Chapter 23

Marie’s POV

The paramedic's voice comes from somewhere far away.

Kitchen. Fluorescent light. Someone's hands checking my pulse, my pupils, asking questions I answer without really hearing myself answer them. Mom's face somewhere behind that, palm over her mouth.

"Hospital," the paramedic says. "Just to be safe."

I nod. I don't remember deciding to nod.

***

The car. Frank driving. Dean beside me, knuckles split, swelling already, not saying anything. The window is cold against my forehead. I watch streetlights go by in long orange smears and don't think about anything at all.

***

The hospital is white and quiet and smells like antiseptic. Someone says assault at a desk — my voice, I think, though it doesn't feel like mine — and then I'm moving down a hallway, a woman's hand light on my shoulder, questions I answer from somewhere outside my own body.

I go awa