Dreaming of Alten

Chapter 23. Real Life

When I wake up the next morning, the sun is streaming through my window, and one look is enough to convince me that I'm definitely late for school. I check the clock on my bedside table. I've already missed two classes. With everything that happened last night, I forgot to set my alarm, and my parents probably assumed that I was staying home today so they didn't wake me.

I'm not sure that school is where I need to be right now anyway. Getting to the hospital to see Lily and talk to Blake is more important.

I get out of bed and get dressed. I look around for my bag and realize that it's still in Lily's car. I forgot to get it when I left the hospital with my parents last night, which means that I now have no purse, no phone, no ID, no driver's license, and no keys.

It's a little scary to think about how much of my life I carry around with me all the time, so scary that I almost change my mind about leaving the house. What if I run into Colin and his friends again? I won't even be able to call someone for help if anything happened.

But...staying at home means one more day that life stays the way it is right now. And going out to talk to Blake means a little bit of hope that I might be able to get Alten back and that maybe things will go back to my perfect dream reality.

That's really not a choice at all.

I dig through my closet until I find an old backpack, and then I get some money out of my desk drawer and scoop out the spare keys from under the plant by the front door. It's not much, but it should be enough to get me to the hospital, and then I can ask Lily or Blake for the keys to Lily's car and get my stuff back.

There's no one I can call for a ride, so I end up taking the bus to the hospital. Once I get there, the first place I go is of course Lily's room. She's awake, eating chips, and watching television. There's a bandage on her head, but otherwise she looks fine.

She smiles when she sees me at the door and waves me in. "Hey, come on in," she says, sounding pretty cheerful, considering everything that she's been through. "Did your parents let you stay home from school? I didn't think I'd see you until this afternoon."

I go into the room and sit down on the bed by her feet. "Yeah, they were gone when I woke up, and they didn't wake me, so I guess they called the school. Where are your parents?" I ask, looking around.

"They had to go to work. My mom was going to try and get the day off, but I told her not to. I'm just eating and sleeping and stuff anyway, I don't need a babysitter. And you know how my mom is, she keeps asking me if I'm cold, or hungry, or if I need anything, even though I keep telling her I don't." She hands me the bag of chips and I help myself to some. We sit there munching in silence for a few minutes.

"How are you feeling?" I ask.

"Okay, I think. My head's kind of sore, but I guess that's normal when you get a concussion and a bad cut and stitches. Do you know they shaved part of my hair off? What am I going to do? Do you think I should get extensions when they take the bandage off? The side of my head here is apparently bald now. At least that's what the doctor told me. Maybe I should get a wig or something."

"It might be a while before they take the bandage off. Maybe it'll have grown out by then," I say.

"I hope so. I'm not going back to school with horrible hair! I mean, the doctor already said the cut on my head might leave a scar."

I pat her hand. "It'll be okay," I say, hoping that it's the truth. At least if I keep her away from all the Alten stuff—and I am going to keep her away from all of that from now on—she should be safe from anything else Colin does.