Chapter Text
Skye's parents were never home for Halloween, giving Brian the chance to throw his annual Halloween party each year. Contrary to popular belief, Skye hated Halloween. Sure, it was the one month her mom backed off about her clothes and Bailey would go see horror movies with her more often but that was it.
It was nice to see Bailey’s scared face more often. The girl was absolutely adorable hiding her face in Skye’s shoulder whenever she was scared. How close the other girl would snuggle into her during the scariest parts of the films. It was easily her favorite part of the season.
That and perhaps Skye had a weakness for Bailey’s baking. The diner always prepared seasonal treats in pumpkin spice or apple cider flavors. Bailey would always let Skye hang out in the diner while she baked, often sneaking her tastes of whatever concoction she was working on.
Bailey had been excited for the holiday, she refused to tell Skye what her costume would be though, saying it was a surprise.
Brian’s party was already in full swing. Skye could hear the terrible bass pumping through the house behind her. Skye usually got stuck handing out candy to already sugared up kids while Brian's party raged. Her parents still wanted to keep their standing with all the neighboring upper class entitled families so they made sure that candy was handed out to the little ones while Brian threw his party for the older teens and young adults.
And of course the parents were chatty . They'd talk Skye's ear off about her family's recent investments and projects or about how wonderful Brian was doing on whatever sports team. And then she'd get the big question:
"What did you do again, dear?"
Skye hated this question. It was like Brian was the highlight of the Crandall house, despite every bad thing he’s done. Despite the baseball incident two years ago, the football thing last season, a few other occasions of harassing girls, and yet despite his bully status at Hearst, nothing seemed to make anyone see past his athletic all star status.
Maybe they just didn't pay attention.
Then they’d ask her what she did as if they needed to know what significance the small redhead possibly held in the Crandall household. Skye has several answers to this question. None of which are approved by her parents. She'd long to say she summoned demons in the basement or feasts on the souls of children. Just something that would get them to do that awkward parent laugh when they weren’t sure if what someone was saying was supposed to be a joke and finally walk away from her.
"I still play violin."
Which she loathed .
"I'm focusing on academics."
Hers and Brian's it seemed. God forbid the football star do any of his own work.
"I do theatre tech at school."
An answer she only gives to the people who don't regularly speak to her parents. It was usually met with a nod before the parent collected their child and walked away. No one ever asked her more about it. That were more interested in the number of Brian's touchdown passes or how many yards he ran in a game or his batting average. It wasn’t even baseball season yet.
"He bats about 300 on the field, more like a 150 with girls so-"
Brian hit her for that. A well placed smack to the back of her head. She had been so freaking bored the look on the parent's face was beyond worth it. The whack on the back of her head was a reasonable penalty for killing boredom for thirty minutes.
Skye sat on the steps two hours into the party with a chill from the October air. Trick or Treating would end soon and then she could do whatever.
Kids were so picky, Skye thought as she looked over at the bowl of rejected candy that children had pushed aside to get to the “good” candy. Who didn’t like gummy worms? They were a Halloween staple!
“Trick or treat.”
Skye looked up automatically at the usual greeting, surprised when she comes face to face with familiar green eyes and blonde hair. Bailey smiled at her brightly wearing a little black dress paired with dark striped knee socks and glossy black shoes. An oversized black witch’s hat sat on her head. Her blonde hair free of it’s usual ponytail and styled messily about her shoulders. Her makeup darker than usual, dark eyeliner around her eyes and black lipstick matching Skye’s own on her lips.
Skye’s stunned into silence a moment before Bailey moves her arm, pulling something from behind her back and setting it on top of Skye’s head. Skye blinked as the rim fell over her eyes for a minute.
“Has my arrival captured your voice my dear?”
Skye chuckled at the strange voice Bailey used for her character as she pushed the brim of the matching witch’s hat up and more properly on her head.
“You look really good.”
“Really good” was an understatement. The girl looked absolutely stunning in her cute witch costume. Skye felt her face heat up as her eyes wandered over the outfit for a moment before catching the other girl’s dark-lidded eyes.
Bailey beamed at the compliment before leaning down to press a quick kiss to Skye’s lips. She swiped a small baggie of sour gummy worms from the oversized candy bowl as she pulled away and planted herself next to Skye on the steps.
The theatre group had made plans to visit a haunted house later tonight. One that Micheal and Jordan had recommended. It opened later, after all the trick or treating was over. Micheal had said that last year you could hear people screaming all over the pier.
“I wanted to see my favorite person before we had to meet up with the others.”
Bailey rummaged through the bag for a second before holding up another gummy worm to offer to Skye. Her smile got bigger when Skye threw her a half-hearted eye roll before opening her mouth to accept the candy Bailey fed to her.
Bailey quickly took over most of the interactions with children as they ran up the Crandall driveway in their costumes and excitedly yelled “trick or treat” at the tops of their lungs. Once in a while some of Brian’s friends would hike up the driveway, carrying bags of whatever and would eye Bailey in a way that made Skye want to knock them out where they stood. A few familiar faces from Hearst whose names Skye never could remember had barged in earlier acting like they were the most important people in the world...fitting it seemed. Skye finally lost her patience with a particular group as they made their way up the driveway, half-heartedly trying to cat-call her girlfriend. She snarled at the group as she came up to Bailey and made sure they didn’t get too close as they walked by.
“Why do they all look scared of you?”
“I’m scary.”
Bailey shook her head and pressed a kiss to Skye’s cheek before the sounds of children echoed down the street.
The pattern continued for another hour before the herds of children started to die down, the candy bowl drained of all chocolate and left with whatever gummies and sour candies that children couldn’t appreciate.
Skye didn’t stick around to find out if there were any stragglers after her phone alarm sounded that trick or treating was officially over. She slipped her hand into Bailey’s as they ditched the bowl on the porch of the Crandall house and started down the street towards the Pier.
“So, is there any way I can convince you to skip the haunted house?”
Skye gave a little chuckle as they walked, a few stray trick or treaters finishing up at their last houses.
“Are you scared?”
“...Maybe.”
“There’s nothing to be scared of,” Skye assured as her thumb rubbed against the back of Bailey’s hand, “They’re all actors like you.”
“Yeah, but they’re so much scarier!” Bailey shifted closer to Skye as they got closer to the Pier, her free hand gripping the black sleeve of Skye’s cardigan, “so you’re not allowed to let go of my hand, deal?”
“Always,” Skye promised as she gave Bailey’s hand a squeeze, “I’ll always protect you.”
Bailey smiled as her hand ran down the soft material of Skye’s cardigan, “this looks really cute on you by the way. I have good taste.”
Bailey had bought her the “Halloween” cardigan she wore, it was a heavier, warm, material in all black with an orange stripe across the torso. It was a present “just because I thought you’d look cute in it” and of course, Skye made ia a point to wear it at least once a week since she got it. It was warm and paired with some of Skye’s other goth accessories looked really good on her.
Bailey preened a little more at her good clothing decision as they walked. Usually Skye helped her pick things out, this was one of the first things that Bailey found that she knew Skye would look good in, and would want to wear. It was a more casual look then her normal outfits, but Skye liked to lounge around with Bailey in it.
Also it fit, and being a more petite size meant clothes shopping could be a pain in the neck.
The rest of the theatre group is already waiting for them when Skye and Bailey walked up. Ajay seemed to be the only one not in some kind of costume. The rest of the theatre club seemed to have raided the prop room for their costumes. Rory stood rocking their knight outfit from the Enchanted Kingdom production while Clint and Natalie were dressed in their outfits from The Tempest . Skye had almost forgotten about the hat on her head before Natalie pointed out how cute the two looked.
“Ajay’s dressed up like a sleep deprived zombie this year,” Rory offered as they made a grand gesture to Ajay, “look at how stiff he moves, his eyes unseeing-”
“We get it! I don’t sleep.”
The group continues to bicker and laugh as they wait in line. As they draw closer, the screams of the people inside get louder and louder. Skye feels Bailey press herself closer to her side. Skye smiles as she moves her hand from where it had been captured by Bailey’s to wrap around Bailey’s waist, pulling her close.
“You okay?”
“Yup, no going back now!”
Bailey faux bravery lasted a few seconds until someone from inside the darkened walls screamed, then she jumped a bit before pressing herself as close to Skye as she could get.
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Skye offers after a minute, moving her hand to rub at Bailey’s back, “besides, I’m pretty sure Natalie and Clint need reasons not to go in too.”
Bailey thought on it for a few seconds. She seemed a little conflicted until a small smile came to her face and she moved her arm to rest it over Skye’s shoulders.
“You won’t be upset that you can’t see my freaked out face?”
“I can scare you some other time.”
Bailey laughed a bit and leaned over to press a kiss to Skye’s lips.
“Thank you, but I think I’m going to brave it this time.”
Bailey doesn’t even loosen her grip on Skye’s hand as they walk into the dark house. The main tunnel is dimly lit with torches propped on the walls. They’re greeted by the sounds of dripping and dragging of chains as their footsteps echo down the narrow hall.
The first jump scare came in the form of something cold and damp pressing against the very back of Bailey’s neck.
There wasn’t a quicker “nope” in her life. She darted forward with a scream, pulling Skye with her down the hall until they almost rear-ended Clint and Graham in front of them. Clint jumps as they approach while Graham’s reaction is a bit delayed, distracted by something in the corner.
“Don’t do that!” Clint yelled as he recovered from the shock of being rushed.
“Did you guys see any of the animatronics they’re using for some of the jump scares? They’re so cool! They look so real,”
“No one said the actors could touch you,” Bailey whimpered as she turned to Skye, the other girl looked equally surprised by that.
“I guess some haunted houses do that.”
Bailey let out another pathetic whimper as she pulled Skye impossibly closer. The group slowly walked down the hallway as the lights overhead flicker. They walk through a room with a single coffin sitting at the center of the room surrounded by bones.
“A little cliche,” Skye commented as the lid of the coffin shook. A deep raspy groan echoed through the room as lid swung on rusted hinges, a gore covered creature rose from what appeared to be a coffin filled with blood. The figure just barely resembled a girl with long hair. Her hair pulled away from the blood with a sickening sound.
“Not a fun room, not a fun room!”
They quickly scuddle towards a red-hit area where a girl lays on a table surrounded by fake blood and guts, screaming bloody murder as several actors sit around her, pulling out the organs and devoring them with interest. The actors were dressed in cult-like dark robes and possesed unsettlingly long nails as they dug into the pile of guts before them.
One of the figured turned on them when they entered. His face was covered in blood, teeth stained red as he raised a hand at them.
“Fresh meat.”
His voice was no louder than a growl as he limped closer, goopy blood dripped off his long nails as he reached for them.
“T-This way!”
Clint lead them down a more narrow hallway. They scramble down the dark doorway until the screams of the girl in the other room were muffled. Clint and Bailey were audibly panting as they tried to calm down from the last scare.
“Are you okay?” Skye asked softly as Bailey’s nails dug into her arm. The blonde trembled as they walked, tremors shaking her body as they continued down the hall.
Bailey gave her girlfriend a very unconvincing nod. Surely they couldn’t have much more to go. As they walked they could barely hear sniffling. The faint crying got a little louder before Bailey noticed what looked like a young girl curled in on herself against the wall.
“She’s gone,” the voice of a little girl cried, “I can’t find my mommy.”
The girl was dressed in some kind of dark costume, a hood pulled up over her head. Bailey dropped her guard a little, she felt bad for the little girl who must have gotten lost when her parents brought her through the house. Graham has already taken the initiative and walked a few steps closer.
“Hey, are you lost?”
The little girl let out a sob.
“She’s gone, I can’t find my mommy.”
Bailey felt her grip loosen on Skye’s arm. She felt bad for this little girl who had somehow gotten lost in the large haunted house. Bailey took a few tentative steps forward, meeting Graham at the front of the group.
“How about you come with us, we can find you mommy once we get to the end of the house. She’s probably waiting for you there.”
“She’s gone”
Bailey and Graham shared a look for a moment before looking back at the girl.
“We can help you look for her,” Graham offered with a smile as he reached down to offer the little girl his hand.
“She’s gone. She’s gone. She’s gone. She’s gone. She’s gone. She’s gone. She’s-”
The head of the little girl turned slowly until her head was almost completely backwards on her body. The face was doll like, her eye sockets empty and blood running down her face.
“I can’t find my mommy.”
The lights lit up like lightning around them. The group made the horrible mistake at looking up when they noticed a strange shadow cast on the walls. An old woman crawled across the ceiling, neck twisting at unusual angles and a horrible shrill leaving her mouth.
The noise was drowned out by Bailey’s screaming as the four dashed to the exit door.
“Is it over?” Bailey asked as they burst through the door, the wind against her hair.
“Yeah, we’re out now,” Skye assured as she re-threaded her fingers through her girlfriends, walking past the exit door and back towards the brighter lights of the pier, “thanks for letting me see your freaked out face, it’s adorable.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Bailey smiled as she took a breath, her body trembling less than before as the calm October breeze picked up around them. Soon the rest of their friend group joined them and they finished their walk throughs of the house. They talked animatedly about the house and different frights as they passed through the line of game booths, all decked out for Halloween.
“You guys know most of these games are rigged right?” Ajay asked with a raised eyebrow as Rory tried and failed to knock over some milk bottles on a pedestal.
“Party pooper,”
“Usually they’re a very exact way to win, they have to make them winnable or no one would play,” Graham added, “It takes a good deal of luck.”
The group traveled down the Pier taking in the lights and decorations as they walked. Bailey felt the air get colder around her. Her skin chilled against the wind as her costume did little to protect her from the cold.
As she rubbed at her arms in an attempt to defend herself against the chill, she felt something being draped around her shoulders. She smiled as her girlfriend as she snuggled into the fabric, pulling her arms through the soft sleeves. The trace of Skye’s rose scented shampoo clung to the soft material and wrapped her in a feeling of safety.
“What about you?”
“I’ll be good, I can’t have you freezing on me.”
Bailey smiled as she leaned forward to let her forehead rest against Skye’s.
“Such a charmer,”
Skye smiles and tugged Bailey closer to a more secluded part of the pier, just behind one of the game booths.
“It’s kinda dark over here,” Bailey pointed out with a grin quickly forming on her face, “are you trying to scare me again?”
“Hmmm, a good idea, but not what I had in mind.”’
Bailey let out a short laugh as her back hit the side of the booth a minute before Skye’s lips met hers in a warm kiss. Bailey sighed into the kiss, her hands quickly moving to frame Skye’s face, pulling her closer. Bailey felt Skye’s arms wrap around her, trapping her in a tight embrace and taking away the autumnal chill.
“They’re going to notice we disappeared,” Bailey whispered in the air between slow kisses. She feels the warmth spread through her with every firm press of Skye’s lips against hers. Her fingers slipped through Skye’s hair as she tilts her head to deepen the kisses,
“Don’t care.”
Bailey smiled as Skye recaptured her lips in a more demanding kiss. Bailey let out a happy sigh into the kiss as her fingers ran through Skye’s soft hair before she heard the noise of a phone vibrating. She pulls away from Skye for a second to pat her pockets, thinking maybe their group of friends had moved on without them and had noticed them gone.
“It’s mine,” Skye sighed as she pulled her cell from her pocket, frowning at the name before swiping the ignore call icon, “it’s nothing.”
“You sure?”
“It was Brian, he probably just butt dialed me.”
Skye’s phone lit up again before she could put it back in her pocket. She stared at the offending device for a few seconds. She swiped the icon to ignore the call again and kept skill, waiting to see if the device would light up again. Within thirty seconds Brian’s name flashed across the screen again. Skye let out an annoyed sigh as Bailey gave her a sympathetic look. Bailey wrapped her arms around Skye’s shoulders and pulled her closer, trying to at least eliminate some of the phone anxiety as Skye begrudgingly swiped the answer call icon.
She didn’t get a single word out.
“Where are you?!”
Brian’s voice boomed through the speaker. It was loud enough to force Skye to move the device away from her face.
“Out, why?”
“You need to come back now!”
“Do I?”
“Don’t be a smart ass! Where. Are. You?”
Skye gave an annoyed groan.
“Why?”
“I blew a fuse and I need you to go down into the basement and flip the thing.”
“...You have a house full of people and not one person there can ‘flip the thing’ for the fuse?”
Bailey just barely heard another voice yell in the back about being drunk.
“Hey, I’m not letting any of my bros go down there and risk getting electrocuted, that’s what you’re for.”
Skye let out a monotone hum.
“Just...Tell me where you are and I’ll come get you. Then you can go do whatever the hell you want. I’ll even put in a good word for you with mom and dad.”
“Yeah right”
“How about this, if you don’t do this for me, I’ll make sure mom and dad know you ditched on trick or treat duty.”
Skye’s face flashed in annoyance. Bailey could feel the tension increase in the girl’s shoulders.
“Fine. I’m at the Pier.”
“Got it, I’ll be there in ten.”
The line went dead and Skye let out an exaggerated noise. She shoved her phone in her pocket and leaned against Bailey, pressing her face into her neck while Bailey rubbed her back sympathetically.
“Sorry,”
“It’s not your fault,” Bailey assured as she snuggled into Skye more, “do you want me to come with you?”
“No, I’ll be quick. It doesn’t take long to fix the breaker then I come back.”
Skye pulled away after a few moments as the two started over to the entrance of the pier. As soon as they pass the flashing lights of the sign, a very expensive looking car screeched to a halt a few feet away. The passenger side window opens and Brian’s annoyed voice greeted them.
“Come on! You can play with your girl-toy later!”
Skye grit her teeth in rage as she glared at her brother.
“I’ll text you when I’m done.”
“Yeah! I can send Rory or Ajay to come get you!”
Skye smiled for a second before Brian honked at them, yelling at Skye to hurry up and that he had a party he wanted to get back to. Skye rolled her eyes and kissed Bailey on the cheek.
“Go have fun, I’ll text you.”
“Okay.”
Skye jumped into the car before Brian could honk or yell at them again. The tires of the car screeched loudly as he pulled away from the pier at high speed.
Bailey watched them go before turning back to the pier. She might as well go find the rest of the group while she waited for Skye to get done and come back. It took her awhile to track them down, Erin being the first to notice her approach.
“ There you are, where’s Skye?”
“Her brother heckled her to go home for a while so she could fix something for him. She said she’d text when she was done.”
“Hey Bailey! Come play with me while we wait!” Rory called as they pulled a few dollars out of their pocket to hand to the man at the booth. Ajay just stood close, shaking his head.
“What are you playing?”
“You gotta throw the ball into one of the colored milk bottles,” Rory explained as the booth attendant placed three balls in front of them, “I’m going to show off my new basketball skills Casey taught me.”
Casey gave a chuckle from his spot next to Erin.
“How about we make it a contest, I’ll play with you! Let’s see who can get the bigger prize.”
“You’re on! Bailey, come play with us!”
Casey took a seat, placing a few dollars on the counter and waiting for the attendant. Ajay shook his head again and looked over the booth.
“What are those anyway?”
“They’re gloomy bears,” Erin smiled as Bailey looked up to examine the prizes, the shelves were covered with various sized stuffed bears all fitted with large plastic claws and looked to be drooling blood with various blood splatter markings, “I remember them from my anime phase in middle school. It’s a cute version of a blood thirsty grizzly bear with a taste for human flesh, perfect for Halloween.”
“That would give Mohit nightmares.”
“...They’re kinda cute though,” Bailey offered with a smile as she fished into her pocket for a few loose dollars. Ajay chuckled.
“You’ve been dating Skye too long.”
“I haven’t been dating Skye long enough!”
Bailey slammed her money on the counter as the unenthusiastic booth worker sighed and set her up as well.
“Alright folks, here’s how it goes, gold milk bottles are the largest prizes, that’s the three foot tall bear, blue stripes are the twenty-four inch bears, red stripes are twelve inch bears, green stripes are six inch bears, plain silver bottles are no winners. Have fun.”
Rory is the first to line up their show, over-exaggeratedly lets out a battle cry before the ball flies through the air, it bounced off the red striped bottle, off a silver, and landed onto the floor.
Casey took an equally exaggerated shot, the ball bounced off the rim of the gold bottle and flew sideways into the wall of the booth.
“Heh, this is just as tricky as I remember,” Casey chuckled as Ajay muttered “rigged” under his breath.
Bailey thought for a second before throwing her ball in a light underhand motion, the ball bounces off the rim of one of the silver bottles and lands inside one of the other silvers.
“Nice shot, too bad it’s not a winning bottle,”
“Yeah, but I still got one in before you two. I’m taking that as a personal victory.”
“Oh, well now I gotta get one in, just so you don’t get a big head!”
Another round of failed throws and the trio look at their final shots. Rory’s and Casey’s bounce off the bottles. Bailey stares intently at the setup, final shot in hand.
“Avenge us,” Rory cheers as Bailey took a breath and tossed the softball over to the bottles. She tossed it high and watches as it clatters down, landing square inside one of the green-stripped bottles.
“You’re avenged!” Bailey cheers as the group joined in. The attendant look unamused before gesturing towards the six-inch bears.
“What color?”
“Black, please,” Bailey smiled brightly as the attendant pulled a new bear from the boxes under the booth, pulling it from the plastic before he handed it over to Bailey. She took the gruesomely adorable bear into her arms and chipped a “Thank you!”
Bailey holds the bear close to her chest as they walk away,
“A gift for thy fair maiden?” Rory teases as they walk away, Bailey blushes.
“My fair maiden has added to my fuzzy minion army on several occasions, this is a gruesome thank you.”
“She’ll love it,” Erin grinned, “It’s very Skye.”
It was also nice and small, perfect for fitting with Skye’s horror movie DVD stash under her bed where her mother will never know it exists. The group laughed and moved from booth to booth. Casey quick won Erin an adorable dragon plush from another game and Rory had managed to win a giant turtle from the ring toss game that Ajay swore was unwinnable.
Bailey checked her phone, not seeing any text from Skye. It had been almost an hour now and there was no word from her. Bailey shot a quick text to Skye as they walked through the food vendors. Casey had been craving something fried and unhealthy.
“I wonder what’s keeping Skye,” Ajay muttered as they found a table to sit at while Casey and Erin got food.
“I just sent her a message, she hasn’t gotten back to me.”
A bit of worry settles over the group.
“Why don’t we go check on her? After we eat we can drive over to the Crandall Mansion,” Rory offers. The three agree and fill Casey and Erin in on the plan when they come back with funnel cake and fried oreos.
Rory and Ajay decide to both drive over, that way they can go to the Golden Grill after they get Skye and enjoy some late night treats and take in a horror movie before the end of the night. Erin, Natalie and Casey hop in with Rory while Bailey, Clint, and Graham hop in Ajay’s car.
Ajay’s car lead as they traveled the short distance to the street Skye lived on. They came up to the turn only to see the street closed, police directing people away.
“I wonder what happened,” Ajay muttered as he drove farther towards the twins house, “That’s a cul-de-sac, there’s no other way in.”
“Maybe that’s what’s keeping Skye?” Clint offered, “Maybe since they have the road closed she can’t get out.”
Ajay turned down the street where the twins lived as he thought. As they pull up towards the Jenkins household, Bailey noticed her parents outside with Mr. and Mrs. Silva.
“What’s going on?”
Ajay pulled the car over on the side as Mr. Silva waved them down. Rory’s car parked behind them as the group started to pile out. Bailey looked on as the group of adults stopped whispering among themselves and started towards the group.
“What’s going on?” Rory is the first to vocally say something, Mrs. Silva placed a hand on their shoulder.
“Let’s all go inside and talk.”
They’re all herded into the house, the adults’ stoic faces were unnerving as the front door closes and they are all directed to sit down.
“There was an accident,” Mrs. Silva is the first to speak, “we don’t know much about what happened, but the Crandall’s car was one of the ones involved.”
The sentence made Bailey go completely numb. She couldn’t hear the chatter of her friends, she couldn’t hear anything else. Frosty sat at her feet, looking up at her as if he understood what was going on.
“We don’t know how bad it was, but we can take a drive to the hospital tomorrow and see if anyone will tell us anything,” Bailey felt her mother say as a hand rested on her shoulder, “I can’t promise we’ll find anything out, but we know how important Skye is to all of you. If there is a way, we’ll find it.”
Bailey doesn’t remember anything of what else is said, Rory offered to stay the night so they could all go to the hospital tomorrow morning. Ajay was going to crash on the couch, he called his mom and told her what was going on. Casey offered him some clothes to sleep in for tonight.
Bailey could only sit in shock. She closed her eyes, hoping it was all a dream.
She was greeted by the scent of roses.
Skye’s cardigan.
Bailey wrapped her arms around herself, trying to surround herself in the other girl’s presence.
It was the only thing she could do to stop the tears that were threatening to fall.
She was going to be okay.
She was going to be okay.
_______________________________
Bailey doesn’t sleep that night, she doesn’t take of Skye’s cardigan and holds the gloomy bear she had won for Skye throughout the night. No one seemed hungry at breakfast. Natalie, Graham, and Clint had gone home, they offered to help any way they could, but a smaller group might go over well with the hospital staff.
The hospital is quiet, the lobby was filled with people waiting, some patiently reading a magazine or book while others tapped their feet and glanced at their watches. Mrs. Silva said something about knowing the lady at the front desk before breaking away from the group to go talk to her.
“How are you holding up?” Casey asked from her side. Bailey could only shrug. She didn’t know. It was like the news hadn’t really hit her yet.
Mrs. Silva comes back with a grim look.
“She’s in the ICU,” Mrs. Silva announced, “They might not let us in to see her, but Clara said we can see if they’ll update us on her condition.”
Mrs. Silva leads the way past white halls and rooms. The sounds of patients coughing or sneezing rings out. Nurses scatter across the floors as they walk through halls. Family members talking to patients, sometimes laughing, others crying.
The ICU was its own floor. The lobby was filled with anxiety ridden people waiting on loved ones in the adjacent operating room. There was a screen with names of people who were currently in surgery. Mrs. Silva led the group to the front desk were a younger nurse was stationed.
“Excuse me, we’re looking for Skye Crandall.”
The name caused the girl to raise an eyebrow.
“I’m sorry, but she’s currently in the ICU, we can’t allow this many visitors without parental consent.”
“Can you at least tell us how she’s doing?” Mrs. Jenkins asked,
“I’m sorry, but I-”
“Tiffany, good to see you dear,” Mrs. Silva quickly switched people as a young nurse walked out of the ICU. She smiled when she saw Mrs. Silva.
“Brenda, I didn’t think I’d see you here willingly.”
“Well, I certainly am not too glad to be here, you see on of Rory’s friends was in a car accident last night, we were looking to see if someone could tell us how she’s doing.”
Tiffany’s smile faded for a moment,
“Why don’t you come with me and I can fill you in.”
The group followed Tiffany to a more secluded part of the lobby before pulling open and door and lead them inside. The room was empty except for some chairs. For some reason, that made Bailey’s heart-rate skyrocket. Panic started to set in and she could only hope that the nurse told them something that didn’t make her want to scream.
“The police are involved, so I can’t give you a lot of details on the accident itself,” Tiffany explains, “Miss Crandall-”
“Skye,”
Bailey didn’t know why, but it was important to her that this nurse called Skye by her name. Tiffany’s face softened.
“Skye is currently in a medically induced coma. She came in with some extensive injuries, including a nasty hit to the head. She’s suffering from several cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder, several lacerations, heavy bruising to the ribs and her knee shattered in the impact.”
“Jesus,”
“The doctors have already put her through surgery for her knee and her shoulder was relocated. Our biggest worry is the head injury. The doctors are coming to check in on her later to check on swelling.”
“What about Brian?”
If he got off easy-
“He’s in much worse shape,” Tiffany frowned. “The doctors believe they can start waking Skye up from the coma within a few days if all goes well. She’s not out of the woods yet, but we’re optimistic after seeing her numbers for today. Brian will have to stay in a coma for at least a week.”
Bailey looked down as the nurse continued, pulling at the sleeves of the cardigan still wrapped around her like a safety blanket. Everything felt like a bad dream. Like she would wake up and Skye would tease her for falling asleep in the greenhouse or in the comfy chairs in the theatre room.
“Is there any way we could see her?”
Bailey’s eyes snap up at the mention of seeing Skye. The nurse however, gave them a sympathetic look.
“We really can’t have that many people in the room. The nurse assigned to her still has to keep a sharp eye on her in case anything changes. I understand you’re all worried, but I don't think seeing her now would make you feel better about her condition. It can be extremely upsetting to see someone hooked up to all the medical machinery.”
Bailey looked back down, fiddling with the ends of the sleeves for something to do. She felt herself fighting back tears. She felt a weird numbness settled in her bones, words exchanged back and forth but she heard none of them.
She only moved when she felt her mother’s hand on her shoulder. They exchanged goodbyes with the nurse and before Bailey knew it she was standing back in her room. She gathered the gloomy bear and the pink teddy bear Skye won her at the arcade and laid on her bed, the two bears pulled tightly against her chest.
She tried to ignore how tight her chest felt, how tears gathered at the back of her eyelids and the dull headache that was quickly forming at the back of her head. Bailey heard footsteps on the stairs a few minutes later, her bedroom door slowly opened as her mother took a few steps in.
“Are you hungry dear? You haven’t eaten much all day.” Bailey felt the mattress dip as her mother sat on the edge as she spoke to her, “I’m so sorry dear, I wish there was something I could do. We can try again tomorrow to see if Skye’s getting better.”
“What if she’s not?”
Bailey’s voice came out as barely a whimper. Her mother leaned over and rubbed her back as Bailey felt hot tears threaten to fall down her face. No one was promising her that Skye would be okay. Everything was a “maybe” or “if”.
“Bailey, you can’t think that way. Skye made it through one night, that’s the hardest, and the nurse said her odds were good. You need to focus on those things. Skye cares about you a lot dear, she isn’t going to give up without a fight.”
Bailey wanted the words to be more comforting than they were.