Wolverton Falls

14. The Reality of the Situation

HEAVY BOOTS CRUNCHED against the ground, slowly becoming louder as they approached the fallen tree where the human girl sat.

Maggie looked up from the snowy ground and was surprised to see it was not one of the Russian siblings.

Instead, it was a man, who was unknown to her, who strode toward her in a relaxed, suave manner with an inviting grin.

Taking in a deep breath, the tall stranger crouched to her and introduced himself as Isaiah Ridian. He was the person who had evaluated her injuries when she was unconscious as Katya mentioned earlier.

Exhaling loudly, she briefly closed her eyes to control the riled emotions wreaking havoc inside her. She chanted soothing words to herself in her mind until she felt steadily calm. Maggie blinked, before she finally replied with a shaky breath, "You're Katya's friend?"

Isaiah scoffed but there was a light-hearted expression on his kind face, "Not by choice, but yes, still my friend."

Maggie only nodded in response before he piped up, "I just need to check up on a few things, if that's okay?" He unzipped a small green duffle bag and brought out a thin medical flashlight.

She nodded again and followed his instructions when he asked her to glance at his index finger while he flashed the light in an eye.

"A-Are you a doctor?"

The edge of Isaiah's lips quirked up, but a longing look in his eyes contradicted the smile, "Yes, a very long time ago, down in Connecticut before – before I realised it wasn't an option anymore." Judging by the solemn tone in his voice, Maggie decided to clench her jaw and remain quiet, and reign in her curiousness.

He cleared his throat uncomfortably before her gingerly brought her arms to him, pushed up her sleeves to reveal her wrists. "The chaffing on your wrists are going to be tender for the next few days," Carefully bringing them toward him as he unravelled a white gauze, he continued, "We need to make sure these don't get infected. They'll heal soon, as long as the dressings get changed frequently," He finished covering her wrists with a medicinal cream which stung the wounds but slowly numbed them. The angry red colour slowly ebbed away. He then pulled the ends of her jacket back down and proceeded to put new sterile gloves on.

Maggie only noticed that she was still in the same clothes Katya had given her from yesterday and could still smell the woodsy and metallic odour that lingered on it. Maggie's face curled into a small wince. She hoped she could wash somewhere soon and change into clean clothes. Emmett had only once splashed her body with ice cold water when she had passed – it was no relief. So, she had begun to smell from the lack of hygiene and felt embarrassed being so close to someone.

Unaffected, Isaiah moved his focus to her head injury. Tilting her head slightly, careful to avoid touching the gash on the back, he scrutinised it with narrowed dark brown eyes.

"So what happened? Luka was too occupied by being his brooding, silent self to tell me anything and Katya was too busy worrin' about you to let me in on why they have you here," He asked, moving locks of brown hair away from the wound with his blue gloved hands. "Interesting that they decided to bring you back," He mumbled under his breath but it did not miss Maggie's ears.

Her hands tightened and curled into fists as she remembered when Emmett threw her across that cold room that her head to smack against the wall. She shivered; wrapping her arms around herself, she replied vaguely, "My head hit a wall,"

She was not too sure if Isaiah meant what really happened to her in that cabin or the injury. Whatever it was, she didn't feel obligated to tell this stranger anything.