My eyes squinted under the harsh gaze of light, the morning sun streaking in through the attenuate blinds slung limply over a wooden frame encasing a single pane of glass. I attempted to raise my head, my entire body still sleep deprived despite the dormancy I had previously been cast under. Every bone ached, with my muscles feeling seemingly worse, as if they had been working for days on end, with no time to re-energise. I ran a hand over my face, sighing as the events that unfolded last night were recalled in my mind, with my rib feeling somewhat numb, though the insufferable ache still persisted to arise.
After waking up both my narcoleptic body and mind, I let my yes wonder around the room I found myself in. Upon arriving at the motel, I must have been dormant due to the fact I have no memories of arriving or how I ended up in this room. Floral wallpaper peeled from the walls, the paint showing through to be a shabby yellow. It had evidently tried to be concealed behind the cheap, deteriorating wooden furniture positioned around the room. In the centre was a double bed, taking up at least half of the room, with a simplistic wardrobe and a door, which I presumed lead to the bathroom, accompanying the walls. Lastly my eyes flittered over to meet Luke's, watching me inspect the room while he lay his spine into back of a disintegrating chair in the corner of the room.
"Morning,'' I mumbled, offering him a smile. "How long have you been up?"
He chuckled at my words, a smile lacing his face. "Morning to you too. I didn't go to bed."
"Why not?"
"Why'd you think?" He retorted, laughing at my naivety. "I needed to keep an eye out" I nodded, thanking him before lifting the sheets, ready to make my way to the bathroom. At the sight, Luke was into his feet within seconds, racing over to me.
''Adelaide, careful,'' he warned, his hands finding their way around me, guiding me onto my feet.
"I'm fine, honestly."
Luke looked at me pointedly, his eye brows rising. "Don't feed me those lies. The look on your face alone tells me the discomfort that you're under."
I sighed, knowing that he was right.
''Go get yourself ready and I'll explain everything, okay?"
I made my way into the bathroom tortuously, a fresh set of clothes and toothbrush in my hand. Whilst in there, I was once again met with my disconsolate reflection.
My hair had returned to its previous state of unruliness, my eyes cased by bags deeper than they had been in months with my eyes scarce from colour. It was as if I was in a continuous cycle of finding grains of happiness but they repeatedly fell thorough the crevices in my fingers, leaving room amount the rest of my hand for the clumps of melancholy to fall upon. The sight of my rib that had been veiled by an extensive bandage prevented my developing thoughts of dejection.
Once I had finished, or had enough of my counterpart, I clumped back into the room, finding Luke shuffling through the bags, lifting his head as my footsteps met his ears. "I need to do your stitches Adelaide."
"Stitches?" I questioned.
"Yeah stitches," he responded, a light laugh following not long after. "I didn't think that you'd have any recognition about them. I mean by the time we got in last night, you were out for the count, but I couldn't just leave your rib, so I took a look at it. From what it looked like, it was just skimmed by the bullet, but that took quite a toll on the wound you already had there because that still hadn't fully healed."
''I put temporary stitches in to tide you over night because the bleeding still hadn't stopped." My mind cast back to last night, but I had no awareness surrounding Luke stitching my side up.
