Chapter Text
Room 417 was quiet except for the soft beeping of the heart monitor and the occasional muffled sounds drifting in from the hallway outside.
Jessica barely noticed anymore. Everything felt heavy.
The pain medication they’d given her a few minutes earlier had dulled the pain, but it also made her feel detached from herself somehow. Floaty. Slow. Like her thoughts were moving through syrup. Her head still hurt. Her whole body hurt. But now the pain came in distant waves instead of sharp stabs.
The nurse adjusted the IV line near Jessica’s arm carefully. “Try to get some rest, okay?”
Jessica stared blankly toward the snowy window.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw that thing pulling her through the cabin window. She saw Mike running after her through the snow. Then she saw the mines.
Jessica swallowed hard.
The pain meds made it harder to hold onto the memories clearly, but maybe that was worse. Everything blurred together now in strange fragments that made her feel disoriented.
Then, a soft knock sounded against the door. She barely reacted to it at first. Her brain took too long to process it.
The nurse glanced toward the entrance. “I’ll get that.”
Jessica’s eyes drifted lazily toward the doorway as the nurse crossed the room. For a second she saw a tall figure standing outside the partially frosted window in the door and panic clenched in her chest so suddenly she stopped breathing. Her heart monitor sped up instantly.
Then the nurse opened the door wider.
Matt stood there looking exhausted.
Jessica felt the panic disappear so quickly it almost made her dizzy.
He looked awful.
His clothes were still dirty from the mountain. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days which he probably hadn't.
The nurse said something quietly to him. Probably about visiting hours or keeping things calm, but Matt barely seemed to hear it.
His eyes were already fixed on Jessica. Matt had never liked hospitals, but seeing her sitting in that hospital bed made something sink heavily in his chest.
Her blonde hair was down now, tangled and dull from dried sweat and melted snow. Scratches disappeared beneath gauze across her shoulder, chest, and arm. There were shadows under her eyes that made her look sickly pale against the white pillow.
And she was just staring at him like she was trying to fully process that he was actually there.
Matt swallowed once. Then the nurse left, pulling the door mostly shut behind her. The room fell quiet again except for the steady beeping beside Jessica’s bed.
For a few seconds neither of them said anything.
Matt suddenly felt awkward standing there, and not because it was Jess, but because he had no idea what you were supposed to say after surviving something like that.
Jessica blinked slowly at him, the medication clearly making her sluggish. “You look like shit.” The words were weak and rough around the edges, but still unmistakably Jessica.
And somehow that almost made Matt laugh. Instead he rubbed a tired hand over the back of his neck and muttered, “Yeah. You too.”
Jessica gave the tiniest huff of breath through her nose that might’ve been the beginning of a laugh before wincing immediately afterward.
Matt’s expression tightened. “Sorry.”
“S’not your fault.” Her words slurred together slightly from exhaustion.
Matt finally stepped further into the room. The chair beside her bed scraped softly against the floor as he pulled it closer and sat down carefully.
Jessica kept looking at him with that same distant confusion like she still couldn’t fully believe either of them were here.
Matt broke the short moment of silence first. "I can't wait to go back home." He murmured.
Jess nodded in agreement. Finally someones not talking about the mountain. Home. Los Angeles.
Matt leaned back slightly in the chair, ignoring the ache in his ribs. It was hard to imagine home without the others. Especially Emily. Guilt crept back in slowly. He let her fall down that cliff.
Jessica watched him quietly for a moment.
The pain medication made it difficult to focus on one thought too long, but she could still tell Matt looked exhausted in a way that went beyond not sleeping. His shoulders seemed heavier somehow.
“…My parents are gonna freak out,” she mumbled eventually.
Matt glanced back toward her.
Jess stared at the blanket over her lap instead of at him. “Like… full meltdown.” Her voice stayed soft and sluggish. “They already think I’m irresponsible.”
Somehow she sounded more like her old self. Concerned about what her parents would think when it should be the last of her worries. Matt wondered if her parents have even been informed.
“I'd be surprised if they were even trying to get a flight here,” Jessica added after a second. “My brother would, though.”
Matt nodded faintly.
He remembered meeting Jess’s older brother once after a football game. Big guy. Protective. The type that watched everybody around his little sister carefully, but would still argue with her over stupid stuff.
This whole thing was gonna destroy their families.
Jessica shifted slightly against the pillow. “Your family know yet?”
Matt looked down at his hands.
“Nah. Not really.” He rubbed his thumb absently against his scraped knuckles. “Police said they’re contacting everybody’s parents.”
Jessica’s expression dimmed immediately at the wording, but neither of them said anything about it.
Matt leaned further back in the chair carefully, ribs protesting the movement. “My mom’s probably losing her mind right now though.”
Jessica blinked slowly toward him. “You gonna call her?”
“Eventually.”
He knew he should.
But he didn’t even know what he’d say.
Hey Mom, everybody died except me. I killed my girlfriend. Oh, and there was a monster in the mines. Not that you'd believe me or anything.
Matt swallowed hard and pushed the thoughts away before they could settle too deep.
“She works nights sometimes,” he said instead. “And I got my little brothers at home.”
Jessica frowned faintly, trying to remember.
“Two, right?”
A small nod. “Yeah.”
“How old?” Jess asked.
“Ten and thirteen.”
Jessica absorbed that slowly through the haze in her head. “They’re gonna be scared.”
“Yeah.”
Matt stared toward the floor after saying it.
“…Feels weird.” Jess muttered.
Matt looked back over. “What does?”
“That the world’s still going.” Her voice came out barely above a whisper now. “Like… people are still just driving around and going to work and stuff.”
“Yeah,” he muttered quietly.
Jessica’s eyelids drooped slightly. The medication was clearly pulling her under now.
Matt noticed immediately. “You should sleep.”
Her face tightened faintly at the idea. Everytime she closed her eyes for too long she imagined being taken again. Dragged through the snow.
Matt knew what she was afraid of without her saying it.
Jessica looked back toward him slowly. “You leaving?”
The question came out quieter than everything else she’d said. She didn't sound clingy. Just uncertain.
Matt shook his head once. “No where else for me to go until I get a flight back home.”
Something in Jessica’s expression loosened slightly at that. "Have you looked at all? For flights?"
"Not yet." Matt glanced toward the other hospital chair on the opposite side of her bed.
He really hated hospitals.
But the thought of being alone and leaving Jess alone felt worse. "Do you know when you'll be discharged?"
She took a moment to process the question, another moment to answer. Then finally, "2-3 days…"
Matt nodded. "I'll book us a flight then."
Jess felt something lift off her chest. She was relieved to hear she wasn't going to be left alone. That he planned on taking her with him back home.
Matt leaned forward slightly, elbows resting on his knees now, exhaustion was finally starting to hit him properly. He glanced back up toward the other chair on the opposite side of her bed. Looked more comfortable than the metal chair he's using.
Matt stood. The movement pulled sharply at his ribs and shoulder, but he ignored it as he walked toward the other side of her bed, plopping himself down into the more comfortable chair.
Jessica stared at him for a second before mumbling, "I think I tried to hit you with a shovel."
Matt smiled softly despite himself. "Yeah."
"I'm sorry…"
“It’s fine.”
“No, like…” Jessica frowned weakly, words slowing together from the medication. “I really tried to hit you.”
“You thought I was that thing.”
Jessica’s expression shifted immediately. Matt went still. That thing.
They didn't even know what it was.
But none of them said a word about it after that. And eventually Jessica's eyelids drooped heavier.
“You should sleep,” Matt suggested again.
Jessica stared at him through half-lidded eyes. "I don't know if I can."
Matt frowned slightly. “Jess—”
“I know.” She cut him off softly. “It’s stupid. Please don't leave…"
“No.” He shook his head once. “It’s not.”
Jessica looked away again, embarrassed now, which honestly felt stranger than anything else tonight. Jessica Riley embarrassed. The provocative girl who used to go to every party and start arguments just because she was bored now looked nervous asking him not to leave her alone while she sleeps.
“I’m not leaving.”
Jessica studied his face for a second like she was making sure he meant it. Apparently satisfied, she relaxed slightly back into the pillows. A few minutes later, she was out.