Desired

22. At least Someone Is Grateful To Be Alive

Haiden looks greyish, dark large rings circle her eyes however they're open which is good. Haiden sees me standing in the doorway; she tries to sit up but the movement is clearly excruciating. Wincing, she slumps back onto the bed and squeezes her eyes shut. This is my fault. I am to blame for her pain. 

'I can come back if you're too tired for visitors,' I say hovering outside the room.

'No way. You come in here now,' Haiden croaks. 'Did Roman talk to you? I said I wanted to see you. Are you alright? Your cheek looks sore. Bo's face looks terrible too; he really got pummelled. I'm sorry I didn't get involved sooner, I didn't know what to do then I realised I had to do something-'

'I'm sorry, about what happened. I didn't realise there would be people out there.' I say stepping into the room.

'Don't be stupid. No blame games. People go outside all the time, we were just unlucky enough to do it on the day they were out there. Saying that, I'm never going out again. Wimp or not, I'm remaining securely within my community's fences. Roman's being all attentive. I think he realised he could have lost me.'

Dads tend to get all attentive when they nearly lose their daughter. I look at the floor and shuffle uncomfortably.

'You can come closer. Gunshot wounds aren't infectious.'

I smile tightly. 'I'm not worried about infection.'

'Has Faith's ceremony finished already?'

'No.' I walk over and sit on the chair next to her bed.

'I don't like them either. So sad and so much crying, but I go. I would have gone if I could get up but everything is so sore and I'm so tired. Even talking is tiring and that sucks.' Haiden closes her eyes briefly before turning to look at me. 'What's wrong? Have you been crying? Is it because of Faith?'

'I...Me and Zach broke up,' I choke out.

'Oh!' Haiden frowns. 'Are you sure? I bet you'll sort things out. He's madly in-'

'He didn't love me.' I wrap my arms around my waist tightly to press away the internal vacant ache expanding inside me; it doesn't work.

'I don't think that's true,' Haiden says softly.

'It is.' I say flatly.

'Do you want to talk about it?'

'No.'

'Well, if you want to, my ears are open. I'm a good listener as well as a good talker. I like to give advice, but I'm not sure if it's any good. My experience is very limited. However, I did have a near-death experience yesterday, that's big. If anything, I should start giving more advice.'

I give a faint chuckle. 'How long are you going to be in here for?'

'Roman's arranging a bed to be placed in the room next to the office, so he can check in on me more easily. It used to be a gym or something. It had all this equipment which people used to exercise with, before Virulence. We were never allowed to use any of it. It used too much electricity and eventually, they took it all apart and recycled the bits. The previous leader always said 'If you want exercise get outside and do chores. There is enough chores to keep you fit until the cows come home.' I never understood that phrase. Why wouldn't the cows come home? Surely, the cows are always at home. Well, the farmer's home, anyway. I've never seen a cow before. Roman said they were big fat things and they produced milk or you'd eat them. Do you think any of them survived? I've never seen any animals. Did you have animals at your community, Kit? Other than humans?'

I've really missed your constant talking. 'No. I think all the animals were killed to reduce the transmission of Virulence.'

'That's a shame.' Haiden sighs. 'I would love to see an animal, especially those porky-things, the one we saw yesterday. I'd love to touch that thing. Roman had a dog when he was a kid. Fluffy big one he said. Dogs sound nice but they lick your face. I don't think I'd want anything to lick my face. Do porky-things lick your face?'

'Porcupines. I have no idea.' I smile and settle back into the chair. 'I'm really glad you're feeling better, Haiden.'

'Me too.' Haiden smiles. 'You'll feel better soon too. I'm sure of it, Kit.'

I smile. I don't believe Haiden. Nothing will ever feel better than how I felt with Zach.

Author's note
Just a short one.

A chain of events has been set off which you're going to find out about in two chapters so keep reading. (There's only so much lovesick Kit I can write about!)

I hope you're still enjoying the story xx