Lissa.
It's been a week, and a particularly long one, at that. The doctors come and go, moving around her purposefully. The whole thing frightens me. Finally, I'm forced to confess to Christian that, ever since the accident, I've had a crushing fear of hospitals.
I didn't want to tell him. It was our secret.
Rose is worth it, though.
She wakes up every day, and she's like a little girl – so lost, and sad. Very sad. Sometimes I hear voices coming from her room, and I think that this must be killing Dimitri. It must be killing him, because if it was Christian in that room…
But Christian's outside, and he's safe. As soon as Adrian found out, he came and refused to leave, even though we never let him go in to see her. It would destroy Dimitri. Plus, we thought it best to keep him in the dark, a futile effort to stop him from becoming a ghost.
And now they're eating in a cafe, all three of them faking appetites and laughter, because Rose has brought them together too strongly for jealousy to part.
I'm sitting here, next to her, in this most awful of hospital rooms, and I'm so terrified I can barely move. Not because I hate places like this. Not because I'm really alone for the first time in years. I'm scared, scared beyond anything, because I've never been here when she wakes up.
What if she doesn't remember me? I know she won't – she never has, when I come in after Dimitri tells her who I am. Then again, what if she does? Christ, it would kill him, and he's already half-dead!
"Where am I?" A high-pitched voice asks, shocking me into realize that I've been staring at my nails.
I look up. "Rose."
There's a moment when time slows down to a crawl, and we're teetering on the edge of a sword, two friends torn apart by too many things to count, and I hold my breath. I hold my breath.
"Who are you?"
I can't help it. I've never been as strong as she is.
I burst into helpless tears, just like I always do - only this time, she's not here to comfort me.
She's gone.