She makes a frustrated sound, but takes the banana I lift off the tray and hand to her. Her leg is in a full-length cast. The doctors had to operate-there was ligament damage, as well as bone damage and a major loss of blood. She's going to be off it for at least six weeks, and she's less than impressed about it. Other than that, she fared well, as did I.
Outside of cuts and bruises, and dehydration, we are probably the two luckiest girls in the world, because we escaped the hands of a well-known serial killer in one piece. And we did it together. So she can yell profanities at me as much as she wants, and fuss and carry on, I'm not leaving her side because she didn't leave mine. We're in this together.
"I liked you so much better when you were just my best friend, not my nurse," she grumbles between mouthfuls.
"I see the patient is still complaining?"
I look over my shoulder to see Ace walking into my apartment where Taylor will be staying for a few weeks until she's able to move around on her own. He's got a brown paper bag in one hand, two coffees in the other. He looks at Taylor, and she scowls at him, before her eyes drop to the bag. "If there's muffins in there, you might just be allowed closer."
He gives her a look, and then thrusts the bag at me. "Two double chocolate, two lattes."
"You're amazing." I smile at him, and then turn to Taylor. "Are you going to stop snapping like a rabid dog so we can share these muffins?"
She huffs but nods, and I sit down at the end of the couch where there is just enough of a gap for me to squeeze my bottom in. I pull out a muffin and hand it to her, and she discards the banana with a quick toss back onto the coffee table. Ace sits down on the sofa across from us, his eyes on mine.
"How are you feeling?"
My eye is still sore and patched up, and the stitches in my head are bugging me, but otherwise I feel good. Really good. I'm alive. I lived in fear for weeks, and then the days we were in Jacob's clutches … I have been given a second chance and I certainly am not going to waste it.
"I feel good, I'm still tired, but I'm good."
"She's obviously not that tired, she's going to start offering to wipe my butt soon!" Taylor grumbles between mouthfuls.
Ace snorts. "Well, you do owe it to her."
Taylor rolls her eyes, but smiles at me. She's lucky I love her.
"We've closed the case, informed the other victims' families about Jacob, so they can finally get closure too," Ace tells me.
My heart breaks for those three girls who didn't get the second chance Taylor and I got.
"How did their families take it?" I ask.
Taylor directs her eyes to Ace, listening in.
"They didn't take it great, but as I said, they got their closure, and because of that, they can finally start moving on with their lives as best they can."
I nod. Understanding. It doesn't bring anyone back, but at least now they don't have to live in fear that there is still someone out there, planning his next hunt, finding his next victim.
"I'm glad they can finally get peace."
Ace nods. "As can you."
I exhale and smile. "Yeah. I'm not wasting this second chance. I can't say the same for Taylor. She's going to get pushed off the nearest balcony if she keeps it up."
She flips me off. "You try being an invalid, with no leg."
"You have a leg, it's just out of action," I inform her.
"Same difference."
"You're alive, Taylor, don't forget that," Ace says, his voice firm, but kind.
She looks to him, scowling, and after a few seconds she exhales and murmurs, "Yes, I know. I'm sorry."
"Not everyone gets a second chance to make their life better, take it for what it is and don't waste it."
She ponders this, as do I.
Raymond, Miranda, and those three girls Jacob took before Taylor and me. None of them got a second chance. Their lives were cut short. This is our chance to do something good. To make something of ourselves. To change the world, if that's what we need. An idea pops into my mind, and my eyes swing to Ace.
"I have an idea."
His brows go up. "I'm listening."
"It's not much, but what if we created something, say a website, where people could come and share their stories of second chances? Be it survival of an illness, recovery from an accident, anything where they have beaten the odds and come out of something alive. I know that when I was afraid, it felt like there was nowhere I could find comfort. I felt like there was no way I'd ever feel okay again."
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