Chapter 149 The Ride Home

• The hallway smelled like antiseptic and rain. Somewhere outside, the morning had started, but inside the hospital, time moved slower as if grief had its own rhythm. Leo stood by the window, arms crossed, watching the faint reflection of Zara sitting on one of the plastic chairs. Her face was pale, her eyes swollen from crying, her body rigid in that still way people only get when they’re trying not to fall apart.
• Zara hadn’t spoken since.
• Fred had gone to get the discharge papers; the air between them all was heavy and careful. Leo’s mind drifted to Elena the stubborn, fiery girl who had caused so much chaos and still somehow looked small when the doctor pulled the white curtain around her bed. She had whispered one thing before slipping into exhaustion. Tell Zara I’m sorry.