The Selection Series- Leaving it Behind

Chapter three: Waking up ( America's Perspective)

The world came into light once more as my eyes slowly opened. I squinted until I could finally see clearly and was able to make out where I was. I steered my head to the left and saw Maxon asleep with a concerned look on his face. He had one hand on pinching the bridge of his nose as if he was in distress and the other gripped my hand tightly. I wondered how long I'd been out for. I hoped that Maxon had gone back to the room and got some sleep. I didn't want him to be worried.

I squirmed in my bed as I struggled to sit up. I tried to do it as effortlessly as possible so I wouldn't wake Maxon. Somewhere in my heart I knew that he was too worried to leave my side. I made a mental note to scold him about it later. I returned to my struggle. I hadn't an ounce of energy in my body. It felt like it had all been drained. This made moving extremely difficult.My attempts to not wake Maxon went in vain when he stirred and opened his eyes.

"America!" He breathed

He scurried and got up. He cupped my face with both his hands and bent down until his lips met mine. He gently kissed me and I felt his worry without him saying anything at all. I did my best to reciprocate his affection but failed miserably. I felt the warmth of his body spread through mine.

"I was so worried. Thank god you're ok."

I smiled as the relief washed over his face.

"I'm ok Maxon. Did you get any rest, did you go back to our room?" He shifted his gaze from me to look at his feet and then brought his eyes back up to meet mine.

"I refused to leave you. I simply left to use the restroom and returned to my rightful place right next to you. I even ate all my meals here"

"MAXON!" I tried to sound upset but it didn't end up sounding like that. More like a mouse squeaking. " You have to go get some rest. That chair was in no way comfortable." He simply shrugged. I wasn't going to win this battle.

"Let me go inform the doctor you're awake" I nodded my head and watched as he made his way to find the doctor. They both returned a few moments later.

"Hello your majesty" the doctor greeted, " I'm glad you're awake." I could only manage a simple smile. He began unhooking me from the various machines that took up most of the room. I was able to move more freely once I didn't have bunches of wires restraining me. He explained what happened and that I would be able to return to my room once I could walk but not work for another week or so. "I'll leave you two alone" he said as he shut the door behind him.

Maxon walked up and sat next to me on the bed. He looked at my hand and said, " I don't know what I would do if something happened to you." I reached and grabbed his hand. With a simple smile I said, "You aren't getting rid of me that easily."

The next few days I could feel the energy coming back into my body. I made Maxon leave and work instead of staying with me. Although any spare moment he had, he was right next to me again. Since I wasn't allowed to leave, he instructed the maids to bring his and my meals to the hospital wing. It was an absolutely exhausting process convincing Maxon to sleep in our bed. He refused, but I put my foot down and made him go. He was reluctant to leave me but I wasn't going to let him sleep uncomfortably. Besides, he needed to rest so he could make kingly decisions.

It had been about a week and most of my energy was back. Today, the doctor decided we should attempt a few steps. There were nurses supporting me so I wouldn't fall. After sliding off the bed, I managed to take about 10 steps. Before this, I could barley sit up, so this was definitely an improvement. I decided that I wouldn't tell Maxon until I could show him. When he was finished with his last meeting of the day, a maid ran over and informed me that he would be there in 5 minutes. I had the other nurses help me up and slowly began shuffling my feet. After 3 steps, the door flew open and I saw Maxon standing in the doorway. His face showed absolute shock and he stared in disbelief! I continued until I was as close to him as I could manage. He grabbed my hands to help me maintain my balance. He let out a sound between a sigh and a relieved laugh. I slipped a bit and he caught me. As a result, we both began laughing. He picked me up and spun me in a circle, gently placing me back on my feet.

"When did you start walking?" he asked.

"Yesterday!" I responded unable to contain my excitement

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to surprise you!"

He leaned in and gently pressed his lips to my forehead. "Well, now I can take you back to our room. It's so hard to fall asleep without you there." I giggled. He sighed and countinued, "there is an urgent meeting that got scheduled last minute. I must go attend, but will you be ready when I come back?" I nodded. " Alright," he said " I'll see you soon."

I asked a few maids to take my belongings into our room. A few hours later I heard a knock on the door. "Come in," I said.

It was Maxon with Georgia and August. After dissolving the castes, they became very close with us and assisted us when we needed it. Georgia ran to me and asked how I was feeling. I gave her a pleasant smile and said "much better!"

After the castes were gone, the northern rebel attacks stopped completely. The same couldn't be said about the southern rebels.

August spoke up next. "We came to check on you and inform you that a previous base camp of ours was hijacked by the southern rebels. It also happens to be in Carolina. It was no longer in use, but some of our groups said they saw the southern rebels take over."

Maxon and I shared a worried glance. The southern rebels still wanted to take over Ilea but dissolving the castes made them even more angry. We figured out that they wanted to make empty promises to the people of the lower castes but ultimately leave them there.

Georgia broke the tension of the room, " we gotta go but we just wanted to inform you."

"Thank you Georgia," I responded

They left, leaving Maxon and I alone. "Ready to go?" I nodded and he helped me as I shifted off my bed. Maxon slowly helped me walk to the stairs. A wave of nervousness washed over me. Maxon must have suspected the worry in me and gave my hands a reassuring squeeze. When I looked over, I saw the encouragement in his eyes. And with that, we made our way back to our room.

HI Readers! I hope you enjoyed this chapter ! Let me know your thoughts!