled, then frowned a little. "Woozy on those pills, though. She's been saying a lot of shit that won't really make sense."

I nodded, smiling in relief when all I wanted was to cry in relief, and looked over at Mrs Rhodes--Alice's mother--who was talking with the two police officers, who'd shown up earlier, around the corner of the hospital hallway. I could feel nausea slowly gnawing its way up my stomach.

"Are you all right?" Fraser asked, still looking at me with that small frown.

"Yeah." Not fine. "I wasn't the one who..."

I slowly trailed off as I saw Mrs Rhodes and the two police officers making their way towards me.

Here it comes.

"Grace, sweetheart." I could see the strain in Mrs Rhodes's smile, her eyes flickering towards the door to Alice's room with a frown. I couldn't help but wonder where Alice's father was. Didn't he care that his daughter had nearly died? "The officers have some questions for you. If you don't mind."

I really, really did mind and wanted not to take a step closer towards them. Not because I was scared, but because I knew how useless this was. They wouldn't help. They never did. They never helped me in all those two years and I'd nearly begged them for it. For help.

"Sure." A small weary whisper left my lips.

"We just need to know all the details as to what exactly happened." The woman officer asked me.

"Alice and I went out to shop." I started. "We'd just exited one of the clothing stores when a car came out of nowhere and...hit her. I couldn't--I tried to warn her but it all happened so fast."

Mrs Rhodes made a distressed sound and I swallowed, watching Fraser wrap a comforting arm around her.

"Did you see anyone in that car?"

"No." I wished that I had.

"Can you describe the car to us?" She asked. "Plate number?"

I opened my mouth but stopped right then. I'd seen the car plate number; I still remembered it. But would it be worth telling them?

"GUI-7018," I stated. I got a surprised glance from Fraser but that was that. The other police officer quickly noted it down.

"All right. We'll get in touch with you if we find something." Mrs Rhodes nodded and walked along with them towards the exit.

"You can see her," Fraser spoke up, breaking the silence. "If you want."

I looked over at the room where Alice was. "I'll...okay."

He stepped aside, and with one last glance at him, I pushed open the door and walked inside.

The room was empty save for Alice herself, lying on the bed with her arm covered in plaster. She still looked the most alive, and the most colourful thing in the whole of the room, despite how pale she looked.