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Jason hadn’t replied to Brittney’s texts for three days. That was normal. Maybe he was off doing God knows what with the city’s criminals. He’ll reply soon, Brittney thought.
But then three days stretched on to five. On the sixth day, an unlikely number called: Roy Harper, one of Jason’s vigilante friends. He called to confirm exactly what Brittney was afraid of. A shootout had left Jason fighting for his life at the hospital.
Brittney couldn’t sleep properly for two nights after that call. The following Tuesday night, Brittney asked Roy for Jason’s hospital and room number. She thought it would give her some peace of mind. When she arrived at Gotham General, all the receptionist gave are her apologies. Brittney couldn’t visit Jason in his vulnerable state.
Another week passed, and Brittney began rereading their past chats as if she’s reminiscing someone who died. It was funny if she put it that way, but knowing Jason, it was also all too real. In times of stress, Brittney’s mom would say, “Have hope.” But the voice in her head that worried, worried, and worried was still there. It was hard to have hope in the face of uncertainty, when the more depressing outcome felt more realistic.
Could her coworkers at Amoré sense that she was going through something? Did the preemptive grief show through her smile? Because if it did, no one pointed it out. No one asked about it. And no one knew until one night, 11:31 P.M., when she couldn’t stop the anxiety from spilling into multiple texts to Irina. Irina tried her best to calm Brittney, and for once, Brittney went to bed feeling a little better. But the anxiety never fully left.
Life felt like a battle to get up in the morning, and Brittney soldiered on. She hadn’t noticed until a month later how much her world had grayed.
It’s a cloudy Saturday afternoon. Brittney stared up at the high ceiling of her living room, but her mind was at North Gotham Cemetery. Her last visit to Jason’s grave was two years ago. When he came back to her, she thought she would never have to visit that cemetery again. Brittney wondered, has anyone else visited then? Was there anyone to clean the gravestone or pull out the weeds?
Brittney lied sideways on the couch instead of thinking on it further. And then, she froze. The doorbell buzzed from the front door. Brittney wasn’t expecting anyone.
She sat back up and waited for the unexpected visitor to announce themselves. A voice definitely came through the door, and the timbre almost sounded like…
She walked towards the front door with bated breath. She peered through the peephole, and there he was. Even after his resurrection, he always seemed to be the ghost who haunted her.
Brittney swung the door open. Her arms flew around Jason’s waist, forgetting for a moment that he might still be weak. Against the crook of his neck, she murmured in her broken voice, “I thought I lost you.”
She hugged him for longer than she had ever hugged him before. Jason responded not by using words, but putting his arms around Brittney and his head on hers.