Bashing the door open, he marched to the hall by the window and laid me carefully on the sofa. After examining my forehead with his palm. My head moved back and forth when I started feeling excruciating pain at the back of my head. Burning up with fever, I felt severe pains all over my body.
After a moment of contemplating, he walked to the back of the room and returned with a sharp knife. Closing his eyes, he slit a little part of his palm and allowed his blood to drop on the cut on my arm. As the drops of blood splashed on my wound, it started to disappeared abruptly leaving no scar. He quickly grabbed a seat and ripped of a packaged box. Fetching enough powder with the tip of his fingers, he smeared it over his cut and closed his eyes again.
I shook my head on the pillow as hallucinations on vampires attacking me took over my mind. Sweat began to draw over my forehead while murmuring unconsciously. After rolling his sleeves to hide the cut, he moved back for a bowl of water, rubbing it over my forehead. He placed his hand on my forehead and held my hand tightly, "I'm here, everything will be alright."
He left and came back holding a blanket. Lowering his eyes in melancholy, he covered me with it before he sat by me to monitor any progress.
He got up suddenly when my head started ti move haphazardly more than before. He rushed to the drawer and unleashed the herbs from it. After boiling it over the fire, he poured it in a bowl and sat by Mr again. Lowering a spoonful of the herbal remedy over my lips, he managed to feed it to me after several times.
He dropped the bowl quickly when I began to murmur in my sleep again. "Max," I repeated in a low tone while shaking my head. He caressed my face softly and used a cotton to stop the bleeding over my head. After dressing the wound at the back of my head, he bandaged my head. After waiting for a few minutes, my fever had died down.
Waiting for me, he ended up sleeping with his head on the edge of the sofa. The sun rays shone through the window as night approached. The bright setting Sun blinded my eyes and made it flutter.
Covering my eyes with my arm, I opened them after a minute and glared around confused. How did I end up in Max's cottage? When I spotted him sleeping by me, I felt a sudden sharp pain at the back of my head.
I opened my eyes gradually to see Max with his head lying beside me. As I moved my legs to feel a bit more comfortable from sleeping in the same position, his sleep got disrupted with my movements.
Rubbing his eyes, he grabbed my hand and sighed. "You're awake. How are you feeling now?" Max added and checked my temperature. I raised both my legs and squeezed my eyes to screen around.
"He won't find you here. Don't worry," Max concluded. Saying this, the pain at the back of my head began to hurt more. As my hands moved up to ease the pain, he walked out and returned with a glass of water. I remembered everything clearly now.
When I saw a glass of water reached out to me, I turned to him with a tear gliding down my cheeks. I released my grip on my forehead and looked at him sadly. "What happened after? Did he hurt you?" I winced checking his arms and face. He chuckled lightly and nodded.
"Why did you use that street anyway? You've already hurt your arm? How would you have defended yourself?" he yelled before getting up furiously. "He could've killed you if you didn't press the alert I gave you," he continued, interrupted by by statement.
"How did you know I got hurt on my arm before?" He went silent after my question and slowly sat beside me thinking. "It's because I worked in a hospital before. Don't try to change the topic."
Lowering my head, I couldn't answer him. My lips folded from anxiety and guilt as he held my hand. "I know...I know, okay?" I answered almost in tears. "You don't need to remind me of my misfortunes. I'm even being accused for murdering someone who died under his hands instead," I added breaking into tears.
He knelt down and wiped the tears off of my face with his fingers. Sighing, he touched my face and put up a little smile on his face. "It's alright. What matters is you're safe now." I looked up into his eyes and tried to smile. But whenever I tried to, I remember the kiss with Adrian.
Guilt run down my consciousness while he smiled at me. Throwing my arms around him, I let it all out, sobbing. "What did he tell you before I got there?"
I broke away from the hug and stated into his eyes. "He asked for the items and said my mom didn't tell me something about their acquaintance, "I said slowly to calm myself down. He got up with a serious face before calculating the recent events.
"There's no doubt now that he killed your mom. But what I don't get is why Could it be your mom had something of his or something he wants from her?
Listen, don't use that street again for now," Max explained making me twist my eyebrows in wonder. What would he want from my mom enough to kill her for it? Was it a money debt or a life debt?
"We'll figure this out. Don't worry." I looked at him as he pulled me into a warm hug. A tear trickled down my cheek.
His finger smooth over my neck before he leaned in to kiss me. His tongue sent tiny electric shocks along my lower lip before it slid down to my mouth.
A spark of pleasure engulfed me when he captured my bottom lip. After moving away, his troubled eyes scanned my face. "Does it still hurt?" he asked. The pain I felt on my arm had disappeared completely when he asked. Nodding, I realized he had a cut on his wrist.
"Did you get hurt? It looks like a bruise." I attempted to check but he got up quickly and chuckled. "It was from hunting. No need to worry." Sighing, I got up and hugged him from behind. I don't know why I did that. Whether it was to loosen my guilt or to hold him, I did it nevertheless.
"You should be careful with that. Why don't you move to the city. It would be safer there." He remained silent for a while while looking out through the window. "I can't. Not until I'm sure." His lips folded in silence after swallowing a gulp. A tinge of guilt lurked through his eyes as he looked outside.
"Those herbs helped more than I expected. Thanks for taking care of me." He nodded and turned around to face me. "I just remembered something important. One of his puppets attend your school." Listening to him, the crevices of my eyebrows curved.
"Do you remember his or her name?" He shook his head and sighed. "He never disclosed our real names to each other. All I know is his nickname, Thunder. He's very good with fighting."
I sighed and stepped back in thoughts. "It's still the same with the mall. I have to prove my innocence first. The police called me for an interview,"
He looked up surprised and agitated. "When you came here?" I nodded and bit my lips. "You've been asleep for three days," he exclaimed.
My eyes screamed astounded from this news. I slept for three days? Won't the police think I ran away. As I run my hand through my hair, I turned to Max anxiously.
"Where's my phone?" He walked to the desk and extended his hand. "I charged it. It's usable now." I quickly unlocked my phone and run though my information. But just as I was about to check my call log, the screen began malfunctioning. What about Kate? School and that girl with that man? Did she tell everyone about my financial state?
"I need to get back," I muttered swiftly making an attempt to get up but Max stopped me by grabbing my arm.
"You're not fully recovered. Leaving like this won't heal the wound at the back of your head. You need rest. Moreover, I need to fix the phone before you can use it. So lay down first", he rattled, positioning the pillow for my comfort. I nodded and promising myself to leave before morning.
I zipped my eyes hoping not to have any nightmares tonight at least. Max waited sitting beside me until I fell asleep. "Thankfully, she didn't remember the fight and bought that story. I don't know how I'd explain that," he rescinded while watching me sleep.
Everything went blank until I woke up at dawn. I allowed my feet to guide me outside. I noticed that Max was asleep at the edge of the sofa in the hall. I smiled and sat beside him carefully so as to not wake him up.
While softly stroking a strand of his hair disturbing his sleep, my eyes identified an album pushed under the sofa. Furrowing my eyebrows, I stretched my hand out to pick it from under. When I hand grasped a portion of the book, I dragged it out slowly. After putting it on his table, I stared at the title at the front page.
I noticed it had many stickers and his name attached to it. Curious, I flipped each page and looked at the pictures one by one.
Most of the pictures contained pictures of a little boy in the middle of two adults, probably his parents, with an initial, "Happy Birthday Max" at the bottom of the picture and similar pictures with him alone standing in front of a fountain dated about fourteen years ago.
There were no pictures from the middle pages. After looking at his parents closely, I couldn't help myself from looking at them again. Why do I feel like I've seen them before? I closed it and placed it back carefully under the sofa before turning back to him. He's been through a lot more than I thought. Thinking how they died so young, I wonder how he copped all these years alone.
He was sleeping so peacefully. So I tiptoed to the bedroom and grabbed my bag and a blanket. I covered him with the blanket properly when I heard my phone beep. "Where are you? Text me immediately you see this," from Jess.
I realized there were about twenty missed calls and twenty four unread messages from the day I was attacked. I quickly dropped my phone in the bag and wrote a farewell letter for Max. It was about 5:30 when I got home. I quickly freshen up and boarded a bus to school.
Everyone was whispering while looking at me when I entered through the hall. I received the same glances I had the last day I came to school. Sighing, I ignored them and walked to the locker room. I rushed to my locker to pick my books from the locker when someone pulled me inside the room adjacent the hall.
"I just received you text. Why? What happened?" I asked them adjusting my bag but they wore sad, confused faces. Before they could answer, I heard a message from the speaker attached to the walls all over the school. Looking up, my eyes wavered in curiosity.
"Clara Dickson, get to the principal's office now!"
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