To The Revolution

17

(A/n: There is some cussing.)

(Eve's POV)

I woke up in an unfamiliar room, and sat up quickly. I cringed from pain shooting through my body, then looked at my surroundings. I spotted Laurens' spirit sitting at the opposite side of the room from me.

"Hi..." He whispered, noticing that I was awake. He stood up and walked over to me. "Lay down and stay still. You're pretty badly hurt. I-I'm sorry, Eve. I would've gone home, but I was worried about you... And..."

He looked at the ground, a couple of tears flowing down his cheeks.

"My family never came for me..." He said, almost too quietly to hear. Then he looked at me again. "That person hurt you so badly... A-and then you got sick during the night, and I wasn't sure what to do when you didn't wake up in the morning! So, I got Philip. He can see me, too. I led him and Eliza to you. I know you don't like getting help, and I'm sorry, but you could have died! I had to intervene."

"Hold on, hold up..." I cut in, holding my hands up. I stared at him. "What happened? When did someone hurt me?"

"That guy... The restaurant owner that keeps going after you... He beat you up the day before yesterday because you were asking around for work?" He seemed confused. I was just as confused. When did that happen?

The day before yesterday... I'm pretty sure he already said that.

I rolled my eyes at my sister answering my silent question. Laurens sat down near my feet as I laid back on the bed. He stared at me.

"Do you really not remember?" He asked. I shook my head, and he sighed. He looked away, then at me. "The guy beat you, telling you to stop asking for work, then sometime during the night you got a really high fever and you were shivering and coughing a little. I went and got Philip to take his mom to you, and they brought you back here. Even Alexander stopped working to go get a doctor, because it was so bad."

Right then, the door opened. Hamilton walked in, looking nervous. He saw that I was awake and sighed with relief.

"Wow, I forgot what you looked like when you weren't working." I remarked, crossing my arms. I covered my mouth as my lung spasmed and sent me into a coughing fit. Hamilton crossed his arms and stared at me.

"I take it this means you can't watch Philip or Angelica for a while?" He asked.

"You're joking, right?" Laurens questioned, giving his best friend a disbelieving look. "She almost died on the street because she spent all her money on your son, and that's what you have to say??? What the heck?!"

"Eve! You're okay!" Philip cheered, running through the door and jumping into the bed. He hugged me, curling close to my side. I hugged him back, noticing my own weakness but trying not to let it show.

"Um... I don't actually know what happened...?" I muttered. Laurens gave me a look, and I shrugged.

"Well, you were pretty sick and really badly hurt, it makes sense you don't remember." Hamilton pointed out. I looked away nervously. "It makes sense you don't remember. You're also still sick. The doctor doesn't know what it is, but he's looking for someone who does."

Laurens looked really startled by the news of my condition. I just sighed and looked at Hamilton.

"You realize there is no coming back from things like this, right?" I asked. Hamilton refused to make eye contact with me. I tried to push Philip off me, but accidentally sent myself into more coughing. The boy quickly left. I glanced up at Hamilton. "Alexander. You know that I'm not going to easily recover from this, if at all?"