OF THE NIGHT ∘ Seth Gecko

12 | Recovery

The palms of my hands are the targets for her fists for a few minutes before her hits become rather strong and I hold a pillow in front of me. We laugh at Kate's bad hits and I feel myself loosening up, my mental walls coming down from the most laughing I have done in too long. As time passes by and Seth doesn't make an appearance, we progress with our training to the point where Kate tries to throw me over her shoulder. That takes her the longest to learn and we mostly end up either on top of each other in weird poses or with me landing on the bed in various ways. In her favor, I will say that for a girl who has enough disadvantages in a fight, like being short and not having very strong arms, Kate has a lot of willpower.

"Quickly and with as much energy as you can," I remind the teenager, who nods at me, her posture and expression showing she's already tired.

She holds my shirt with both hands for a moment and I simply stand there and wait. Then, I feel myself being lifted off the ground. The flip makes me go over her shoulder rather successfully, aside from the fact that Kate isn't standing as close as she was to the bed. My head hits the corner of the bed frame. Immediately, I curl into myself and hold my injured part as strong pain shoots through my entire body.

"—June? June, are you okay?" Kate's voice says and I feel a part of the bed sink next to me. "I'm so, so, so sorry."

Unable to say or think anything coherent, I just lie there, holding my head with one thing going through my mind — fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. The pain doesn't pass as quickly as I wish it will and I stay in that position, feeling like the throbbing is endless.

"For God's sake," I hear someone says after a door slams. A small conversation follows between Seth and Kate but I can't focus on what's being said. Then, I feel hands on top of mine, trying to make me let go of my head. "June, just let me have a look. I won't hurt you, okay? I promise. I'll just look."

Without too much choice, I let him move my hands away. At the same time, I can feel a tear roll down the side of my face, soon disappearing into the blanket I'm lying on top of. A few seconds later, the mattress sinks next to me as Seth moves. He does something I can't see before carefully lifting my head and putting a pillow under it. It doesn't lessen the ache in my head, but it is more comfortable this way. He continues to talk with Kate, but their words have zero meaning to me and I simply lie there, helpless, waiting for the pain to fade.

It becomes quiet by the time my pain decreases. The only sounds that I hear are someone's footsteps around the room — probably Kate's since Seth is still beside me. My skull still throbs as I sit up and I close my eyes for a moment. I plan to see what Kate is doing when a question distracts me.

"Hey, you okay?" Seth asks next to me and I turn to face him. His frown is deeper than I expected it to be and he quickly studies my face.

After swallowing, I decide against mentioning that it still hurts, even though it's probably very visible in my expression, and say, "It's better. I'm not bleeding or anything, right?"

"No, but it's  pure luck, Charlie's Angels," he says with a scolding look.

Feeling stupid that my attempt to help Kate ended this way, I look for the girl around the room. She's standing next to the coffee table with a bag with fast food that Seth must have brought while her gaze is set on me. She looks relieved and guilty. I try to smile at her, which ends with the corners of my mouth barely turning upwards.

Under two watchful gazes, I stand up as the smell of food fills the room, reminding me I'm hungry. The room spins, yet it's gone after a few blinks. I follow Seth to the coffee table that looks even smaller than it is with so much food on it.

"She hasn't been seen in over four days and her car has been found abandoned—" a voice says from the TV. However, Seth hurries to shut it down and I only see a black screen instead of details of whatever that happened and was being reported.