Between the Lives - By Jessica Shirvington Page 0,48

to my ear, his hand squeezing mine tighter than ever before.

‘Stay with me, Sabine. I heard you. Stay with me!’

But I couldn’t.

Everything went black.

What happens when we die? Do we go somewhere?

I can’t say I believe in pearly gates. Coming from the world, worlds, that I do, I’m more inclined to believe in some form of reincarnation – a sick flick of a switch and we start over. That’s much more believable. Much less appealing as well – to be stuck on a constant setting of repeat.

I was pretty sure of one thing, though. Death didn’t come with the monotonous sound of beeping machines. Or a raw, scorched throat. Or, for that matter, a body that felt as though someone had taken a meat tenderising mallet to every inch.

My hand fumbled with the oxygen mask. I hated the feeling of something being over my face, even if it was there to help. As my eyes started to blink open, my struggling became more urgent.

A set of warm hands settled over mine. I relaxed instantly.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust and recognise the owner of those soothing hands.

I think I expected Mom. Even Dad.

As if he knew, he spoke. ‘Your dad was here. Your mom couldn’t leave your sister alone and they didn’t want to bring her in. He stayed until you stabilised, but he … he had to go.’

Ethan gently removed the oxygen mask.

I was so groggy I could barely keep my eyes open and I missed some of what he said, his voice dropping in and out of my consciousness. But just hearing it helped.

‘… should sleep … body’s been through a lot … if we hadn’t known what you’d taken … was so scared …’

I opened my eyes again. One of his hands covered his face and his shoulders were slumped.

I swallowed a few times before I could speak.

‘Do you …’ I rasped, ‘believe?’

He sighed. ‘I … I asked your father if you could speak French. He said you’d never spoken a word of French in your life.’

I felt a wave of fury towards my father. ‘Mon père peut être un idiot,’ I whispered.

Ethan smiled grimly. ‘I’m gathering those aren’t words of love.’

‘Non.’

Without thinking, I lifted my arm towards him, my hand cupping his face. His eyes widened, but he didn’t move away.

‘Need someone to know me,’ I murmured. Begged. Because we both knew he still hadn’t answered my question.

‘Why?’ he asked, his voice breaking.

‘Cause no one ever has.’ My hand dropped.

Ethan looked down, cleared his throat, and looked back at me. ‘They’re moving you back down to your room after your next bloods come through. Was it only the Digoxin you took?’

He watched me carefully as I nodded.

‘And you just figured it might be handy to write the name of the antidote on your cast?’ His eyebrows lifted gently.

‘Don’t want to die,’ I said and tried to shrug.

He half laughed, but then sadness clouded over his expression. ‘Could’ve fooled me – and everyone else.’

My eyelids were too heavy. I was sliding back under. ‘Want a chance … to really live,’ I murmured.

Ethan said something but I’d lost focus. I missed it.

The next time I opened my eyes I was back in my room. The first thing I noticed was that my cupboard had been mostly cleared out. Just a few articles of clothing remained, folded on one shelf.

I felt under the sheets. I was back in a hospital gown. I knew without looking that my butterfly necklace was long gone. At least I wasn’t restrained.

I turned my head towards the other side of the room. Macie was sitting in the armchair, watching me, an open magazine in her lap.

I swallowed painfully a few times, and she waited for me to settle.

‘You were vomiting a lot and they had to intubate you at one point. Did you really write the name of the antidote on your hand?’ she asked, her tone incredulous.

I didn’t answer and instead asked, ‘What time is it?’

She rolled her eyes. ‘That’s all you ever want to know.’

‘Yeah, well, if you were me, it’d be on the top of your need-to-know list too.’

She stared at me like I was a puzzle she didn’t want to have to solve. Eventually she looked at her watch.

‘Congratulations,’ she said mockingly. ‘You’ve been out of it all day. It’s 5 p.m.’ She stood up. ‘I’ll let Dr Levi know you’re awake.’

Oh yeah, she had the hates, bad. I had a feeling it was more to do