Chapter 5

I woke up two days later.

Ryan and my parents sat by my bedside, looking like they’d just come from the police station.

“Mom… Dad… Ryan…” I croaked.

Ryan was the first to react, gripping my hand with red-rimmed eyes.

“Claire, thank God you’re awake. We were so worried.”

“You know, what did you ever see in that Jason guy? If I hadn’t shown up, you might not have made it.”

Mom nudged him, and Ryan immediately shut his mouth.

“Claire, you really scared us this time. Seeing you lying there in that pool of blood…”

I held my mom’s hand, just like when I was little, and she’d comfort me to sleep.

“I hate him so much. Jason… he’s a piece of trash who put me through hell.”

“Ryan, did you know that when the knife was pressed against my back, I called out for him? And all he said was, ‘just wait.’”

“Chloe told me not to call the cops, and when the attacker realized I had, he stabbed me three times.”

Ryan kept his head down, fiddling with his shirt buttons, refusing to look me in the eye.

“That idiot’s outside. I stopped him from getting in. Do you want to see him?”

I shook my head.

Staring at the corner of the doorway, I said quietly, “I hate him. These three scars are enough to remind me of him forever.”