Blink Once Read Free Page B

Maybe they were giving me some painkillers that were fogging my mind; something was going on, and I couldn’t seem to even focus. How long had I been here anyhow? Suddenly, someone leaned over me.
    “Boo!” Olivia said. She was holding her IV pole beside her, and pulled over a chair. “More
Potter
this evening, I presume?” From the light, I could tell that it was evening already—another day had passed in a blur with no visitors, not any that I knew of, and no doctor to tell me what was going on.
    I blinked once for yes.
    “Really, I was thinking of something a little racier, like
The Scarlet Letter
, but if you want
Potter
,” she joked, opening the drawer. I thought about my dream—or had it been?—from the night before. A girl opening the drawer. Who had that been, in my room?
    Olivia read a chapter, one that I actually remembered pretty well, and I was proud to stay awake through the whole thing. When she looked down at my face, I knew shewas checking to see if I was still awake, so I blinked once. Yes, I’m still here.
    “You’re doing better,” she said, her eyes opening wider. “I can tell. That’s good.” She got quiet for a second and just looked out the window at the dark. “I need a friend,” she finally said, very matter-of-fact. “I know that sounds weird, but … I just don’t have anyone to talk to. And … I probably shouldn’t even tell you this,” Olivia started to say. Then she met my eyes and smiled. “But if I don’t tell you, who will I tell?”
    She closed the book and set it on her lap, holding it in both hands. After a deep breath she said, “There was a guy in this room before you … before you came here. He was very sick, I don’t know what was wrong with him. No, that’s not true.” She stopped herself and met my eyes. “I do know, or I think I know. But that’s not the point. He was here for a while, but he was in a coma or something. At first he had a lot of visitors; I watched them come and go, you know, the same way I do with you sometimes. Not spying, just bored.” She smiled and pushed her hair back. “But then, something happened: the visitors came less, even the doctors came less.” She shook her head. “By the time I really noticed, it had been weeks since anyone had come to see him. I started watching more closely during visiting hours, just to be sure. But no one came. And the weeks stretched into months. It made me really sad. But then, as time went by, it made me really angry.” Olivia swallowed. “Then oneday, he was gone. Just like that. We woke up one morning and he was … the room was just
empty
.”
    She looked up at me and her eyes were watery. “Look, I’m not an idiot. I know this is a place where they stick kids that no one cares about. It’s a place where they send kids who everyone has given up on. But …”
    Was Olivia trying to say that this was going to happen to me? That no one cared about me? That wasn’t true. But then a cold feeling went through me. I thought about my mom’s visit, how she stayed for just a few minutes. She didn’t even take off her coat. Then tonight, she couldn’t come at all.
    Olivia went on. “Something’s just not right about the whole thing. Sometimes at night, I get a funny feeling—about him. And I mean, this was his room.” Olivia hugged the book to her chest and scanned the darkening corners. “Have you ever …” She caught herself again. “I know this sounds so creepy and morbid, but have you ever seen or heard anything … weird in here?”
    I had to think hard. My reality had been blurry since I woke up here. Drifting in and out of consciousness, the weird dreams, not knowing what was real and what wasn’t. And then there was Olivia and how I felt about her. Half terrified and half captivated. I was in over my head in so many ways; how could I judge what was weird and what wasn’t?
    I blinked once. Then just as a smile crept acrossOlivia’s face, I blinked twice. Maybe there was