Property of a Gordon

Chapter Twenty Five

Dedicated To: AqsarniqNeovean for the BEAUTIFUL cover/banner that she made for me.

There's a lot of re-readers and I'm amazed that y'all are going through this story again! It makes me smile to know y'all are there. And all the new readers are amazing as well, of course. Yalls comments also bring a smile to my laugh :) JUST A WARNING for those of you wondering, you don't know Snowflake's name yet but that was done on purpose. You'll learn it ;)

Chapter Twenty Five

Pain is something that is accustomed for everyone, whether it be emotional or physical. It's that incommunicable, nondescript feeling that demands your full, undivided attention, no matter how small. Pain can be felt as a subtle flicker, or it can be felt as a raging, never-ending wave. It can go away after a few moments, disappearing until a later event. Or, Pain can stay, slamming and piercing a person's mind and body until they give in. It can linger in the depths, haunting its victims for a lifetime. Pain is a wide, vast feeling that is feared by most, whether they choose to admit so or not.

I thought I had reached the highest points of pain, both emotional and physical, in my lifespan. I had dealt with more than enough pain for one person, one who hadn't done anything particularly dreadful in her life. Emotionally, I had dealt with my heart-broken, crazed mother and the passing grief-stricken, sorrow-filled father, all of which I had face within a day. Physically, I had dealt with an emotionless, hopeless, and broken wolf from which I had a permanent scar on my neck. With these each taken under consideration, I thought my long-term pain was over and done with. Yet, Pain hadn't finished its course in my life. It had just begun leaving its mark.

Had I thought it through or been just a tad more selfish and rushed to the opposite side of the room, I may have been able to walk out by myself with damaged and ringing eardrums. Had I cared a little more about my own well-being, it would have been me who received the information that the other victim of the blast wasn't likely to make it, not Kendall. Had I not protected Kendall like I was supposed to, it would have been me who broke down when I was finally alone, crying and breaking anything I could get my hands on. But I had made my decision, and it was Kendall who was told the news and who broke down, not me.

So it was I who was rushed into the hospital and a surgery room for one too many hours as they attempted to stitch and glue me back together. It was I who lay helpless and unconscious in a stiff hospital bed, my healing abilities practically useless given I couldn't shift. It was me that the tubes were hooked up to, slipping in and out of my body, feeding and breathing for me. It was I who resembled a fragile, porcelain doll. It was also I who had an 18.07 percent chance of surviving.

It's amazing how such a small action had the opportunity to end your life. It was as if Opportunity made a deal with Pain to affect not just me, but Kendall also. I may have been the one who was encased in a ball of relentless fire, but Kendall had been placed in his own version of hell.

Kendall had been diagnosed as healthy, excluding the temporary injury to his eardrums which would last for a week or so. He'd been able to walk out of the conference room on his own, but he'd been in shock at the sight of my body covered with varying degrees of burns. The guards who had been nearby when the explosive went off had to drag Kendall out.

His family was contacted shortly after, along with my mother who wasn't able to be found. They said the house looked as if it had been vacated completely. Kendall's parents and brothers were staying in the palace for a little while, but he refused to be comforted by them. When he wasn't in the hospital with me, he was in his locked office, drinking and working his worries away. It was so bad that they had to force him to eat and when they did, crushed sleeping pills were slipped into his food. Even Lex, the only person he would vaguely talk to, couldn't get through to Kendall.