Mia's POV
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The squeak of the door opening makes my heart jump to my throat, and I spin around, sword raised. But it's just Knox. He has a shallow cut on his cheek and a bruise forming on his neck. His gaze drifts from the woman on the floor to me. His eyes look distant, though.
"Come on, let's get back on the bus," is all he says, taking my arm and leading me out into the open of the main part of the building. I notice that the man behind the counter isn't there anymore. I hope he's on a lunch break, not on the floor with a pool of blood.
What is up with Knox? Why is he being so weird? What happened?
"What happened," I ask as I walk- actually more like a limp-, our feet slapping the tile floor as we rush forward. I try to slow down, but Knox seems intent on getting out. "Knox, stop, what happened, where's-"
"They're dead," he snaps, finally stopping and turning to face me. He's angry, but I can see the anger leaving. Below it is a sorrow, a tired form of sadness. I know Knox didn't know the adults enough to grieve for them for too long, but he's obviously upset right now.
Knox sighs, running a hand over his face, smearing the blood on his cheek. He scoffs to himself and wipes the blood on the inside of his coat.
"Three Cin attacked us. I wasn't winning, so Rhydell stopped fighting his guy to help me, and... The Cin are dead, but so are Rhydell and Clolas. They protected me."
The anger is back, and I have a feeling I know why. He thinks he should be able to fend for himself, that he's strong enough that he wouldn't need help. But some elves are better, stronger than others. Obviously the one trying to kill Knox was very good.
My throat aches suddenly. Our whole team is gone. All four killed, in one day. They were just supposed to help us, keep us safe. I guess they did, just not for as long as we were hoping.
They were nice, too, Rhydell and Clolas. They were smart and kind. I barely knew them, but I feel a momentary weight press on my chest so heavily it feels harder to breathe.
I feel like we already failed.
"Are you kidding me?!" I hear Knox exclaim, and I'm snapped out of my thoughts like someone just smacked me. The sound of an engine rumbles through my senses, and I look outside just to see our bus rounding a corner and disappearing, our stuff thrown onto the parking lot.
"Do humans have no patience?" Knox asks incredulously. I manage a tight, fake laugh and shake my head.
"Nope. It's okay, we can wait for another one. there's a bus schedule over here."
I hobble over to the fireplace and pick up a pamphlet, noting that the next bus to stop here will be in an hour. Great. An hour behind schedule. I guess I can get cleaned up, though.
"Oh, I didn't kill that lady, by the way. I just knocked her out." I inform Knox of what happened. I don't tell him that I don't have the guts to kill anyone, but I think he knows that.
While Knox goes to deal with the woman in the bathroom, I grab our stuff, bring it inside, then stalk into the 'employees only' part of the place to try and find some bandaids for me and Knox. I find some, along with some antibiotic ointment and gauze. I grab a water bottle and a few candy bars while I'm at it. As I'm brushing past the sheet blocking off the employees only part of the visiting center from the rest, I can't help but almost laugh at myself. I'm stealing food and water and bandaids from a visitor center in California while on a mission to retrieve some magical object. I feel like I'm in some weird, fantasy- apocalypse movie.
'It's been a long, long time' by Harry James trickles out of the speakers by the ceiling, the calm, old style music floating into the empty air. Nice song, odd circumstances. Knox meets me at the fireplace area, where I've started laying out our things. I've been careful to keep most of my weight on my good leg.
"What happened in there?"
"She was gone," Knox answers, sounding grim. I blink, staring at him.
"Gone? She woke up already? How do we know that they won't come after us again? Wouldn't some cameras have picked them up coming in here?"
"I don't know," he answers. "But I checked, the security cameras are all down, probable their doing. Obviously they have their own reasons for killing us instead of just following us." He pauses. "Let's clean up first."
He doesn't ask me if I'm okay, because I'm obviously hurt. So is he.
"Here," I say, pulling my leather chair over next to his and making him sit down. He winces as I take an antiseptic wipe from a health kit I found and clean the blood off his face.
"What is that?" He asks when I put some antibiotic ointment on my finger.
"Ointment, it'll keep the cut from getting infected," I answer, rubbing it on gently. He probably doesn't even need it, but I do it anyway. His mouth twitches, but otherwise he stays still as I put on a few small bandaids lengthwise over the cut like steri-strips. They didn't have any big ones.
Knox moves his mouth around, causing the bandaids to stretch and bump out.
"These are weird," he says. I smile a little. Knox's gaze falls to my thigh, where blood is making a large spot on my jeans.
"Let's go wash that."
I nod, standing. I try to ignore how each step sends a sharp sting of pain shooting through the cut. We head into the women's bathroom, and I notice that my blood has been cleaned from the floor, the only trace of a fight being the broken tiles from where I was shoved into them. The back of my head still has a dull throb from that. I stand by the row of sinks for a second, contemplating how to do this. Then I turn to Knox.
"Do you mind..." He stares for a second, then his eyes light up with realization.
"Sure, sure, I'll just be around the corner." He goes around the tiled corner, out of my sight but still in the room.
With slightly shaking hands I unzip my jeans, pulling them away from my leg so they don't scrape the cut when they go over my thigh, like pulling a shirt over a face of makeup. After struggling for a minute to get my shoes out of the jeans, I finally drop them to the ground, left in the pair of black underwear I came in. Next I examine my cut. It's diagonal across my thigh, probably only a couple of inches long, but it looks a deeper than I thought.
The cold water handle squeaks as I turn it on, letting the water cool before lifting up my leg, resting it onto the sink and grabbing a paper towel from the dispenser next to me.
My hands are shaking as I bring the wet paper towel to my leg. I've never been great with blood, but for some reason it's different with my own. I'm not grossed out, mostly just scared of how much it'll hurt. I barely touch the towel to my cut, and I don't feel anything, just cold. Blowing a breath out, I apply more pressure with the towel. A zap of pain hits me like someone is poking me with a needle. I grit my teeth and let out a painful groan, pulling the towel back and biting my lip to keep from crying.
I'm supposed to be strong, and sometimes I am, so why can't I do this? Why do I get scared so easily, for things much less scary than other things I've been through?
I blow out a shaky breath and quickly wipe the tears blurring my vision. The cut is deeper than I thought.
"Knox you might have to come do this," I say, my voice shaky and weaker than I want it to sound. I clear my throat. "You're more experienced I'm guessing."
Knox comes quickly to my side, ignoring my state of dress and studying the cut, figuring out whatever you would figure out by from looking at a cut.
That is something I love so much about elves. They respect each other wayyyy more than humans do. They don't feel attracted to someone solely because of their body, or because they want to have sex, like, sadly, a lot of humans do. Yes, looks are a part of it, but it seems that elves value more important things than someone's appearance. It's something I wish humans could learn and implicate on life more.
Knox takes the wet paper towel from my hands and bends over, steadying my leg by placing one hand above my knee.
He gently wipes at the cut, the pain causing me to grip Knox's shoulder hard and wince. Knox doesn't stop cleaning the wound, though, even when I whimper as an aching starts, and the cut feels like it has a heartbeat. He knows I can handle it, and that's also something I appreciate. As much as he holds me up when I need it, he knows I'm strong.
After a minute, what felt longer than a minute to me, the paper towel is tossed in the trash, and my wound is much cleaner than before. I bend over and look at it. Not as gross as I thought.
"I'll be right back," Knox says, his hand sliding off my leg has he exits. I swallow, the tingly sensation of his fingers still on my thigh. For a second, the only thing I want is to be alone with him, and then I halt my thoughts before they get too unnecessary, which I do not need to do right now. He does have nice hands though.
Really? I feel a laugh bubbling up inside me at my ridiculousness. Am I just in shock still? Is that why I'm being so delusional? But the feeling fades as Knox walks back in with the bandaids, ointment, and a pair of plain, navy pants.
"Where'd you get those?" I ask, pointing to the pants.
"Found them in the back, they must keep them for the employees."
"Oh, but they don't match my outfit," I say, pulling a mock sad face. For a second, Knox looks at me like I'm insane. Then we both start laughing.
-
Apparently my cut will heal in a few days to a week, according to Knox anyway. It would probably require stitches, but we don't have any. Luckily, Knox remembered that his mom gave him some special elven healing cream, and we use that on all of our cuts. It looks like the stuff I used when I went to the hospital in Earthe all that time ago.
Another bus will come in an hour, if my phone is correct. It's probably best for my leg if I just rest, so I sit in on the two person chair by the fire and put my leg up on the coffee table. Knox is outside, doing a few rounds to make sure there are no Cin around. It makes me a little on edge to be in here alone after what happened, but I can look out over the whole place, minus the bathrooms, and I have my opal knives, plus the sword from the Cin who attacked me.
"We're safe, for now." Knox's voice echos hollowly through the open building, the sound of the door swishing shut following it. I nod, keeping my gaze deep on the oil fire. Too bad it isn't real fire; It's just a few flames on fake wood behind a smooth glass surface. It doesn't even make popping, cracking noises like fire does.
Now that I'm back on Earth, I realize how normal my life could be. And how free I feel now. I can just go running in any direction, and return to Earthe if I want. If I had a stone to get me there. I don't have to follow a schedule, don't have to worry about school or shopping or working out. Every day is a workout. Sure, I have to worry about more agonizing stuff like my wounds healing and actually living to see another day, but despite that fear I feel oddly free. It's not just a sudden feeling either. I've felt it for a while now, but it feels more prominent now that I have time to think it over, time in a world I know so well. It's hard to explain, but mainly I just don't feel restricted by my small town anymore. Now I have two worlds of possibilities.
Knox slides onto the couch next to me, sighing and wrapping an arm around my shoulder. His hat is with our other stuff at our feet, so his hair flows freely down in the way I'm used to, the way I love.
My phone, which is clutched in my hand, lights up with a notification from instagram. My hand tightens around it, my heart skipping a beat. I haven't dared go on anything other than maps on my phone, knowing I would get lost inside the apps if I ventured in. So, with all of the mental strength I can gather, I place it face down on the couch beside me.
Knox notices, because of course he does, and places his hand over mine. I turn my palm and lace my fingers with his, feeling his warm skin against mine.
"I can't imagine how hard it must be," Knox says after a minute. I notice that he doesn't say sorry, like I half expected him to. I'm glad, though. It's not his fault, I never understood why people apologized about things they had nothing to do with. To make me feel better? In some cases something along the lines of what Knox just said is better than condolences. It's definitely better than fake empathy.
"Yeah."
"It's going to rain tonight, possibly storm."
"How do you know?"
"I looked at the sky."
I give him an 'of course' look, amazed yet again at the way of elves.
"But we still have a few hours to go, I think we should stop somewhere for the night."
"What?" I turn to him. I had not planned on staying for more than a day.
"It'll be dark in a few hours, and it won't be fun to stay out in the dark, in the rain, trying to figure out how to get home."
Home as in back to Earthe. A question flickers in my brain, but I'm too done with today to address it. I chew on my lip, considering. He's probably right.
"Okay. I'll find a cheap hotel."
I pull up safari and lean against Knox, letting my head rest on his shoulder. I spend the next half hour explaining how to use Google while Knox listens, running his hand through my hair and giving the occasional kiss to the top of my head.
I may or may not have been swallowing back butterflies for a half hour.
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OBX season 3 came out today- I really have to go watch it, I think I might actually do that right now LMAO
Does anyone else here watch obx too?
- A<3