Book 3: Stabbed

Lex

I don’t know how long I’ve been asleep. I wake up in the hospital wing with a bandage wrapped around my neck. The memory of Opal stabbing me with a ceramic shard has me gingerly touching the bandage. It doesn’t hurt anymore, but there is some stiffness.

I blink against the harsh fluorescent lighting in the hospital room. The sound of crinkling paper makes me look over to the floor where my son is drawing with crayons on paper. Ivy is seated on a chair nearby writing on a thick leather notebook. When I sit up, she looks over at me and closes the notebook.

“Hey,” she says. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I got stabbed," I manage to say.

Cole abandons his crayons to run to the hospital bed. “Daddy!” He tries to climb up the bed, but it’s too high for him, so I pull him up, ignoring my stiff muscles. He wraps his arms around my neck. “I missed you!”

I smile, hugging him back. Having my child in my arms gives me a sense of peace. His