Chapter 89 Ready or not here I come.

Chapter 89 Ready or not here I come.
What conspired before leavingthe house was something wasn't too proud of to talk about so we're all going to pretend it never happened.

I could feel klaus's smug smile as we drove back and I just wanted to end him.

The hospital didn't even make effort to look different for our arrival

Not like it cared

Same white walls.

Same smell that made me question life decisions.

Same slow-moving nurses that looked like they had accepted reality.

But Maya was already awake when we walked in, sitting upright on the bed with a book in her hands like she hadn’t almost become a national emergency a few days ago.

I paused at the door for a second.

Because of course she was reading.

Of course the girl who got hit by a truck was still academically active.

If I ever got run over, I would simply choose rest and vibes.

Ethan was there too, slouched on the chair like he had been emotionally drained by existence itself. He stood up almost immediately when we entered, muttered something about fresh air, and left the room before anyone could respond.

Traitor behaviour.

Not even a proper goodbye.

Maya didn’t even look up fully, just waved the book slightly like everything was normal and she wasn’t currently wrapped in enough medical equipment to qualify as fragile cargo.

“I’m fine by the way,” she said casually.

That sentence should be illegal in hospitals.

Nobody in a hospital is ever “fine.”

I dropped the bag of food on the table and started unpacking Mom’s cookies while pretending I didn’t hear her lie.

Klaus followed behind me and leaned against the wall, watching like he was supervising a very chaotic domestic scene.

Maya adjusted herself slightly, winced, then continued like pain was just background noise.

“I said I’m fine,” she repeated.

I hummed.

“That’s exactly what people who are not fine say.”

She rolled her eyes but didn’t argue further.

Which meant I was right.

Obviously.

I handed her a cookie and she took it like it was a peace offering between war nations.

The silence after that wasn’t awkward.

It was soft.

The kind that only happens when everyone is too tired to pretend anymore.

"Oh my God you brought cookies" she sounded excited. "I've been craving these for a while now"

"Mom.knew you'd want some"

" I love your mom more than you do, just so you know"

We ate for a while, mostly just passing cookies around and stealing bites when the other wasn’t looking.

Maya complained about hospital food like she hadn’t already been rescued by Mom’s entire bakery section.

Klaus made some comment about her being a dramatic patient.

I mostly just sat there watching both of them act like nothing life-altering had happened, while my brain kept replaying the word truck like it was a broken record that refused to stop.

Every now and then I looked at Maya’s bandaged leg and reminded myself she was here.

Alive.

Annoying.

Talking.

Exactly as she should be.

That should have been enough to make everything feel normal again.

It wasn’t.

Because normal doesn’t feel the same after you’ve almost lost someone.

I shifted in my seat and checked my phone out of habit.

Nothing.

No messages.

No chaos.

Just silence from the outside world like it had forgotten I existed.

Which was weird because my life usually moved like it was being directed by someone with too much caffeine and no sense of peace.

Maya noticed me staring at my screen.

“You’re doing that thing again,” she said "I swear to God I'm tired of you doing this"

“What thing?”

“The overthinking thing.”

I scoffed.

“I don’t overthink.”

Klaus made a sound that was suspiciously close to laughter.

I ignored him.

Maya leaned back slightly, wincing again but pretending she didn’t.

“You told me yourslef that you shouldn't let fear drive you ” she added more softly.

I didn’t answer.

Because she was right.

And I hated when she was right in a serious way.

Klaus pushed off the wall and came closer, quietly placing a hand on the back of my chair like he was grounding me without saying it out loud.

The way he looked at me reminded me of this morning.

Ah fuck tessa, what are you thinking.

The room settled again into that strange calm.

Maya eventually drifted back into her book.

Klaus and I only shared stupid looks and gestures. He was teasing me and I knew it.

Time moved weirdly in hospitals.

Slow but also too fast.

Like it was trying to decide whether to stay or leave.

At some point, Maya fell asleep mid-page, the book slipping slightly in her hands.

I reached over and adjusted it carefully so it wouldn’t fall.

She looked peaceful like that.

Too peaceful for someone who always acted like chaos in human form.

Klaus stepped out briefly to get water.

I stayed.

Just sat there.

Listening to the quiet machines.

Watching Maya breathe.

And thinking about everything that had happened in the last few days like my brain couldn’t decide which memory to keep or throw away.

That was when my phone buzzed.

Once.

Then again.

I frowned and picked it up.

Email notification.

MSA.

My stomach tightened immediately.

Not again.

I stared at it for a few seconds without opening it.

Because somehow I already knew.

When things go quiet after chaos, it usually means something else is about to begin.

I finally opened it.

My eyes scanned the screen slowly.

And then everything else in the room faded slightly into background noise.

Final evaluation schedule confirmed.

Again.

But this time it wasn’t just a reminder.

It was a list.

A date.

A time.

And instructions for what came next.

My fingers went a little cold around the phone.

I looked up at Maya sleeping.

Then at the door Klaus had walked through.

Then back at the screen.

And I realized something very simple.

My life wasn’t waiting for me to be ready anymore.