“I…I didn’t do anything,” I say quickly. “You just collapsed.”

Linnea mumbles something.

“Do you want some water?” I say, handing her the glass. “Can you sit up?”

Linnea pushes herself up from the mattress and drinks a few sips. “Could you…Could you fetch Kate?”

Kate?

I’m about to say yes, but then I remember that she’s next door.

In a room full of writing.

With mascara running down her face.

“She’s still in the bar,” I lie. “We can go there in a minute. I just need to…”

“You’re not leaving me here alone.” Linnea grabs my wrist.

I sit back down on the bed. “Okay.”

Linnea drinks the rest of the water and then puts the empty glass on the nightstand. Unsteadily, she sits up and swings her legs over the edge of the bed.

“What are you doing?”

“I really need to…” Linnea nods at the bathroom door.

“Oh, right,” I say. “Can you manage on your own?”

Linnea raises her eyebrows.

“Go on,” I say quickly. When Linnea locks the door, I give a deep sigh. Kate and Lucas are waiting next door. They’re probably wondering where I am.

The toilet flushes and Linnea comes back into the room. More color is slowly appearing on her cheeks.

“Did I give you a fright?” she asks quietly.

“A bit,” I admit. “Do you often faint?”

Linnea nods. “Sometimes. It usually happens when I feel trapped.”

I blocked her way.

Now I understand. “So that’s why you steer clear of elevators.”

Linnea nods. “I hate them.”

“Why?”

“I just do.”

“No one hates something for no reason,” I say.

“Except you hating me, right?”

She says it casually, as if it’s nothing. I pretend not to hear her and take her glass back to the bathroom.

“When I was ten, I was allowed to go visit my grandpa and grandma on my own for the first time,” I suddenly hear Linnea say. I stay in the bathroom, as I’m scared she’ll stop telling her story otherwise.

“I took the elevator, because they lived on the sixth floor. I thought it would be much quicker than the stairs. But then it got stuck. I was in there for an hour and a half.”

My breath catches in my throat. An hour and a half?!

“That’s why I’ll never use an elevator again.”

“I get it,” I say. My voice echoes off the tiles.

“What about you?” asks Linnea. “Is there anything you’ll never do again?”

“Me? I’ll never love anyone again,” I blurt out.

Why did I say that? No one knows that. I didn’t even know it myself until now.

I’m about to yell that it was just a joke, but at that moment there are three knocks on the door.

“Room service!”

Linnea

Fender runs out of the bathroom. “Stay there!”