Spinning Out

Chapter 33

JAINA

Here I go down the rabbit hole once again. I sit beside Nathan and scroll through Instagram. Page after page, tag and after tag, until my neck hurts again and my thumb is freezing from the constant use.

"Did you know his friend has a silver BMW?" I ask Nathan.

He doesn't move.

"I haven't met him yet, but when I do, maybe he will take us for a ride in it," I say.

I found his page. It goes back to when he and Elijah were in 5th grade. A lot of people our age wipe that kind of history from their social media. WE might joke we aren't the same persona s we were back then, but not Bryant He left up all the cringy posts and silly selfies. It reminds me a lot of Nathan and me.

"Elijah drove out to see him again.," I say.

I scroll down and see him with a girl about our age. He's tagged her in the picture so I click over to her page.

"I feel like a stalker," I tell him. I hold the phone up so he can see, but he doesn't open his eyes.

I move the phone back to my lap and sink into the stiff hospital chair again My Dr. Pepper is warm now, and I am out of candy. I've been here all day.

"She only has a few of him," I continue to narrate my stalking to Nathan whether he is a willing participant or not.

The girl's handle is ItsRaceyLacey.

"She's pretty," I tell him. "She has long, brown hair and freckles. Her car is pink," I turn the phone around again. This time I move it closer. "Come on Nathan, don't you want to look just once?"

Nothing.

Elijah's friend Byrant is tagged in a few of her pictures. I reach each caption aloud.

"Knock, knock," a woman's voice calls from the hall.

"Come in," I tell her.

"How's he doing?" she asks. I can see her name tag on her white coat. She's the doctor listed on the whiteboard.

"You tell me," I say.

She has a warm smile, and with a small nod she moves to the bed to examine Nathan.

"He did well in surgery. We were able to get one of the larger clots and he are giving him a medication to help break the other down," she tells me.

"That's great news," I say.

"He's healing well. No sign of a fever. It's been long enough I think he is out of the woods," she says.

"Do you think he will wake up soon?" I ask. I always ask. I guess I'm hoping for some doctor to say confidently he will. It hasn't happened yet.

"That's not my area," she says.

I let her finish her exam.

"Thank you," I tell her as she leaves the room. And after a brief pause I add, "for nothing."

I turn to Nathan and I could swear his hand moves. I've never put my hand in his so quickly. I squeeze his hand and pray he squeezes back. I know I didn't imagine it. I look to all his monitors as if they will show some announcement that things had changed even if it were only for a second. Instead I find the same numbers and s steady heart rate. Maybe I'm crazy for thinking one day he will respond or open his eyes. But if they didn't believe it were possible, they wouldn't keep him here like this, right? I hold his hand for a while, but when I get no response, I release it so I can get back to my detective work. It's the only thing that distracts me from this room and this situation.

There's a video on Lacey's page and I click to watch it. My heart nearly stops and my throat tightens. I can't believe what I'm seeing. I don't think I can breathe.

"Oh my God," I say out loud.

The video was posted the night of our accident. The point of view is from inside a car. You can see the pink hood. The time stamp is right before it all happened. The music is blaring inside the car and the silver BMW in front of the camera is swerving quickly in and out of traffic. I can make out two people in the car, but only by the dark blobs. The pink car follows close behind.

"Nathan, I need you to wake up."