Triple Point

Chapter 73: Annual Trip

March 17, 34 AE, 10:45 AM

When Elsie awoke, the pain in her shoulder had lessened to a dull throb, but the ache in her heart remained stronger than ever. She knew she was in the hospital from the bright lights that showed through her eyelids and the smell of sterile chemicals, but she didn't want to open her eyes. She wanted to keep thinking that it had all been a bad dream, just to live in a state of blissful ignorance for a moment longer, but she couldn't bring herself to believe her own lie. And when she couldn't even force herself to go back to sleep, she reluctantly opened her eyes.

As she predicted, she was lying in a hospital bed. The last time she had been admitted to one was almost a year ago after the attack on the Games. That time, Exodos had attacked her, and Camilla had saved her. This time, the Org had attacked Camilla, and Elsie couldn't do a thing. And now, Camilla was now dead to the world.

"This better not become an annual tradition," Minyoung's voice said from beside her, and Elsie struggled to simply drag her gaze over to him as he sat next to the room's window. "Or else I'm going to start thinking you're trying to spend every birthday in the hospital."

He meant it as a joke, and maybe in any other situation Elsie would've simply rolled her eyes and returned his jab with one of her own. But she couldn't think of anything to say, nor could she summon the energy to even roll her eyes. All she could do was simply blink slowly at him, then turn her stare to the foot of her bed.

The air in the room turned tense and awkward, but Elsie couldn't bring herself to care like she normally would. All she could think about was the empty pit in her chest that refused to go away. For once, Elsie was glad that even though Minyoung wasn't good with silences either, he was even worse at trying to break them. She had a feeling that him talking would only make her feel more terrible than she already felt.

The silence only lasted a few minutes longer when Jordan and Mack entered the room, appearing to have just come out of an emotionally-charged discussion. While Jordan seemed hesitant and nervous, Mack looked stressed and distraught. At the sight of Elsie, Mack narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, but Jordan smiled tentatively to make up for it.

"You're awake!" Jordan exclaimed, his enthusiasm slightly strained. "How are you... how's your arm feeling?"

"Fine," Elsie said quietly, her voice coarse. She realized that if Jordan had stuck with his original question on how she was feeling, she probably would've answered it the same way without a thought, no matter how untrue it was.

"You probably won't be able to use it for a bit though," Jordan continued, now being a little too obvious that he was trying to relieve some of the tension that Elsie and Minyoung had just decided to live with. "You're still ambidextrous, right?"

"Can you even stop being ambidextrous?" Minyoung asked, probably taking pity on his brother's half-hearted attempts to make things seem relatively normal.

"I'm sure it's possible," Jordan said with certainty, seeming a little happier with Minyoung's assist. "Mack, what do you think?"

But Mack was still looking at Elsie as if he hadn't been listening to a word they said. At the sound of his name, he did speak, but it wasn't to answer Jordan.

"What really happened last night, Elsie?" he asked, his voice quiet as if raising his volume would let out all the emotions he was already struggling to hold back.

Elsie hesitated. It was easy to lie to Hester when Elsie wanted nothing more than to ruin her. Lying to her friends was impossible.

"I... don't know," Elsie tried to stall. "I don't really remember."