The girl in the attic

(19)The girl in the attic

The girl in the attic

Chapter 19

Preston's POV

She cried and sobbed for what seemed like forever while I held her in my arms whispering to her that everything will be ok. When her tears finally ran out and dried up she fell into a restless sleep. She moaned as she tossed and turned and by the time my alarm clock went off telling me that it was time to get up I haven't even fallen asleep yet. I was so worried about her that I couldn't get myself to sleep, I kept on feeling her head to make sure that she wasn't burning up with fever and trying to figure out what had happened that could upset her so badly.

Katie's eyes flickered open at the sound of my alarm and I could see the panic in them when she didn't realize where she was immediately.

"I'm right here," I whispered softly and watched as she turned her attention to me. A look of understanding crossed her face as she remembered what had happened last night. Her pale cheeks turned light pink and she looked away obviously feeling embarrassed.  

"I... I'm sorry about last night," she said softly as she pushed herself up into a sitting position.  

"It's ok, you don't have to apologize," I replied getting out of bed so that she could feel more at ease.  

"No you're wrong, I do have to apologize. You shouldn't have to deal with all of this, I'm not your problem. You shouldn't have to worry about me," she replied getting out of bed. She looked so sad that I wanted to pull her into my arms and hold her but I didn't dare do it, she was obviously still confused and I didn't want to push her too much.  

"Look Katie, I really don't mind helping you, I like you and I want to help you so please stop feeling guilty and just let me," I said walking over to my cupboard to get clothes for the day. She didn't reply so I figured it was the end of the conversation.

There was a sting in the cold morning air and I had the feeling that it was going to be colder than usual. I took out one of my biggest jackets and threw it on the bed figuring that Katie could wear it over one of the hoodie's I got for her yesterday.

"You can use the bathroom first," I said gesturing for her to go ahead. While she was busy freshening up I quickly googled the place she said her brother was at and wrote down the address on a piece of paper. I still had a bad feeling about the place in the pit of my stomach and I have to admit that I was kind of scared to look what they did there but my curiosity got the best of me and I quickly scanned the page. There were a lot of links on the page but I didn't need to follow any of them. One word in the opening paragraph caught my attention and told me everything I needed to know.

I quickly closed the page not wanting to read anymore and switched off my laptop. I had the feeling that it was bad when she told me the place's name last night but now that I knew, it was even worse. I've never really liked hospitals or being around sick people, not because I was some snob that thought I was better than them but because it scared the crap out of me. The thought that it could so easily have been me lying on the emergency table or having some deadly disease always frightened me. I've never mentioned this to anybody and luckily I've never had to deal with being sick. The only time I was rushed to the hospital was when I broke my leg playing football in primary school but except for that I've never really been sick except for the occasional flue.

The bathroom door opened with a creepy screeching sound pulling me out of my thoughts and back to reality. I looked around and had to catch my breath when I saw Katie. She was dressed in a simple pair of jeans, a hoodie and some sneakers but to me she looked gorgeous. It's the first time that I have seen her dressed up, well ok maybe she wasn't dressed up but compared to her old nightgown and my boxers it was a big step up.